Awards

• Winner of Huffington Post Best Film Books of 2013 .
• Winner of Huffington Post Best Film Books of 2013.

Overview

Charley Chase began his film career in early 1913 working as a comedian, writer, and director at the Al Christie studios under his real name, Charles Parrott. Chase then joined Mack Sennett's Keystone studio in 1914, costarring in early films of Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, as well as directing the frenetic Keystone Cops. By 1924 he was starring in a series of one-reel comedies at Hal Roach studios, graduating to two-reel films the following year. In 1929, he made the transition to sound films. Along with the continuing popularity of his own short comedies, Chase often directed the films of others, including several popular Three Stooges efforts. In The Charley Chase Talkies: 1929-1940, James L. Neibaur examines, film-by-film, the comedian's seventy-nine short subjects at Roach and Columbia studios. The first book to examine any portion of Chase’s filmography, this volume discusses the various methods Chase employed in his earliest sound films, his variations on common themes, his use of music, and the modification of his character as he reached the age of forty. Neibaur also acknowledges the handful of feature film appearances Chase made during this period. A filmmaker whom Time magazine once declared was receiving the most fan mail of any comedian in movies, Charley Chase remains quite popular among classic film buffs, as well as historians and scholars. A detailed look into the work of an artist whose career straddled the silent and sound eras, The Charley Chase Talkies will be appreciated by those interested in film comedy of the 1920s and 30s.

Full Product Details

9780810891616

Table of Contents

Reviews

The bulk of The Charley Chase Talkies is made up of a film by film examination of the sound shorts produced by Chase. Each movie is given its due, with an informative who-what-when section and a thoughtful examination of how each fits into Chase's overall body of work. Tracking both the evolution of his direction and the growth of his talents as an actor, this overview is as rewarding as it is informative. Particularly interesting were the examinations of the difference between the films that Chase both directed and starred in, as opposed to those where he acted under the direction of another. For fans of Chase, The Charley Chase Talkies will expand and illuminate your understanding of his remarkable talents. Pretty Clever Films Neibaur's knowledge and passion for the subject shines through in his writing, making this more than your average film-by-film study. Consistently interesting and entertaining, the book is filled with enough knowledge to satisfy any film buff. The best part is that this segment of Chase's career hasn't been so thoroughly studied until now, so the information and Neibaur's analyses are fresh and original. The choice to concentrate only on Chase's talkies was a good one as well, allowing much more room for a more in-depth study in what still ended up being over a 300 page book... Neibaur's [has written an] impressively thorough book. This is required reading for any fan of Charley Chase, comedy, or just film in general. Examiner

Author Information

James L. Neibaur is a film historian and educator who has written several books on film, including The Fall of Buster Keaton (2010), Early Charlie Chaplin (2011), and The Silent Films of Harry Langdon, 1923-1928 (2012), all published by Scarecrow Press.

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