High C's

The main theme of this short is enlisted man Charley trying to form a singing group during WWI. In a super-weird twist, he finds that a German soldier has a lovely voice and would make a great addition to the group, so he connives to try to sneak the guy across no-man's land! There are also many run-ins with the Lieutenant, a romance with lovely Thelma Todd and, when there's time, a war! This is a bizarre WWI comedy--mostly because the film seems to have A LOT shoved into a relatively short running time--romance, lots of singing, battle scenes and lots of silliness. While this does come off as a bit rushed and cramped, it makes up for it with a lot of energy and it's hard not to like it. And, for folks who don't know that Charley Chase had a nice singing voice and used it in some of his shorts, this is one of the better chances to see and hear him in action.