Charley Chase starred in a series of one-reel comedies as "Jimmie Jump" before his better-known series of twenty-minute two-reelers, and most of them were little comedy gems in miniature. This is one of the funniest of these. In a variation on a formula that would work often for Chase, farcical complications proceed from incredible circumstances, and here we have a beginning gag premise that is hilarious in its goofiness -- the problems caused by a thief who steals Jimmie's car (he removes the steering wheel as a precaution, but the thief has brought his own!) and insists that Jimmie prove it his his.
The brilliant conclusion to this is that he proceeds into the policeman father of his girlfriend to decide calmly how to deal with this criminal. So he's talked into stealing his uniform, and, by a series of uproariously logical-illogical events becomes entrusted with chasing a deliciously over-the-top maniac, played by Charley's brother Jimmy Parrot in a large false beard. This leads into an uproarious and artfully-realized iteration of the old "mirror routine" later reused by the film's distinguished comedy director Leo McCarey in the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup." It's as funny if not more here, with Charley pulling out an unbelievable array of different hats to match the ones Jimmy puts on.
This is a beautifully constructed comedy and full of absurd laughs fro start to finish. It might be remembered by film and comedy historians for its place in the lineage a very distinctive and enduring gag, but it very much deserves to be appreciated on all its own merits.
