CHARLEY'S AUNT
starring Syd Chaplin
PICTURE PLAY MAGAZINE
May, 1925
The manuscript of "Charley's Aunt" was dug up somewhere by archaeologists and made into a motion picture by the Christies, starring Syd Chaplin. And audiences are now laughing themselves to death over it - no kidding. Probably, somewhere, too, young boys are doubling up over a book called "A Slow Train Through Arkansas."
So "Charley's Aunt" must be a great comedy. It has one of those everlasting farce ideas that refuses to lie down and die. The idea of a man masquerading as a woman has been done time and time again but, somehow, there must be a singular and unique quality about the special twists of the situation in this fatal farce. The story takes place in an English university and the picture will upset all the idea you ever had as to what Oxford or Cambridge is like.
It seemed to me but mildly funny, but the two little boys who went with me are laughing yet at the very memory of Syd hopping about the garden with his skirt flying and his trousers showing. The picture is rough and rowdy; the gags didn't seem to be in the least original. However, it has been done in capable slapstick style, with snappy titles and lots of speed. Syd Chaplin is funny and he is welcome to come again as often as he likes.
Video source: Grapevine