Nature in the Wrong

Charley Chase and Muriel Evans want to get married, but her mother, Nora Cecil, insists that only a true blue-blood, like the effete Carlton Griffin, is a fit mate. Desperate, Charley writes an ancestry-tracing firm. They announce his only known ancestor is Tarzan of the Apes. Muriel is thrilled, and reads the Edgar Rice Burroughs book to him. Charley is enthused, and tries to emulate Tarzan, knocks himself out, and dreams of being Tarzan, married to Muriel, when his banker, a gorilla played by Charles Gemora, of course, shows up for dinner.

It's a marvelous travesty of the MGM Tarzan films, with Charley chatting with a lion whose brother is MGM's Leo, and lots of stock footage of the African veldt. There are lots of nice animal gags in this one. Although it's not one of Chase's best shorts, there are plenty of laughs.

Nature in the Wrong (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charley Chase plans on marrying the woman (Muriel Evans) he loves but her rich aunt refuses because they know nothing about his descendants. A prankster sends Chase a letter saying that he's related to Tarzan so Chase decides to go into the jungle and become closer with his past. This isn't the best Chase short out there but I must admit that I found some parts of it so stupid that I couldn't help but be entertained by them. The film has a somewhat sly tone as it throws a few shots at various subjects including Republicans, Leo the Lion and even Johnny Weissmuller. Other comedy bits that actually work are the scenes with Chase learning that he's related to Tarzan and the stuff that follows as he walks down the street and it appears people begin to realize it. The second portion of the film is a dream sequence with Chase and Evans living the Tarzan- lifestyle with a kid. Their neighbor, a gorilla, comes over for dinner and this is where the film simply gets too weird for its own good. We get a lot of stock animal footage and the Tarzan yell done here is just too silly to get a laugh. I thought Chase was pretty good in his part as was Evans but the supporting cast leaves quite a bit to be desired. It's too bad they didn't get Weissmuller to do a cameo but as it stands NATURE IN THE WRONG isn't bad but it's not overly good either.

This is an amazingly poor short--and this really surprised me. First, I love Charley Chase films--he was a very funny and talented man and had made many wonderful films. Second, the idea of a Tarzan parody is very fertile ground for comedy--as evidenced by Jimmy Durante's character 'Schnarzan' in "Hollywood Party". How the Hal Roach Studio was able to screw this short up so badly is beyond me....but it IS pretty poor.

Charley is interested in a rich society lady, but his own genealogical roots are uncertain. So, he pays to have his family background investigated. A jokester intercepts the letter and inserts his own--saying that Charley is a direct descendant of Tarzan (yes, I know this makes no sense...). There is a funny bit involving a phone call--the only seriously funny part of the film. Soon after, he conks himself on the head and what follows is an amazingly unfunny sequence where he imagines he's Tarzan. While seeing Charley wearing a derby and glasses while in an animal skin is mildly funny, it only gets worse after this. Bad talking animal bits (where the lips don't even closely approximate what is being said), cheap and grainy animal footage, people in ape suits and the like are used with no real attempt at comedy...none. Sad and unfunny.

Charlie Chase, through a waste of celluloid, comes to believe that he is descended from Tarzan. Then he gets conked on the head, and dreams he really is Tarzan. Yes, this is truly NATURE IN THE WRONG.

A spoof of Tarzan might have worked as a decent short -- there is plenty to spoof. But this short takes too long getting to the central idea, and is full of the unfunny stuff one tends to find in Pete Smith specialties, like talking animals, and a family of taking apes. It's not surreal -- it's just not funny. And Charlie Chase in a Tarzan suit? Um...not aesthetically pleasing. There is an attempt to make some humor out of the patently lousy rear projection, but this is better done in WC Fields' Fatal Glass of Beer.

Hope his other talking shorts (now starting to be shown on TCM) are better than this. The silent ones are truly funny and imaginative.