En vadrouille

Charley Chase stars and directs this comedy short from Hal Roach Studios. While the director is listed as Charles Parrott, that is Charley's real name and he often directed himself. Also, it's interesting to see that he looks a good bit older in this short--choosing not to dye his graying hair like he did in many other films made around 1936. However, Charley's singing in the film is pretty typical, as he often sang in his sound shorts and had a very pleasant voice.

The film begins with Charley returning to work after a vacation and telling everyone how awful it was. The rest of the movie is a flashback detailing the trip. He wants to go to Michigan, but his bossy mother-in-law insists they go to California--so it's California! On the way, one disaster after another occur and they never even get to their destination.

As far as Chase films go, this one is about average. Like so many of his later domestic comedies, it's a nice leisurely film with a decent number of laughs. I particularly liked the ending--leaving the audience with a good laugh.

PS--Watch the entire movie closely. I'd rather not say any more--you'll understand.

For a '30's comedy this movie surely lacks laughs. The movie features very little comical moments and mostly relies on the comical situations instead. Problem is that the movie doesn't exactly feature many comical situations either.

The story is pretty weirdly connected and it mixes too many elements. The musical number feels out of place and the characters are not used to their full potential, such as Mrs. Chase and Mother-in-law, who should had been given something more interesting- and funny to do in the movie.

The movie is still sort of fun, due to its charming and gentle approach. It provides the movie with some amusing moments that are just not good or funny enough to leave a real lasting impression.

It's a comedy that still amuses, so I just really can't rate it lower than a 6 out of 10 because of that but I also can't exactly rate it any higher either.

6/10

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The time-honored story line of "On The Wrong Trek" features a family vacation gone awry due to the inclusion of an overbearing mother-in-law ("Mother knows best, dear."). What sets this story apart is the sheer likability and charm of Charley Chase and Rosina Lawrence as the husband and wife on a trip that's not going to go as planned. After many misadventures (and one hilarious episode where a good samaritan's offer of gasoline ends in his car being demolished), Charley and Rosina even provide a wonderful song and dance to a group of hobos. This comedy features gentle charm and family humor that would later become a mainstay in television sitcoms (there is even a funny cameo by Laurel & Hardy, with Chase making fun of Stan). This film is a wonderful introduction to Charley Chase, one of our most overlooked and underrated comedians.

This film has three Our Gang connections besides the fact that Hal Roach is the producer and Charley Chase was the supervising director/general when that series started. First, there's Rosina Lawrence-her first film appearance in a Roach film after stumbling at other studios-who would soon become Spanky, Alfalfa's, etc. new teacher. Here, she also displays her singing and dancing talents as well as her beauty. Second, there's Clarence Wilson-who previously appeared in Shrimps for a Day and Little Sinner and would eventually make his final film appearance in Come Back, Miss Phipps-as someone Chase gets in trouble with. And thirdly, there's Harold Law who'd been writing gags for the series about this time and would eventually get co-writing credit, with Robert McGowan though not the famed director of the OG series but his same-named nephew, on the M-G-M-only entries as Hal Law. He's co-director here with Chase, credited as Charles Parrott. Anyway, this was a funny foray concerning a trip that goes wrong. Like I said, there's also a nice song-and-dance here with Ms. Lawrence and Chase in the middle of this. Oh, and watch out for a cameo of a couple of famous comics...

Charley Chase, wife Rosina Lawrence, and mother-in-law Bonita Weber take a vacation in California. Well, they intend to, but comedy intervenes.

Chase's last short for Hal Roach is a fine one, with comics from more than 20 years in the movies coming to lend a hand; even Laurel & Hardy show up. Like many of Chase's shorts in his last season, it seems to possess a substantial subtext, as well as a substantial car-wrecking gag; certainly the way it ends, with Clarence Wilson kicking Charley through a door can be seen as a metaphor for the way Hal Roach treated him.

Chase was not through. He would go to Columbia, directing and starring, and was on his way to developing a fine style that combined his dapper, story-oriented comedy with the brutal slapstick producer Jules White championed. But even that would be cut short when he died on June 2, 1940 at the age of 46, having appeared in more than 240 shorts, seventeen movies, and directing more than 170.