User Reviews

This is one of Charley's Jimmy Jump one-reelers, produced when he was re-establishing himself as an on-screen presence, but before he went to his beautifully constructed two-reelers. As a result, the characterization and plot are cut down to a bare minimum and the result, while sustained by his wonderful gag construction, is not particularly remarkable.

In this one he is a lightning rod salesman out west. His gags are funny -- he and Eddie Baker have a great sequence passing an incriminating wallet back and forth -- but the overall effect is a bit too rushed. While I enjoyed it, it is not a good vehicle to showcase Chase to someone unfamiliar with him.

This "Jimmy Jump" one-reel comedy from Charley Chase, the fourth in the series, was a big departure from the first three. Charley's character, though now not wearing his usual moustache, remains the same person, but now he's no longer in a realistic situation -- or the realistic result of an unrealistic situation.

Charley plays a traveling salesman of collapsible lightning rods in the old west (a fun joke that not much more comes from) in the wild West. Most of the film plays out as an amped-up parody of Western action films. There are some funny scenes here, as Charley keeps blundering into the middle of a raid and getting stuck with the wad of money that the bandits are after, but nothing really works as well as when the humor comes organically from the situation in a typical Charley Chase comedy.

There was nothing particularly original about satirizing Westerns, and Charley's role here could have been taken by most any other comedian; it doesn't really suit his personal comic talents except in a few scenes. The funniest of these is where he and another man secretly pass off the dangerous money to each other. Mainly though, another comedian could have taken Chase's place here without too much damage.

This short definitely has some funny moments, but it's not up to the quality of what Chase was producing when he was developing his personal style of comedy; I'm glad he saw that too and got back to it!

Powder and Smoke (1924)

*** (out of 4)

Funny spoof has Jimmy Jump heading out West to sell his lightning rods but running into a group of bandits who keep trying to rob a father and his daughter (Blanche Mchaffey). Each time Jimmy gets away he keeps having to return to the house where the robbery starts fresh. Fourth film in the Roach series has Charley Chase without a mustache, which is a pretty strange site considering he's hardly ever without it. With that said, the writing here certainly isn't the greatest but in the end there are enough laughs to make this worth watching for fans of Chase. Every silent comedian did a turn in the West and Chase makes the best out of it as director Parrott knows how to keep the film moving at an extremely fast pace and the way they spoof heroes and villains is pretty funny. Chase once again steals the show as his character always finds one way or another to get himself in trouble and most of the time he ends up starting it all only to have to work his way out. One of the best sequences has the bandits threatening to kill whoever they find the money on so Chase and another man have to try and plant it on one another.