Life Hesitates at 40

This Charley Chase film has one of the strangest and most unbelievable plots I can recall for one of his movies. He apparently suffers from periods where everything seems to stop. Then the viewer is treated to several occasions where the camera freezes and the dialog continues as if they didn't stop at all. No one but Charley seems to notice this and, frankly, it seemed very contrived and weird...and not in a good way. It's never particularly funny nor does it make any sense.

In the past, I have adored Charley Chase films and have tried to watch them every time Turner Classic Movies shows them. However, oddly, today almost every Chase film they showed was lame--really poor and well below the quality I'd come to expect. Apparently, they showed the best ones first! If you do watch it, look for Alfalfa Switzer (from The Little Rascals) and James Finlayson (a frequent supporting actor in Laurel & Hardy films).

"Life Hesitates at 40" showcases the brilliant comic timing and writing of Charley Chase. The photography and sound are ingeniously integrated into the plot(in an avant-garde manner)way beyond the standard for two-reel comedies of any period. The chemistry between Charley Chase and Joyce Compton makes for an enjoyable, quiet verbal parrying that is reminiscent of the banter found in screwball comedies that were just beginning when "Life Hesitates at 40" was filmed. Charley Chase (in this and other shorts) displays such a mastery of comic situation, dialogue, and slapstick that no one else in short subjects equalled. He could truly be called the "father of screwball comedy". Joyce Compton showed in "Life Hesitates at 40" that she could play a smart, charming, knowing comic heroine, a role she rarely got to play.

Life Hesitates at 40 (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charley Chase goes to see a doctor (James Finlayson) because he's suffering from some strange medical condition where everything around him stands still and then he begins to hear made-up conversations with people. This fake conversations lead him to a woman's house where her boyfriend isn't too fond to see him there. I've seen quite a few Chase films and this one here is without question one of the strangest. I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on the film but while it isn't a complete success I do feel there were enough big laughs to make it worth sitting through. When the time "stands still" all that basically happens is the screen freezes while the dialogue between the characters continue. This method looks incredibly cheap and silly but it often leads to some big laughs. One such occasion is when Chase wins a gun and his girl's ex-boyfriend calls him yellow during one of these spells. This leads to a big fight with Chase making a complete fool of himself. Another highlight is the sequence where Chase shows up at the woman's house and she doesn't even know who he is. Chase is in good form and works well with Joyce Compton. Finlayson doesn't get that good of a role but it's always nice seeing him. Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer quickly appears during one scene.

Charley Chase recounts to doctor James Finlayson a peculiar condition: every once in a while, time freezes; and sometimes, when it freezes, he holds a conversation with whoever he is with, with major consequences.

Chase liked to do these weird, scientifictional comedies every once in a while, and this one started off his final year at Roach. Joyce Compton.is fine in her last of three shorts as Charley's leading lady. Fin gives a couple of glares, and unlike the other reviewers, I think this is a great one; certainly, with Roach shutting down shorts production, there's a good deal of real-life subtext in this one.

"Life Hesitates at 40" showcases the sophisticated, dazzling comic writing, timing, and direction that characterized most of Charley Chase's work. The use of sound and stop-motion photography is arresting in its use and far ahead of its time. A delightful romp in which Charley Chase's character can hear what people are thinking is inventive and fun in the playing of the actors and editing. The chemistry between Charley Chase and Joyce Compton is beautiful to watch, a quiet but sexy verbal sparring much like what one could hear in screwball comedies that were just coming out in 1936, when this short was released. Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (recently joining Our Gang) nearly steals the scenes he plays with Chase.

The photography shows great polish and attention to set design. Charley Chase's work in "Life Hesitates at 40" and other shorts going back to the mid-1920's illustrates a sophistication in scripting and playing that prefigures screwball comedy!