Luncheon at Twelve (1933)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Decent two-reeler finds an unemployed Charlie Chase getting a job with the father (Billy Gilbert) of a girl (Betty Mack) that he's fallen for. At first Chase thinks he's gotten a job at an interior decorator but it turns out he's just a painter and not a very good one. LUNCHEON AT TWELVE is one of the many shorts that Chase made with Hal Roach at MGM. While this film certainly isn't a classic, it at least has enough laughs to make it worth sitting through if you're a fan of the underrated star. I think the first half of the picture is the best as it mainly deals with Chase trying to get the ash collector to take his bucket of ashes. This leads to Chase trying to dump his bucket on various other lawns hoping that the collector will take it and this here gets the majority of the jokes. The second half of the picture isn't nearly as good as we get into some rather routine comedy bits. The most annoying is a rich woman trying to get everyone to be quiet so that a violinist can play his music. The "comedy" from the painting comes from Chase simply not being very good at it and not paying attention to what he's painting. Again, this here is far from a classic but fans of Chase should find enough humor to make it worth viewing.
