User Reviews

It is a bit sad that so few of Charley Chase's Hal Roach shorts from the 1930s are available to the general public. Though Chase is today primarily remembered as a silent comedian, he made the transition to sound quite smoothly. ON THE WRONG TREK is among his more accessible films from this period, probably due to a brief cameo appearance by Laurel and Hardy (who by this time, 1936, had stopped making shorts on their own altogether). While this is not among Chase's very funniest shorts, it is rather gently played, devoid of any kind of over-the-top humor, and serves as a pleasant way to spend twenty minutes. Observant viewers will note that Chase himself co-directed this film, albeit under his birth name Charles Parrott.

Charley has just arrived back at work after his summer vacation, and recalls the trip in detail to a crowd of curious colleagues. Having originally planned a trip to Mexico, his mother-in-law insisted they should go to California instead; and as his wife constantly reminds him, "Mother knows best." On the way, they are robbed and generally humiliated by unpredicted circumstances. The short provides few "gags" as such; most of the humor rather derives from situations, which is the style that seems to suit Chase the best. At one point towards the end of the film, he is even given opportunity to showcase his talent as a singer, when he performs a nice little tune along with co-star Rosina Lawrence. Chase's occasional singing numbers give many of his films an additional layer not found in too many other two-reel comedies of the same era.

If you are familiar with Charley Chase already and have seen his best silent work, I'd certainly recommend you to check out ON THE WRONG TREK. (This review was revised in 2014.)

They only have a thirteen second cameo in the film, but this film is included in the collection of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy films. Basically Charlie Chase has returned to his work at Salt Lake Investment Co., and he recounts his terrible vacation to California, instead of Michigan. He was travelling with wife (Rosina Lawrence) and Mother-in-law (Bonita Weber), and they are often stopping at gas stations, and passing many hitchhikers (including Laurel and Hardy). Charlie decides to stop when he sees a car wreck, which turned out to be a hold up, which the mother knew about. Then they stop to get some gas from a nearby car belonging to Mr. Wilson (Clarence Wilson), but this ends up with them running after the car is pushed over the edge. After being allowed to get through the border, they stop at the light of a convention type get-together, and they let them warm up and eat if they can entertain, so Charlie and Rosina sing the song "Let's Make It a Big Day" and tap dance. The next day the car engine blows 200 miles away from Salt Lake City, and pretend to have had an accident to get a lift, and the police take Charlie away suspecting him of being the gang of crooks from earlier. It should be mentioned that almost everything that Charlie does is because of his mother-in-law's suggestions accompanied with his wife's annoying refrain of "mother knows best". Charlie ends his story, and he is asked to see the district manager, who is the man he pushed the car of, but it seems he didn't recognise him, well, it seems that way until Charlie is thrown through his office door. It is interesting that Laurel and Hardy have a small cameo, and their styles are copied twice in this film, firstly by Chase imitating Stan's scratching of his hair, and by Weber uttering "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me (us) into!" - which was number 60 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes. Even in their few seconds, Laurel and Hardy add a good moment of humour, the rest of the film isn't bad either. Worth watching!

Hal Roach had four franchises of comedy shorts where all but one worked. There were plenty of laughs coming from most of the Laurel and Hardy shorts, the Our Gang series, and the Thelma Todd series that paired her with either nervous Zasu Pitts or voracious Patsy Kelly. But with Charley Chase, he hit a bump in the road, here having Charley in his Chevy with a much younger wife and a bossy mother-in-law, facing life on a trip across country that for some reason tried to be topical and toppled over instead. Rosina Lawrence, a Roach regular best remembered as the teacher for those little rascals, does get a nice dance number, but the less said about Chase's singing the better. The character of the mother-in-law ends up being more of a stupid nuisance than funny, and Chase isn't far behind. Cameos by Laurel and Hardy show just how desperate Roach was.