Outdoor Pajamas

"Outdoor Pajamas" is a film whose plight seems extremely slight today. Jimmie Jump (Charley Chase) has overslept and missed his wedding! Instead of rushing to the church when he awakens, he jumps out the window to chase down an out of control wagon. He saves the lady but ends up across town in his pajamas. At the same time, a lady is angry at her husband and sends her brother a letter saying how this husband "beats me"...though she is the bruiser in that relationship. So how does Jimmie, who's running from the cops, soon blunder into this crazy situation? See the film.

While I love Charley Chase, it sure seems as if some of the film is missing...although despite this, the ending is pretty cute. Worth seeing if you are already a fan...otherwise there are simply better and more complete Charley Chase comedies out there.

Charlie Chase's early series of one-reel "Jimmie Jump" one reelers can almost be seen in retrospect as auditions for his more developed later two and three-reel comedies. However, in them he demonstrated a mastery of the gag and comic form that he could suit to a ten-minute film just as easily as a longer film. The is one of the best of the Jimmie Jump shorts, and it's extremely hilarious.

In a few simple strokes, Chase starts the outlandish-but-plausible wheels in motions -- he has slept through the start of his own wedding and arrives in his pajamas, leading to an ingenious series of gags that revolve around the public's outraged reactions to his indecent dress (including a wonderful tracking shot in which is is followed walking down the street and followed by a gradually increasing number of shocked onlookers), then a complication in which he is pulled into helping a strange woman into fending off an encyclopedia. Here the minute or so of setup material from the beginning is perfectly dovetailed in, with Charlie becoming entangled in a confusion of identity involving an enraged brother out to kill -- he thinks -- Charlie.

It's all very, very funny and admirable, leading to a surprise meta- movie ending that lets the filmmakers of the hook for closing the movie. There's enough plot for a two-hour movie in this nine-minute short, plus a lot of great gags for good measure, and it never feels rushed or crammed. That's tough to do.

Outdoor Pajamas (1924)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely funny Roach comedy has Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) waking up late for his wedding so in the mad rush he ends up leaving his house only dressed in his pajamas. As he makes his way to the church he finds one disaster after another. As I make my way through the Jimmy Jump series I must admit that I found a few more weaker ones than I expected but this one here is a real gem that contains plenty of big laughs in its short 9-minute running time. The best moments happen when a cop tries to arrest Jimmy but he keeps managing to hide at the right time only to then lose his hiding place in a series of great gags. Another excellent sequence involves Jimmy playing the husband to a different woman, which ends up getting him chased by three men all with guns. This leads to a very funny ending with a nice little twist that I won't ruin. Chase is at the top of his game here as he really does a great job with this character and brings plenty of laughs. The supporting cast works great as well and they all make for a nice little film.