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7/10
Forgotten Comics
boblipton9 March 2005
This is a lesser but still very amusing short from Charley Chase's peak period: an ex-girlfriend of Charley's moves into his building with a new husband, and neither Charley's wife nor the new husband are happy with the situation.

Modern viewers might be confused by some of the 1920s dialogue ("I haven't seen you since Heck was a wienie" may need to be explained (see below) and there's a tremendous amount of sexual symbolism involving feet, socks and garters that don't add much to the usual visceral humor, even if they work together well for ex-lit majors like me.

As for the confusing bit of dialogue quoted above, there is a phrase "A dog's age" for a long time. This gave rise to "since Hector was a pup" and since frankfurters are sometimes called "hot dogs" and sometimes "wienies" (from Vienna sausages) and thus this particular bit of snappy dialogue.

As already said, amusing if not Chase's best. Don't start your friends on this one, but if they like his silent comedies, give it a well deserved shot.
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8/10
Forgotten Sweeties was a funny Charley Chase short I watched on the "American Slapstick" DVD
tavm29 June 2009
This Charley Chase short comedy from Hal Roach was the last of the films I watched on the "American Slapstick" DVD collection. In the one, Chase lives across on the same apartment floor as his old sweetheart but they just found out about that and their spouses are none too thrilled about it! By the way, Anita Garvin-known to me usually as a Laurel and Hardy foil-plays Chase's wife. I'll just stop there and just say how consistently funny most of the short is especially near the end when Charley paints faces on his feet! (Watch it if you're curious to what I'm referring to.) The director was James Parrott, Chase's brother. So on that note, I highly recommend Forgotten Sweeties.
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8/10
Another stellar Charley Chase short
planktonrules6 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Charley Chase was a relatively famous and very busy film comedian during the silent and sound eras--appearing in almost 300 films and directing almost 150 (using his real name 'Charles Parrott'). Here, he is directed by James Parrott--who himself acted in quite a few silents but made more of an impression as a director.

Charley and his wife don't realize it but one of his old sweet hearts happened to move in to the adjacent apartment. When Charley bumps into his old girl friend, he naturally hugs her but when the spouses show up they are naturally jealous and BOTH insist that they move immediately. The problem is that in a series of misunderstandings, Charley and his wife keep moving to the same locations of Charley's ex and her husband! In each case, Charley has to resort to some quick thinking to avoid being killed--despite being 100% innocent throughout the film! The movie is very clever and if you suspend disbelief at the impossibility of the coincidences, you'll have a great time watching it. While not quite among his very best films, it's very close and any fan of silent comedy should enjoy it.
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6/10
I'm not complaining!
JohnHowardReid12 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The fifth and final Charley Chase on Alpha's Silent Comedy Classics, Forgotten Sweeties (1927) tends to overwork its simple premise. Neither the budget nor the print is of the same quality as the previous films on this Alpha disc either, but it does have its amusing moments, particularly a sequence in which Charley gets out of an awkward squeeze by painting ghosts on his feet! I enjoyed his business with the four socks too. This short was adequately directed by Chase's younger brother, James Parrott.

The other seven movies on Alpha's full-value 207 minutes disc don't deserve too much attention. Director/star John K. Carpenter's silent homage, Late to Lunch (1987), isn't even listed on IMDb (or anywhere else for that matter), but it has some genuinely amusing touches, plus super-attractive Donna Fox in her movie debut (or maybe her only movie), plus a fairly slick music score.

The Locket or When She Was Twenty (1913) is a mercifully short short which doesn't show comedian John Bunny in either a flattering or an amusing light, although it will spark a few flashes of interest among trolley car buffs. Post No Bills (1923) is Hal Roach's boring one-reel, one-joke, imitation Mack Sennett offering, which starts promisingly, but loses interest once Charley Chase's not-so-talented brother, Paul Parrott, takes the stage. Another deservedly forgotten "comedian", Eddie Boland, supports a bevy of overweight beauties as Roach's Prince Pistachio (1921).

A couple of hideously duped and speeded up 1914 Chaplin one-reelers make up the rest of Alpha's comedy program. There's also a curious publicity short from the Fox studio homing in on its 1925 convention of Fox executives. Tom Mix makes a token appearance in this less-than-satisfactory dupe. But five Charley Chase classics and all this for only $5 - who's complaining!
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