Sittin' Pretty (1924)
*** (out of 4)
Hilarious short has Charley Chase back in his Jimmy Jump character. This time out Jimmy shows up at his girlfriend's house and removes his steering wheel only to have a thief show up with his own steering wheel. Jimmy put on his girlfriend's fathers cop outfit and goes after the thief but then gets mistaken for a real cop and is sent into the house where a psychotic killer is held up. This is another high mark in the Jimmy Jump series as we get one major laugh after another starting with the hilarious opening bit where the thief jumps out seconds after Jimmy exits his vehicle. The short only gets better as the thief then demands to be arrested and then things kick up another gear as Jimmy goes to capture the killer. Chase is really super here as he manages to use this simple routine and get plenty of laughs and one can't help but think this was an homage to his Keystone days as the action and police comedy certainly feels like the Keystone Cops (only a lot funnier here). Chase's brother and sometime director James Parrott plays the maniac and does a fine job as the two relatives do a great job together. It should also be noted that the mirror gag here was taken by McCarey to the Marx Brothers for DUCK SOUP and both scenes are shot pretty much the same way.
