Fallen Arches

Fallen Arches (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Funny Hal Roach short has Charley Chase playing the lovable idiot who takes everything people says way too serious. When his boss (Billy Gilbert) tells him to hike up to San Francisco and start working poor Charley takes him literally and starts walking. Along the way he runs into a woman (Muriel Evans) who just happens to be the boss man's daughter and the two cross paths with a car thief. This is pretty much a one-note comedy with all the jokes being centered around Chase taking everything too literal. This includes one scene where a man tells him to jump in a lake, which he does. Another example is the daughter joking that she deserves a spanking, which Chase then gives her. This one-joke would be rather lame with just about any other comedian in the world but Chase is just so lovable as this type of idiot that he makes it work and makes it work extremely well. While the jokes were all very dumb I couldn't help but laugh at them simply because Chase sold them so well. You really do believe this guy is that stupid to where he'd do all these foolish things and not think twice about what he's doing. Evans gets a nice little sexual pre-code wink during a scene where she takes her clothes off to go swimming and this was certainly a highlight of the film. Gilbert only appears in the first five minutes but he's his usual great self. Chase's career went through so many periods with some better than others and while this here isn't a classic it's still a nice little picture and a good one to start with if you're unfamiliar with the star.