Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Charley Chase short has him and his wife getting a letter from his relatives in Kentucky. Chase, thinking the relatives are rich, travels down there but it turns out they're just a bunch of dumb rednecks. I guess being from Kentucky myself I could get bent out of shape over all the offensive stereotypes but hell, they were funny. All the stereotypes are so over the top that I quite often found myself laughing very hard but with that in mind I'm not sure how others would look at this short. There's some politically incorrect humor and another scene where chase talks about "making love", which I was shocked to see since this film was made after the Pre-Code era.

Charley Chase and wife Constance Bergen think they're Kentucky aristocrats and head down to check out the ancestral lands. Insted they find hillbillies, with chase playing a second role, as an old geezer accused of breach of promise.

Chase did a hillbilly comedy every four or five years, and this is a fine example, with a song, great gags, and Bob Burns, playing his 'bazooka' -- think of what you might get if you tried to make a slide trombone out of plumbing pipes. There's also a great finale, with Chase showing off his eccentric dancing in two styles: not only as himself, but also as the old geezer.

Charley Chase is almost forgotten today. If you are lucky enough to see one of his shorts today, you won't understand why. This one here contains a nice little song preformed by Chase and one dancing sequence, also preformed by Chase. Actually, you see two Chases dance; Charley plays a double role here: himself and "Pappy" a southern relative of Charley's. This underestimated short shows his many skills: He was a great actor (you wouldn't recognize him as "Pappy" if you wouldn't know it was him); he directed many of his own films; he was a great singer, a gifted dancer AND he had a secure sense of comical timing.

He should stand out as one of the greatest comedians ever lived, together with Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Stan Laurel.

So far, I've seen about 15 Charlie Chase shorts and invariably, I have noticed that the sound ones are just not as funny--as if the original silent wonderful formula just isn't there. While 15 or so films does NOT make me a definitive expert (I am sure there are some on IMDb who have seen and reviewed many more), it does seem to show some sort of trend.

This film is a pleasant diversion and that is about it. While it's not annoying like some of the Patsy Kelly-Charlie Chase films (geez, she was annoying and so, so very loud--something Chase never was), the film doesn't have a lot of humor to it. Instead of the usual funny situations, Charlie and his wife go to the hills of Kentucky where they meet up with Charlie's long-lost kin (including an uncle who is also played by Charlie). It's sort of like a live action version of Little Abner or the Beverly Hillbillies with 'corn likker', banjo music, shootin', sleepin' with pigs, etc. It's a cute diversion, but otherwise it's a pretty skipable film that is sure to irritate many Kentuckians!!

PS--In an early bit part, you'll see a very young Alfalfa Switzer in this film (from the Little Rascals).