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Becoming
Charley Chase
(1915-1926)

Contents: He Wouldn’t Stay Down (1915), Love in Armor (1915), Love, Loot and Crash (1915), Peanuts and Bullets (1915), The Rent Jumpers (1915), Settled at the Seaside (1915), A Versatile Villain (1915), The Flirts (1919), A Rolling Stone (1919), Married to Order (1920), The Dumb Bell (1922), The Courtship of Miles Sandwich (1923), Dear Ol’ Pal (1923), Jus’ Passin’ Through (1923), Accidental Accidents (1924), At First Sight (1924), Don’t Forget (1924), The ’Fraidy Cat (1924), Hard Knocks (1924), Jeffries, Jr. (1924), Just a Minute (1924), One of the Family (1924), Outdoor Pajamas (1924), The Poor Fish (1924), Powder and Smoke! (1924), Publicity Pays (1924), Seeing Nellie Home (1924), Sittin’ Pretty (1924), Stolen Goods (1924), A Ten Minute Egg (1924), Too Many Mammas (1924), Young Oldfield (1924), Bad Boy (1925), Big Red Riding Hood (1925), Fighting Fluid (1925), Hello Baby! (1925), Is Marriage the Bunk? (1925), Looking for Sally (1925), No Father to Guide Him (1925), The Rat’s Knuckles (1925), Should Husbands Be Watched? (1925) and Soft Pedal (1926).

The most comprehensive collection of Charley Chase films yet produced covers his career from Keystone through his peak period at the Hal Roach Studios.

All Day Entertainment
2009 DVD edition

Becoming Charley Chase (1915-1926), black & white and color-toned black & white, 460 minutes total, not rated, including He Wouldn’t Stay Down (1915), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Love in Armor (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Love, Loot and Crash (1915), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Peanuts and Bullets (1915), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, The Rent Jumpers (1915), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, Settled at the Seaside (1915), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, A Versatile Villain (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, The Flirts (1919), black & white, 22 minutes, not rated, A Rolling Stone (1919), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, Married to Order (1920), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated, The Dumb Bell (1922), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, The Courtship of Miles Sandwich (1923), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, Dear Ol’ Pal (1923), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Jus’ Passin’ Through (1923), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, Accidental Accidents (1924) [surviving fragment], black & white, 2 minutes, not rated, At First Sight (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Don’t Forget (1924) [surviving fragment], black & white, 3 minutes, not rated, The ’Fraidy Cat (1924), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, Hard Knocks (1924), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, Jeffries, Jr. (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Just a Minute (1924), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, One of the Family (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Outdoor Pajamas (1924), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, The Poor Fish (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Powder and Smoke! (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Publicity Pays (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Seeing Nellie Home (1924) [surviving footage], black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Sittin’ Pretty (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Stolen Goods (1924), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, A Ten Minute Egg (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Too Many Mammas (1924), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Young Oldfield (1924), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Bad Boy (1925), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, Big Red Riding Hood (1925), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Fighting Fluid (1925), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Hello Baby! (1925), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Is Marriage the Bunk? (1925), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Looking for Sally (1925), color-toned black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, No Father to Guide Him (1925), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, The Rat’s Knuckles (1925), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Should Husbands Be Watched? (1925), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Soft Pedal (1926), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, and The Parrott Chase (2009), color and black & white, 45 minutes, not rated.

All Day Entertainment, distributed by VCI Entertainment,
8562, UPC 0-89859-85622-8, ISBN 1-55739-587-X.
Four single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame and windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 7.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard four-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 28 July 2009.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This DVD collection of Charley Chase films is an excellent companion to the two Chase collections from Kino International released in 2004 and 2005. The discs have been mastered from a combination of 35mm, 16mm and 8mm source prints, which are occasionally poor to generally very-good in quality, with a few exceptions at both extremes. One film (Just a Minute) shows analog videotape mistracking throughout the picture.

The films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Ben Model, Maurice Saylor and the Snark Ensemble, Andrew Earle Simpson, Redwine Jazz, and the West End Jazz Band.

Highly recommended but hard-to-find these days, even as a used item.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.