No Father to Guide Him

No Father to Guide Him (1925)

*** (out of 4)

Going by the title you'd think this Charley Chase film was a serious drama but it's actually a comedy about the funny topic of kidnapping. In the film, Charley and his wife split up because his mother-in-law hates him. She also keeps him from seeing the son he loves so one day Charley and the boy run off for a day at the beach. This is a pretty bizarre little gem that manages to take kidnapping and child abuse and make a comedy out of them. I wasn't really sure where this movie was headed early on but within a few minutes the laughs started flowing and didn't stop. The majority of this two-reeler deals with Chase jumping into the ocean only to lose his bathing suit and he must try and get back to safety without everyone seeing him naked. This entire sequence contains one major laugh after another as each time you think he's going to reach safety something else goes wrong. The second half of the film deals with revenge on the mother-in-law and the detective she has hired. The outcome to both parties are extremely funny. Chase is at the top of his game here showing that he was a genius at playing this type of guy who can't have anything good happen to him. Katherine Grant plays the ex-wife but doesn't have too much to do. Duke Kahanamoku plays a lifeguard here as most people will remember him for the various medals he won in the Olympics with his swimming. The scene between he and Chase works extremely well.