His Silent Racket (1933) User Reviews

Cute and enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 16 September 2020]

When the story begins, James Finlayson is operating a dry cleaning store with two huge problems: it has very few customers AND the mob is demanding 'protection money'. So, he hatches a plan to find some sucker to become his partner so he can pay off the mobsters...or not. But to do that, he arranges to have tons of people in the place in order to make it look like a sure thing when a prospective client, Charley Chase, arrives. Following this, things get nasty...real nasty!

This is a cute and funny short. I was stuck between giving it a 7 or 8....but I know I enjoyed it and think it's well written and well worth your time.

Captain Wafflebottom Never Fails!

[boblipton · 8/10 · 19 July 2019]

James Finlayson's cleaning business isn't doing any business, and some hoods want his money for a protection racket. Fortunately, Charley Chase is interested in buying half the business, particular after he is sent to a customer -- Anita Garvin in her underwear, as Fin's wife. After Fin -- sans mustache -- gets the money, he rushes off, leaving Charley to take a package from the mob, containing a bomb.

With a cast like that -- and Muriel Evans, of course, as the ultimate object of Charley's affections -- it's probably the best of this season of Chase's short comedies for Hal Roach. Charley pulls a few gags that would not be acceptable the following year -- not only Anita's lingerie, but a guy walking around in his shorts, and the final gag shot. Enjoy!

This live-action short is designed to teach young Americans about perfecting . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 17 September 2020]

. . . The Art of the Deal. HIS SILENT RACKET shows the deadly consequences likely when a member of the Serf Class attempts to join the Owners Elite without so much as an MBA. "Charley" buys into a dry-cleaning concern, without knowing the first thing about the Lay of the Land, the Good Old Boys Network or the Cost of Doing Business. This sort of reprehensible ignorance on Charley's part results in him and his vehicle literally becoming a "ticking time bomb," as he tools all over town, endangering everyone within shooting distance. Fortunately, when the inevitable explosion finally occurs, those injured seem to be comprised entirely of Chuck's fellow puerile proletariat. As Thomas Alva Edison famously remarked, the USA must keep "A place for everyone, and everyone in his place."

His Silent Racket

[Coxer99 · 23 July 1999]

Charley Chase, a funny man who never got the acclaim of Chaplain, Keaton and Laurel and Hardy, stars as the object of a con set up by the wonderful James Finalyson, the owner of a dismal cleaning shop that is being eyed by the local muscle, who happens to run a racket for protection. Charley takes on the job, but when a package is dropped off, he doesn't know that he's become a target...for that package is a bomb. Chase is an utterly charming performer who plays the perfect clean cut, shy guy who happens to get himself into sticky situations. A performer worthy of rediscovery!