Fast Work

Although his early sound shorts are not among his best work, this Charley Chase short from 1930 is carried along not only by Charley being goofily in love, but by his co-star, June Marlowe, now best remembered from her work as June Crabtree, the teacher in the best of the early sound OUR GANG shorts. Here, in her natural brunette hair instead of the blonde wig from the other series, she is equally charming, playing herself.

They are ably assisted in the meet cute plot by longtime Sennett hand Dell Henderson as an escaped lunatic that Charley mistake for June's father -- she insists that she will not see Charley without her father's permission. Charley's comic takes as he tries to please her purported father as Henderson acts madder and madder is a typical piece of Chase zaniness.

I have seen quite a few Charley Chase films...about 150 or so. And, it's obvious if I've seen so many that I like his shorts. However, occasionally he made a stinker...such as many of his films for Columbia. While "Fast Work" isn't exactly bad, it is compared to many of the shorts he made for Hal Roach Studios.

When the story begins, Charley is being a boorish jerk and is sexually harassing a lady...and wonders why she isn't then interested in going out with him. To get rid of him, she eventually tells him that she WILL go out with him IF he gets her father's permission. In the meantime, a man has escaped from a mental asylum....and he introduces himself to Charley as the lady's father. He is NOT and the pair have an adventure at a local restaurant.

The problem with this film is that it really isn't all that funny. Some might also think it's in bad taste by making fun of the mentally ill. Overall, it's not a particularly great film and, inexplicably, Charley remade the story when he went to Columbia ("Many Sappy Returns", 1938)...and, surprisingly, I think it's a tad funnier than "Fast Work".