Skinny the Moocher

I recently purchased the first Charley Chase DVD collection from Columbia Pictures. So far, most are enjoyable but not nearly as funny or original as his older Hal Roach Studio shorts. However, "Skinny the Moocher" is an exception--it's pretty awful. Unlike a typical Chase short, this one has a lot of slapstick and the plot itself is pretty limp at best.

When the short begins, Charley's fiancé calls to ask why he's not at their engagement party. It seems that Charley is heavily in debt and has been avoiding creditors--including his valet. Later, he makes it to her house--with creditors in tow. He's able to eventually pay them off (after a lot of padding and a dumb sequence where he pretends to be a chef), but his valet is still in tow--and he tells everyone it's his father (why, I have no idea). The kleptomaniac valet is a puzzler--and his character make no sense. Nor, does it make sense when cops show up and begin making illegal searches of everyone. Eventually, this confusing and unfunny mess of a film ends.

This film looks unfinished--like the plot was minimal and they just tossed in situations at random. Additionally, it felt like a 'low comedy'--some sort of physical comedy that the Stooges would make. Had this NOT been a Charley Chase film, this might have worked--as is, it's a chore to watch.

Charley Chase seems to be channeling a Three Stooges comedy here. He's a formerly rich man heavily in debt to his kleptomaniac valet, trying to get to a party to celebrate his engagement to his usual Columbia co-star, Ann Doran. It starts out at a Stooges level of hysteria and speeds up as it goes along, until Charley is caught in a donnybrook and knocked into a wall repeatedly.

In his dozen years at the Roach studios, Charley starred in marvelous farces that were still full stories. This one seems to be an anecdote, seeming cut down and missing something because of that. Perhaps he and director Del Lord were experimenting or maybe Jules White was bearing down. Still, the gags are funny, including one the Stooges would do several times and while it's by no means a great Charley Chase comedy, it is funny on its own terms.