Fate's Fathead

"Fate's Fathead" is Charley Chase short (also directed by him using his real name, Charles Parrot) that starts off very well but ends, well, a bit dopey.

Charley is happily married and you can tell, as he and his wife awaken and begin singing together. At first, it seemed a bit sappy but the lyrics were cute. Then, Charley goes out and on the way to the florist to buy some flowers for the wife, he walks in the vacinity of a very weird woman. The woman thinks every man is making passes at her...and when Charley is trying to make a baby smile, she thinks he's making passes at her! Then, when she leaves the park, he goes in the same direction. She thinks he's following her and again and again, she thinks he's DEFINITELY a masher. But the whole time, Charley is just going about his day and couldn't care less about the woman! This part of the film is very good and I loved it.

Later, Charley arrives home and the wife greets him. To his surprise, moments later, the crazed woman from the park arrives, as it seems she and Charley's wife knew each other from school! What follows is both funny and stupid...and ends with some ridiculous slapstick as the maid (Hattie McDaniel) goes off on him with a shotgun! Why? See the film and find out for yourself.

As I mentioned above, the portion where Charley is walking and the lady thinks he's following her is very clever. But when she arrives at their home, there are fewer laughs and the whole thing seems a bit forced. Well worth seeing but also highly uneven.

It's always a pleasure when Charley Chase sings in his Roach shorts and this one starts with him and Dorothy Appleby warbling one of Charley's songs, "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee." This is one of Charley's typically fine comedies of embarrassment. Dorothy Granger thinks the happily married Charley is a masher and shows up at his home for totally unrelated reasons. Charley's comic panic and subsequent delusion are up to his usual standards.

People unfamiliar with Hal Roach shorts may notice the wipes that editor William Terhune uses as chapter changes. Although wipes have fallen out of favor, they offer an interesting Art Moderne touch to the proceedings.