On the Wrong Trek

ON THE WRONG TREK

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

Forced to take part in a Californian driving holiday with his eager-to-please wife (Rosina Lawrence) and domineering mother-in-law (Bonita Weber), Our Hero (Charley Chase) encounters a series of crises which ruin his vacation.

Featuring a brief cameo from Laurel and Hardy (repaying a debt to star Chase, who had appeared in some of their earlier pictures), ON THE WRONG TREK follows its protagonists through Depression-era California, where itinerant workmen are dismissed as 'bums' by law enforcement officers and refused permission to cross state boundaries, and where desperate criminals stage fake traffic accidents to ensnare unwitting victims. Unfortunately, Weber isn't nearly as domineering as she needs to be, which renders Chase's reluctant obedience all the more difficult to comprehend, and most of the comic situations (including an unlikely song and dance number between Chase and Lawrence at a gathering of hobo's!) are only fitfully amusing. Chase co-directed the film with Harold Law.

Charley Chase, wife Rosina Lawrence, and mother-in-law Bonita Weber take a vacation in California. Well, they intend to, but comedy intervenes.

Chase's last short for Hal Roach is a fine one, with comics from more than 20 years in the movies coming to lend a hand; even Laurel & Hardy show up. Like many of Chase's shorts in his last season, it seems to possess a substantial subtext, as well as a substantial car-wrecking gag; certainly the way it ends, with Clarence Wilson kicking Charley through a door can be seen as a metaphor for the way Hal Roach treated him.

Chase was not through. He would go to Columbia, directing and starring, and was on his way to developing a fine style that combined his dapper, story-oriented comedy with the brutal slapstick producer Jules White championed. But even that would be cut short when he died on June 2, 1940 at the age of 46, having appeared in more than 240 shorts, seventeen movies, and directing more than 170.

This film has three Our Gang connections besides the fact that Hal Roach is the producer and Charley Chase was the supervising director/general when that series started. First, there's Rosina Lawrence-her first film appearance in a Roach film after stumbling at other studios-who would soon become Spanky, Alfalfa's, etc. new teacher. Here, she also displays her singing and dancing talents as well as her beauty. Second, there's Clarence Wilson-who previously appeared in Shrimps for a Day and Little Sinner and would eventually make his final film appearance in Come Back, Miss Phipps-as someone Chase gets in trouble with. And thirdly, there's Harold Law who'd been writing gags for the series about this time and would eventually get co-writing credit, with Robert McGowan though not the famed director of the OG series but his same-named nephew, on the M-G-M-only entries as Hal Law. He's co-director here with Chase, credited as Charles Parrott. Anyway, this was a funny foray concerning a trip that goes wrong. Like I said, there's also a nice song-and-dance here with Ms. Lawrence and Chase in the middle of this. Oh, and watch out for a cameo of a couple of famous comics...

Charley Chase recounts his experiences of his doomed trip to California with his wife and mother-in-law to his work colleagues. Apparently it was hell from the very beginning as his in-law nags and treats him like a hapless know-nothing. His wife always backs up this nagging by saying 'mother knows best'.

Listening to her advice only lands them in more trouble. After being held up by highway thieves, Charley accidentally trashes some old geezers car, refuses to pick up two apparently desperate hitchhikers (Laurel and Hardy no less) and is barred from entering California as the border patrol think he's just a hobo.

It's an amusing short, with some laugh out loud scenes. It comes to an abrupt end and I'm not sure about the spontaneous musical number, but pretty entertaining nonetheless.

On the Wrong Trek (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Charley Chase comedy has him telling of his vacation to California, which turned into a disaster. This was my first sound film with Chase and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I've always enjoyed Chase as a comedian and thought his comic timing here matched what we saw in some of his better silent shorts. There's really nothing too original but the actor pulls everything off nicely. There's a wonderful cameo with Laurel and Hardy as well.

I viewed this in the UK, 21-disc set, which is a dream come true for fans of Laurel and Hardy. The price has recently dropped on the set so any fan should certainly look into picking it up.