Fallen Arches

I am a huge fan of Charley Chase and have seen a bunch of his shorts. And, whenever Turner Classic Movies shows another one I have not seen, I am sure to watch--as he's very funny and very under-appreciated. However, even the best comedians make a poor film now and again...and this one, aside from a few decent gags is pretty bad--mostly because the main plot device is just dumb.

Charley's boss (Billy Gilbert) is frustrated as Charley is always taking people literally and getting into trouble. While this idea sounds good, he was 100% literal ALL THE TIME--and this stretched the idea well past the funny point. In addition, the frustrated boss seems to always be saying things that Charley will take too literally. Can any boss be that dumb? Can any employee be that dumb? Well, even Stan Laurel and Curly Howard's characters weren't THAT stupid. As a result, I found this short too long! The only really good gag was the one involving Charley being offered a lift--that's cute!