The Big Squawk

Charley Chase is having woman troubles. He loves Nina Quartero, but she's making him jealous by dancing with other men. On the advice of pal Jay Eaton, he goes to his cabin; Jay tells Nina he's there with a lover, and they head off to stop him. What none of them don't know is that Gale Henry and a bevy of Roach starlets have taken shelter in the cabin.

Chase's first talkie is a fairly polished one for 1929, given the still-primitive technology, with a good musical background. As usual, Chase offers a two-act farce in 20 minutes, with a decent story and gags peppered in. The first one is the odd sounds coming out of the saxophone he plays in the opening. The second major one has him struggling to get a sodden necktie off; those of us who deal with that bit of haberdashery are aware how difficult they are to untie when wet. In between, there are Charley and the ladies missing each others' presence as he wanders through the cabin, until Gale Henry and he come face to face.

It's not a great comedy short; it would take another season and Thelma Todd for Charley to get up to speed. It is a nice transition piece from his man-about-town silent persona to a more staid sound character.

"The Big Squawk" is sort of a transition film...one that was a silent but they added music, sound effects and re-short a few scenes to make it a sound movie. Soon, this same year, they'd make all-talking films.

Charley is upset. His girlfriend is at a party with him and she's flirting in order to make him jealous. Charley's friend suggests Charley turn the tables on her...and make HER jealous. So the plan is to have Charley head to his friend's cabin and then the friend would tell the girlfriend that Charley is there with a woman in order to make her go running to him. The problem is that it's a rainy night and a boatload of women get stuck and hide out in the very same cabin.

This one has a few laughs but I couldn't help but think that more could have been made of the women in the cabin than they did in the film...a few more laughs at the very least. But it's pleasant and diverting and worth seeing.