Young Oldfield (1924) User Reviews

Funny early Chase film

[hte-trasme · 7/10 · 1 September 2009]

Since this early Charley Chase one-reeler involves an auto race and fast driving as a plot point, Hal Roach studios evidently decided to get the name most associated with racing, Barney Oldfield, by now looking decidedly older for an auto racer, to contribute a cameo as part of an opening dream sequence. This is fairly amusing -- mostly for its brief chance to see Charley Chase as a winner always coming out on top -- but is pretty disconnected from the rest of the film.

That is pretty close to fully-formed Charley Chase brand humor. The Jimmy Jump character is close to the one he would play later, and the situations mix their outlandishness and frustration well for the constraints of a ten-minute film. The gags are funny and build well, including the central one involving the electric fan, and the action sequences -- for which Charley Chase has never been generally known -- are a small revelation. Everyone was imitating Harold Lloyd in this regard around this time, but Charley Chase was at least doing it well.

Not at all Charley Chase's style...

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 23 August 2011]

The film begins with Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) in an auto race. And, inexplicably, he wins--beating out the great Barney Oldfield in the process (while forgotten today, Oldfield was like the Mario Andretti or Dale Earnhart of his day). However, soon he awakens and it turns out this is all a dream--an elaborately staged dream by the way! When he awakens, he learns from his mother that the rent MUST be paid today by noon but they are $8 short (wow, talk about a contrived plot!). So, clever Jimmy comes up with a variety of ways for their drug store to make a bunch of quick sales. But it looks as if it's all for naught--and the nasty landlord comes to gloat that soon the place will be his. However, Jimmy's love of fast driving comes into play and this results in a final portion of the film that is very reminiscent of a Mack Sennett chase comedy, as Charley drives a race car like a maniac to save the day.

This is a decent comedy. I loved the initial dream sequence. It was handled well and gave me a chuckle. However, making he comedy like a Keystone one with the car stunts wasn't especially welcome. Some of the scenes were pretty poorly done (like car stunts would have been faked a decade earlier) and Chase's style is totally wasted on this sort of comedy. Plus, throwing in the cheap black-face gag wasn't exactly funny either--then or now. All in all, a decent comedy but Chase was capable of so much better--and so much subtler comedy.

By the way, the chubby kid sitting outside the store is Joe Cobb--one of the original Our Gang kids. He doesn't have a lot to do--but it's clearly him.

Becoming Charley Chase

[Michael_Elliott · 14 March 2010]

Young Oldfield (1924)

*** (out of 4)

Fun short has Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) being a big racing fan and he gets his shot when he has to get the mortgage delivered by noon and many obstacles are in his way. This Hal Roach comedy has quite a bit going for it including the funny performance by Chase, a cameo by Our Gang member Joe Cobb and some nice race footage as well. All three elements make for a pretty entertaining short. What works best here are the performances as Chase really delivers once again as that rather loser of a human who must fight to odds to get something done. Chase perfectly fits the role and manages to have some very funny sequences including the highlight of the film where he has to make people think they're sick so that they'll buy some medicine, which in return he will use to pay the mortgage. Cobb doesn't get to do too much here but it's always nice see him. Emma Tansey gets a few good scenes as Jimmy's mother.