The Caretaker's Daughter (1925) User Reviews

Mildly interesting

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 7 May 2007]

The film is a very mild comedy and begins with a not especially funny scene involving his car not quite making it up the hill. Later, he gets pulled into the middle of helping a friend out of trouble and Charley's wife thinks he's cheating on her. In the end, Charley and three others dress alike in a mildly funny segment, but other than that it's a pretty forgettable film that just didn't have a lot of laughs. And while this isn't one of the funnier silent comedies ever made nor is it one of Charley Chase's better ones, it is interesting because you get to see Charley's real-life brother, James Parrot, acting with him. Both brothers were frequently used by Hal Roach as actors in the silent era and both worked as directors for Roach as well (Charley using his real name, Charles Parrot).

My advice is try to see another Charley Chase film--he made many wonderful films and this only adequate movie might give you the wrong impression.

Slow start but the pace picks up nicely

[Paularoc · 6/10 · 1 September 2013]

This one gets off to an overly slow start but the pace picks up nicely when Charley tricks an ex-con into buying his wreck of a car. As it happens, Charley's boss is having an affair with the ex-cons wife and asks Charley to drive the wife to his lodge. But following them to the lodge, in addition to the boss are the ex-con and Charley's wife. Already at the lodge are the caretaker and a "prohibition sleuth," played by Jimmie Finlayson. Charley introduces the wife to the sleuth as the caretaker's daughter. The short then becomes quite frenetic with Charley, the sleuth and the wife all disguising themselves as the caretaker. The timing of the disguised characters and the caretaker as they enter and exit scenes is excellent and provides the best moments of humor. A satisfying and entertaining short but not as much fun as some Chase shorts I've seen.

Two-reel perfection from an underrated silent clown.

[jayjerry · 10/10 · 10 March 2001]

I just saw The Caretaker's Daughter at The Silent Movie Theater in L.A. before a screening of Harold Lloyd's Hot Water. As with so many of director Leo McCarey's two-reelers (including a number of Laurel and Hardy gems), this Charley Chase short is comic perfection. It starts out as a rather simple comedy of misunderstanding, then escalates to full-blown farce. McCarey's light touch is a perfect fit with Chase's everyman persona. Though laugh-out-loud hilarious, the story also makes room for moments of subtle humor. Chase isn't a daredevil physical comedian like his more famous contemporaries, but his priceless reactions and deft timing have definitely stood the test of time. If you can track down any of his work on video, by all means do so. If you're a fan of classic comedy, you won't be disappointed.

One of the Funniest Shorts Ever Made!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 23 April 2010]

Next up is one of my favorite Chases, "The Caretaker's Daughter" (1925). In fact, I laughed so much that I rewound my DVD and played it again. I laughed so much the second time, that – you guessed it! – I played it yet again. And the following night, I ran it a fourth time! So why isn't everyone as rapt in this movie as I am? Charley pulls such inimitable expressions of frustration and surprise and his timing is so impeccably polished; plus he's given such wonderful support by George Siegmann (any movie with George Siegmann is a must-see movie), Symona Boniface (as Siegmann's wife), Katherine Grant (Charley's wife – now there was a comic talent that Hollywood hardly ever used to advantage), James Parrott (the caretaker – a brilliant comedy writer as all Laurel and Hardy fans will readily testify), William J. Kelly (a charismatic stage actor), and last and also least as far as importance to the plot goes – except of course for a really neat fade-out – James Finlayson. When you compare the Chase two-reelers to other Roach shorts, you can see they were produced on a really top-budget by supremely gifted directors like Leo McCarey. So why doesn't everyone like "The Caretaker's Daughter?" I think a person's reaction has far more to do with how the movie is presented than the movie itself. Is the print attractive to look at, is it projected at the right speed, and above all, is it accompanied by a really accomplished musical score – not just canned music but preferably timed, scored and played specifically for this movie? In this case of the Chase shorts, the DVD manufacturers have really excelled themselves by hiring Don Kinnier, a really on-the-ball musician whose score is not only most foot-tappingly pleasant to listen to, but really augments the mood, the action, the laughs of every minute of this wonderful short of shorts, "The Caretaker's Daughter".

Take care to see it

[hte-trasme · 10/10 · 22 January 2010]

Of the Charley Chase comedies I've seen, "The Caretaker's Daughter" is one of the goofiest, funniest, and most effective at taking a comic situation and escalating it to its absurd end point until it becomes completely memorable and absolutely hilarious. The journey is as enjoyable as the destination, but it should be difficult to forget the sight of this short's conclusion.

It starts with an excellent sight gag of a car sliding up and down a hill due to its bad brakes, made many times funnier by its transformation into a characteristic Chase gag about frustration. Katherine Grant plays very well opposite him and helps carry the great sequence where each realizes the other is smeared from blowing on the engine. The topping gag to the sequence is much enhanced by what come before it -- Charley's use of the principles of comedy in order to be actually funny is pretty much unmatched.

After Charley gets himself in trouble with a gangster by pawning off his wrecked car on him, and if wife by accidentally agreeing to drive the girl who's married to the gangster and dating his boss to a cottage, what follows is a very Charley Chase variation on the silent comedy canard of the car chase. Instead of actually watching the car chase we find out that five cars full of people angry at each other for mistaken reasons are following each other -- and meet up with them at their destination.

Here, Chase takes the absurd possibilities engendered by this embarrassing situation and draws them ten-times life size for maximum effect. Chase's brother James Parott, himself the star of a previous series at Hal Roach, is here in an outlandish costume as the titular caretaker, and advantage is taken of their resemblance when Charley disguises himself in the same walrus moustache, round glasses, long trench coat, and Chinese hat for a brilliant gag (recalling a somewhat similar situation involving Charley disguised as his mad-looking brother in his earlier short "Sittin' Pretty") in which the two seem to be the same person serving dinner lightning fast but with endless schizophrenic errors.

Eventually, when two more people get the same costume on (I guess those are all the clothes this odd caretaker owns), including Hal Roach staple James Finlayson, who has a small and somewhat uncharacteristic role, all get dressed up in the same costume, we get the immortal sight of four of the same bizarre man being chased around the house. It must be seen to be believed -- and should be.

Two Chase

[Michael_Elliott · 11 March 2008]

Caretaker's Daughter, The (1925)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charley Chase gets into a mess when his wife catches him with another woman. Not too many laughs here but it's still worth watching. The best moment is when Chase sells his broken down car to an ex-con.

Isn't Life Terrible? (1925)

*** (out of 4)

Charley Chase takes his family on a cruise but nothing goes right. A pretty good short that has plenty of laughs ranging from physical comedy to the highlight of a lazy brother in law.