The Panic Is On

Panic is On, The (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Charlie Chase plays a weak man who reads a book on how to get tough and get your way so he sets off in the Depression Era to find a job so that he can marry his girl. This short features all sorts of jokes about the Depression so I'm curious as to how well this thing would have played back in 1931 but today it is pretty funny. The film starts off a little weak but picks up when Chase goes to get a job and ends up getting mixed up with crooks. The highlight is a scene where Chase keeps punching the wall, which is knocking stuff over in the other room.

In the 1920s and 30s, Charley Chase starred in many shorts and directed quite a few as well (using his real name, Charles Parrott). Because he made hundreds of films, by the time the sound era arrived, I think the quality of his output began to wane. Fortunately, however, this sound short from 1931 is one of his better shorts because it abounds with clever writing and wit.

Charley wants to marry a rich man's daughter, however the rich guy tells his daughter that any man who wants to marry her must be a real go-getter and have $50,000 before he'll give consent. Charley hasn't yet met his prospective father-in-law and through a misunderstanding he manages to rob him!! Later, fortunately, he is able to make things right and save the day.

What makes this film really unique is that during the Depression, very few films even mentioned it and those which did never considered using parody. The way this film made fun of the crash and its impact on America is very clever and gives rare insight into the era. Oddly, during 1930-35, the bulk of Hollywood's films seemed to show rich folks and the employed and you'd never have known by watching them that over 1/4 of all men of working age were unemployed. Here, at least, we have a film that dares to admit the truth AND make fun of it in a very clever fashion.