CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH: THE TALKIES VOLUME THREE 1934-36

 

Kit Parker Films and The Sprocket Vault continue their DVD series of comedy short subjects from the Hal Roach Studios with CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH: THE TALKIES VOLUME THREE 1934-36. The three-disc set contains the final 21 two-reelers Charley Chase starred in for Roach before he and the company parted ways. 

The first disc in this set deals with the 1934 period, where Charley's leading lady was almost always the diminutive Betty Mack. Betty usually plays the daughter of whatever boss Charley happens to be working for, and most of the '34 shorts still have a weird Pre-Code vibe. In discs two and three, which cover 1935 and 1936, the shorts are more domesticated, with Charley typically playing a henpecked husband alongside a number of actresses. Chase was the director (or at least credited co-director) on all these films, and he still found a way to include a song or a dance routine in just about all of them. 

The standout shorts on this set are NURSE TO YOU!, in which Charley mistakenly believes he has only months to live, and PUBLIC GHOST #1, in which Chase gets a job haunting houses from crackpot Edwin Maxwell. NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE is notable in particular in that it was originally supposed to be a full-length feature, but it was edited down to two reels before release. Unfortunately the full version of NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE does not survive. It's a funny satire on the promotional giveaways movie theaters would do at the time, in order to attract business. 

The usual familiar Hal Roach supporting players appear throughout this set, including James Finlayson, Charlie Hall, and Billy Gilbert. A number of OUR GANG members pop up in these films as well. In a few of the shorts Hattie McDaniel even plays Charley's maid. The last entry in this set, ON THE WRONG TREK, contains a cameo by two famous gentlemen. 

The shorts in this Volume Three collection appear to be in much better condition than those in the first two Charley Chase sets (the sound quality is better as well). The Spanish version of GIRL SHOCK is included on disc three as an extra. (The original English-language GIRL SHOCK is on the first Charley Chase collection.) A poster and stills gallery is included.

As in the other sets, classic film comedy expert Richard M. Roberts does audio commentaries for all the shorts. Roberts continues to provide an endless amount of personal and professional info on the on and off-camera talents who worked on these shorts. He also delves into the many travails the Hal Roach studios were dealing with during 1934-36. Over the course of the set Roberts also gives out a mini-biography of Charley Chase, and the personal and physical problems he went through. Despite his affable onscreen  personality, Chase lived a too short life that had too much drama. 

Kit Parker Films and The Sprocket Vault have done film geeks a valuable service with their DVD collections of rare short films made at the Hal Roach studios. The shorts on this third Charley Chase set may not be spectacular, but they are all entertaining, mostly due to Chase's likable onscreen persona. Charley Chase had far more influence on movie comedy than most people realize, and his sound movie shorts for Hal Roach only scratch the surface of what he did as a performer and director. Hopefully Kit Parker Films will provide more obscure treats from the Hal Roach vaults in the future on home video.