Public Ghost #1 (1935)
*** (out of 4)
Funny film has Charley Chase meeting a woman and telling her that he's currently unemployed so she tells Chase to visit her father who will put him to work. Chase meets who he thinks is the father but it turns out he's just an impersonator and a tad bit crazy. The wrong man tells Chase he should make money by haunting houses, which he does and his first job just happens to have him in the home of the girl and the real father. LIVE GHOST #1 isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but I found it clever enough to be worth viewing. The film's first half is without a doubt the highlight as Chase pretty much just plays a supporting character and Edwin Maxwell is giving the opportunity to really shine as the crazy man. Maxwell is so brilliant in the part that you can't help but laugh at everything he does as no matter how crazy he's doing something he can make you fall for whatever he's saying. Just take a look at the sequence where he shows Chase his new invention, which just happens to be a fly catcher. Whoever came up with this device deserved an award for creativity. The second half of the film has Chase taking over as he begins to haunt the house not realizing that the woman he loves lives there. There are a few nice jokes during this sequence including a piece where Chase tries to prove himself a man but ends up going after the wrong person. Chase is as enjoyable as always but there's no question the film belongs to Maxwell.
