Courting Trouble

Old Sennett hand Charles Murray was back in the fold for the disastrously obnoxious HYPNOTIZED for the first time in eight years, so he made this short for Sennett in which the King of Comedy plundered the script of Harry Langdon's worst feature, THE CHASER. The result is watchable but not terribly good -- I think Sennett never really latched onto the rhythms that sound demanded as opposed to the sight gags of silent comedy -- but at least Murray seems engaged by the idea and carries it off in his own direction, as he uses his enforced female attire to help a friend out of an argument with his girlfriend -- which leads into problems with her husband. Like most Sennett plots, it veers all over the place. Too bad it's not better.

I appreciated the review by boblipton here on IMDB, as he astutely points out that "Courting Trouble" is a remake of the full-length Harry Langdon film, "The Chaser". While I have seen "The Chaser" years ago, the connection wasn't noticed until I read boblipton's review....and he's 100% right, it is a remake...and a not particularly inspired one. One of the biggest problems is that even the original story wasn't very good....so why bother remaking it?!

When the story begins, Charlie (Charlie Murray) is fighting with his overbearing mother-in-law. The old battleaxe lives with Charlie and his wife and she orders Charlie about as if she's his wife. Charlie wants to go out to the lodge meeting with his pals...and the mother-in-law insists he stay home. An argument (which is way overdone) results but Charlie is able to get away thanks to a friend who pretends to be a cop.

The next day, Charlie hasn't come home, as he was out carousing and was arrested. The wife and awful mother-in-law talk to the judge about this and the judge announces he's going to teach Charlie a lesson...and sentences him to stay home, dress as a woman and do all the housework!

This plot is absolutely ludicrous....and not even in a funny way. It's just a bad plot. While I did enjoy seeing Murray dressed as a lady (he pulled it off awfully convincingly), the story isn't even second-rate. Not exactly a must-see, this film is strictly for patient fans of old time comedy.