Neighborhood House (1936) Poster

(1936)

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8/10
One of Chase's better sound films
planktonrules11 March 2007
Charley and his family are looking forward to "Bank Night" at the local theater. It seems they pick a lucky person from the audience to receive $500--a HUGE sum of money back in 1936. While most kids today don't realize it, prize drawings and giveaways were common during that era as incentives to get people into the theaters.

Unfortunately, through some ridiculous coincidences, the audience think that Charley has somehow rigged the drawing and the theater patrons behave like a bunch of animals. This aspect of the film is pretty funny and a good commentary on human nature, though apart from this, the movie just doesn't have the number of jokes and laughs as a typical Laurel and Hardy short from the same studio. I've seen a lot of Charley Chase shorts and in general his silents are funnier. Because of this, I had relatively low expectations for NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE but was pretty happy to see that it was a cut above most of his sound films. While not great, it is very funny and well worth your time.
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6/10
"Bank Night" at the movies leads to trouble for Charley Chase...
Doylenf31 July 2009
The "house" in the title refers to the neighborhood movie house where every week (in the early and mid-'30s) there were giveaway prizes given at local movie houses. In this case, the house is offering a $500 prize on "Bank Night" and the lucky winner is CHARLEY CHASE--who has already caused quite a commotion in the audience when he, his wife and daughter make too much of a stir while being seated.

When he wins the prize, the audience boos and think it's a cheat between him and his friend, the theater manager. His daughter volunteers to pick out the next ticket from the bowl--and she reads off his prize number when she can't read the actual number on the slip. This causes more of a furor. And on it goes, as he tries to get others to read the numbers and it always comes back to the Chase family.

Very amusing short was probably considered a lot funnier back then when it was more relevant to Depression-era audiences.
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8/10
The mist expensive two-reeler ever made!
JohnHowardReid14 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Copyright 8 July 1936 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Corp. A Hal Roach Comedy. U.S. release: 9 May 1936. 2 reels.

SYNOPSIS: Bank night at the local cinema. Charley's daughter draws the winning ticket.

NOTES: Originally made as a 55-minute feature, which was previewed and shown to the trade. Reaction supposedly was unfavorable. In any event, Roach never released the feature, instead ordered that it be edited down from its original 6 reels to 2!

COMMENT: No expense spared on this Bank Night. The reason, as explained above, was the film's budget originally extended to a feature. Hence the big crowd scenes.

True, the fade-out and a couple of transitions are a bit abrupt, but the picture forms an amusing finale to Chase's Roach career all the same. After starring in no fewer than 59 short subjects for Hal Roach, Chase signed with Columbia in 1937. There he made another 20 starring 2-reelers.

Despite its abrupt finish, Neighborhood House is one of the most entertaining of his Roach entries. Although Charley performs a couple of mild slapstick turns, this is primarily a comedy of errors in which the ingratiatingly bumble-footed Chase, assisted by the precocious Hood and the discomfited Meeker, pile up the chuckles a treat, yet are actually beaten in the laugh department by the crowd. In fact, this is one of the few films in which the crowd plays a major role in the comedy proceedings. Full marks to the directors for masterly control of all the extras and a special pat on the back for the film editor for maintaining such a tight yet reasonably cohesive pace. If you didn't know it was a cut-down feature, you could never tell. Admittedly, you'd certainly marvel how Roach could afford to spend so much money on a little 2-reeler!
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10/10
Simply Wonderful!
lmscheck3 February 2005
This film will put a constant smile on your face! If not more! "Neighborhood House" was planned as the first Charley Chase feature lenght film. But for some reason, Hal Roach was not satisfied with it - he made Chase cut it down to twenty minutes so it could pass as a short. It works remarkably well! There are some unmotivated fade-outs and a somewhat abrupt ending, but apart from this it is one of Chases best attempts! Charley and his family are attending a "Bank night" at the local cinema. They give away 500 Dollars that night - and Charley number is drawn. But because it was drawn by his little daughter, the audience runs mad. He finally has to return the prize - this time its his daughters number which is drawn... There are so many hilarious, admirably well executed gags in this short you want to watch it over and over again! One of the best comedy shorts ever!
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Fun Chase short
Michael_Elliott3 August 2009
Neighborhood House (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charley Chase takes his wife and young daughter to the movies where it's Bank Night. The daughter is asked to draw the winning ticket for $500 and of course ends up picking her father's number, which makes everything think it's a scam. This Chase short comes from his period working for Hal Roach and it's a fairly good one even though the repeated jokes start to get old. The film opens up with a mildly funny sequence where Chase and his wife are trying to rush through dinner but of course things go wrong. Things don't get any better once they reach the theater and everyone feels they put the daughter up to cheating. The joke dealing with all the cheating gets repeated as more and more people are brought in on it and this is where things start to fall apart but there's still plenty of charm from start to finish. Chase is quite good in his role as he easily fits into that character who seems real and down to earth.
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10/10
A Chase Chaser
boblipton31 August 2013
Hal Roach was shutting down his production of short subjects and was giving his stars vehicles to see if they could sustain feature-length -- Charley Chase had already starred in a part-talkie for Universal, MODERN LOVE, back in 1929. Roach had Chase expand his last silent short, MOVIE NIGHT, into a sound feature. Then they struck a problem: theater owners did not want to run a feature which satirized, however mildly, the movie-going experience. So they cut the feature down to this two-reeler and tried again with KELLY THE SECOND.

Charley, wife and child go to the local movie theater on Bank Night. His daughter, played by Darla Hood from Our Gang, is chosen to draw the winning ticket for $500 -- worth about twenty times that much in today's dollars -- and guess whose number she picks? I'd like to see the full-length version of this film, because this cut-down is tremendous fun, Charley at the top of his game. Judging by what survives and comparing it to the 1929 short, there was doubtless a long sequence at the office, now cut down to a couple of minutes, and the foibles of how people behaved in a movie theater. Still, Chase on any terms is worthwhile. Enjoy this for what it is: a top-notch Chase talking short made under his own supervision. You can't do better than that.
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