'Chasing the Chaser', directed by Stan Laurel and co-written by Laurel with Charley Chase's brother James Parrott, was one of the comedy shorts that tried to promote James Finlayson as a star comedian. 'Fin', of course, would ultimately achieve success as an adversary to the greatest comedy team of all time ... but he's quite good here, running a gamut of facial expressions in a haberdasher's shop. However, the stand-out performance in 'Chasing the Chaser' has to be that of Jules Mendel, who offers an astonishing female impersonation. (Mendel had done a femme act in vaudeville as Jewel Mendel.)
We first see Mendel in full female disguise, seated at a desk in a detective agency. (Address: 714 Grief Building.) Two lady clients enter. This being 1925, a woman can't possibly be the person in charge, so they ask to see the head man: the secretary whips off 'her' wig, revealing Mendel underneath. Unfortunately, the sequence is set up so that I had a clear view of Mendel's adam's-apple and shoulders, tipping the wink before he took off his wig.
This is something I've never quite understood about female impersonations: when the alleged woman takes off her hair, revealing a shorter haircut underneath, we're supposed to realise that she's a man. But if the rest of the female disguise is good enough to avoid suspicion, then why doesn't removing the wig merely make her seem a short-haired woman? Maybe the larger brow ridge and higher forehead on a man are the give-away.
Anyroad, Helen Gilmore's husband (Finlayson) is a philanderer, so she and neighbour Marjorie Whiteis engage Mendel to show up at Finlayson's house (disguised as a parlourmaid) and flirt with him. Mendel's female disguise is almost perfect ... but, stupidly, he fakes a feminine swoon into Finlayson's arms. Won't Fin notice that this 'woman' is heavy enough to be a man? Later, when the maid gets 'her' skirt torn off, we see that male Mendel has concealed his family Jules inside female directoire undergarments. Now, that's really getting into a role! But why doesn't Mendel's character wear kirby grips to keep his wig in place?
A scene featuring Fay Wray as a nursemaid with a pram distressed me, because Fay leaves her infant outside in the street while she's inside a shop ... for an hour, the title cards tell us. I hope the kid's parents fired her. The two lead actresses should have swapped roles: Gilmore, as the wife, isn't nearly so funny as Whiteis, whose haughty performance here reminds me of the great Edna May Oliver.
As a comedy, 'Chasing the Chaser' is slightly above average: I'll rate it 6 out of 10. This movie will probably be of much greater interest to students of cross-gender disguise for Jules Mindel's near-perfect impersonation of a pretty parlourmaid.
We first see Mendel in full female disguise, seated at a desk in a detective agency. (Address: 714 Grief Building.) Two lady clients enter. This being 1925, a woman can't possibly be the person in charge, so they ask to see the head man: the secretary whips off 'her' wig, revealing Mendel underneath. Unfortunately, the sequence is set up so that I had a clear view of Mendel's adam's-apple and shoulders, tipping the wink before he took off his wig.
This is something I've never quite understood about female impersonations: when the alleged woman takes off her hair, revealing a shorter haircut underneath, we're supposed to realise that she's a man. But if the rest of the female disguise is good enough to avoid suspicion, then why doesn't removing the wig merely make her seem a short-haired woman? Maybe the larger brow ridge and higher forehead on a man are the give-away.
Anyroad, Helen Gilmore's husband (Finlayson) is a philanderer, so she and neighbour Marjorie Whiteis engage Mendel to show up at Finlayson's house (disguised as a parlourmaid) and flirt with him. Mendel's female disguise is almost perfect ... but, stupidly, he fakes a feminine swoon into Finlayson's arms. Won't Fin notice that this 'woman' is heavy enough to be a man? Later, when the maid gets 'her' skirt torn off, we see that male Mendel has concealed his family Jules inside female directoire undergarments. Now, that's really getting into a role! But why doesn't Mendel's character wear kirby grips to keep his wig in place?
A scene featuring Fay Wray as a nursemaid with a pram distressed me, because Fay leaves her infant outside in the street while she's inside a shop ... for an hour, the title cards tell us. I hope the kid's parents fired her. The two lead actresses should have swapped roles: Gilmore, as the wife, isn't nearly so funny as Whiteis, whose haughty performance here reminds me of the great Edna May Oliver.
As a comedy, 'Chasing the Chaser' is slightly above average: I'll rate it 6 out of 10. This movie will probably be of much greater interest to students of cross-gender disguise for Jules Mindel's near-perfect impersonation of a pretty parlourmaid.
