Nells Reviews and Observations: charley

April 14, 2020

REVIEW: Charley's Aunt (1941)

Charley's Aunt (1941)

Charley's Aunt began life in 1892 as a British stage play, and has been performed in one form or another basically ever since. At least eleven film versions have been produced around the world. So, given the long-term popularity of this one, I won't bother going into the plot here.

The long and short of it is Oxford University undergraduate Lord Fancourt Babberley is conned into wearing a dress and impersonating fellow student Charley Wykeham's aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, a rich widow from Brazil, in order to act as chaperone for two girlfriends. Things get more and more complicated from there, with two different fathers competing for the fake aunt and her money, etc.

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Anyone who has ever listened to a good quantity of Jack Benny's radio shows knows he once played Charley's Aunt. There were many gags regarding the costume itself. But it took me until this year to acquire and watch the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives DVD (2018).

The first few scenes almost made me not watch the rest of it. Jack trying to sound English was, well… sad. Sure enough, after doing a little reading about the original play, I found out that those very scenes were in fact different than the original story, and thankfully things picked up a bit once Jack Benny put on the dress… and that fake accent seemed to fall by the wayside as well!

Most of the casting is good, though Benny does seem a bit out of place at times, as does James Ellison, who also doesn’t pull off being English. But Benny does an admiral job as Aunt Donna Lucia, especially with the sight gags. I’m not used to seeing Jack MOVE so much! I certainly don’t associate him with slapstick. Laird Cregar is convincing as Ellison’s father, but was actually under 30, younger than the man he was playing the father of! The three female leads (Kay Francis, Anne Baxter, Arleen Whelan) look stunning in their costumes.

If you pay attention, you can almost imagine which scenes could be the beginning and end of on-stage acts, just by the amount of time spent on one set.

Get past the beginning, and you end up with a fun little movie with some good sight gags.

If you would like to watch Charley's Aunt on DVD, the UPC is 024543586173 (20th Century Fox)

March 1, 2020

REVIEW: His Bridal Fright (1940)

His Bridal Freight
Columbia (1940)

Charley Chase goes to visit his girl Mary, but her father J.B. instructs the maid not to let him into the house. So he tries to sneak in and manages to mess up J.B.'s stamp collection, which is the "finest... west of the Rockies". J.B. gets a phone call regarding a carrier pigeon stamp, of which there are only four in the world, and that he'd pay $10,000 for.

In order to win over J.B., Charley says he will form his own collection, starting with one of the "Pigemania Pigeons". Not knowing where to find stamps, he tries stealing letters from a mailbox, which lands him in jail. He asks a Chinese man if his letter has stamps from China on them, but alas, it was mailed in Brooklyn. He also asks a Hindu man, and an Italian, who tells him about mail-order brides. He figures he can write to the women in a "catalog" and get stamps from all over the world.

The idea works, and Charley ends up with piles of letters with stamps on them. Then, while going through the latest batch of mail with Sam (his valet?), Sam mentions he got a letter from an uncle via carrier pigeon from Pigoenmania. He shows Charley, who tips Sam a quarter after almost telling him the stamp is worth $10,000.

Of course, the stamp manages to escape from Charley, leading to some silent-era style gags. But he gets it back, and now in J.B.'s good graces, Charley prepares to marry Mary.

Before the wedding, Charley waits for Mary and her father to arrive so they can drive to the church. But women he wrote to begin to arrive at his apartment. Mary and J.B. arrive outside and Charley hides the women in a car, which he accidentally locks bumpers with. A wild ride ensues, ending with everyone in "deep water".

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Charley's search for postage stamps is rather cute (especially to this stamp collecting-fan!), with some good, silent-era style gags, but the last part of the film, where he attempts to get married, slows things down too much. Then there are the Columbia low-budget special effects, which we all know about from our youth watching Three Stooges shorts!

Bud Jamison is his usual Columbia-self, but Iris Meredith's performance is wooden. And, as usual in these shorts, she is way too young to be engaged to Chase.

Modern audiences may not like the scenes with the Chinese, Italian, and Hindu men. But the whole idea is Charley is looking to see if they have any mail from their home countries.

Watching this short is a little depressing, given Chase passed away soon after. While he appears a bit older than his 46 years and had been in bad health, he actually seems full of pep. Watch him look at the stamp from Bali, for instance.

If only he had lived longer, who knows what Chase could have done for screen comedy, if only behind the cameras...