The Way of All Pants (1927)

Directors:

Leo McCarey
F. Richard Jones

Writer:

H.M. Walker (titles)

Release Date:

29 October 1927 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Plot:

A man delivering a pair of trousers loses his own pants, setting off a chaotic sequence of events.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Trousers | Slapstick | Dinner Party | Lost Trousers

Cast

Charley Chase	...	Charley
Edna Marion
Hazel Howell
Frank Leigh
Tom Dugan		(as Tommy Dugan)
Buddy the Dog

Runtime:

USA:9 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Movie Connections:

Edited into The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy (1968)

Does All Right For a One-Gag Film

This short comedy is essentially a one-gag film, but it does all right with the idea, managing to come up with enough variations and uses of the basic idea to make it worth seeing. Charley Chase plays the main character, and though it's one of the less substantial efforts, it does have its moments.

Chase plays a delivery boy who brings a pair of trousers to a wife who ordered them for her husband. When she asks him to model the pants for her, it sets off a chain of slapstick events, all revolving around mismatched and /or missing pants. The idea is very familiar from many other comedies of the era, and so this one doesn't stand out in any way. It does have enough laughs, though, to be worth seeing.

As the previous commentator has also implied, the currently available version seems to be missing some of the original footage, since there are a couple of apparent gaps, most particularly at the beginning. The missing footage may have clarified some of the details, but most likely would not change the nature of the material that much.