This comedy is decently pleasant to sit through, but it's certainly not the feather in the cap of Charley Chase's career, and far from his most memorable short subject. The shorts he made in his last few years for Columbia sometimes have a reputation for being relatively inferior and relying on uncharacteristic slapstick. Often, that reputation is unfair, but not in this case. "Maid to Order" is probably one of the films that created it.
A good Charley Chase comedy often relies on a masterful buildup of disastrous or embarrassing situations that, while often absurd, have at least an internal logic. Here, the plot hinges around several events that simply don't make sense, with Charley falling in unconvincing love at first sight with a girl who has just introduced herself by hitting him with a pie -- which she does, incidentally, knowing it will lose her her job immediately and with no other reason that that she thinks he is someone else who has a reputation for being too forward. Later, she has the nonsensical idea of dressing her boyfriend as a woman to seduce Charley as some sort of bizarre revenge.
The slapstick finale, and several gags throughout involving Charley doing forgetful things such as stepping into the shower while still wearing pyjamas or putting on far too many socks, are neither especially great examples of their type nor in line with Chase's usual comedy line, and end up falling flat.
That said, it moves along decently nicely, and Chase's simple talent make many scenes play better than they would have otherwise. The reputation Chase's later work at Columbia, though, is much better served by films such as "The Wrong Miss Right" and "The Heckler."
A good Charley Chase comedy often relies on a masterful buildup of disastrous or embarrassing situations that, while often absurd, have at least an internal logic. Here, the plot hinges around several events that simply don't make sense, with Charley falling in unconvincing love at first sight with a girl who has just introduced herself by hitting him with a pie -- which she does, incidentally, knowing it will lose her her job immediately and with no other reason that that she thinks he is someone else who has a reputation for being too forward. Later, she has the nonsensical idea of dressing her boyfriend as a woman to seduce Charley as some sort of bizarre revenge.
The slapstick finale, and several gags throughout involving Charley doing forgetful things such as stepping into the shower while still wearing pyjamas or putting on far too many socks, are neither especially great examples of their type nor in line with Chase's usual comedy line, and end up falling flat.
That said, it moves along decently nicely, and Chase's simple talent make many scenes play better than they would have otherwise. The reputation Chase's later work at Columbia, though, is much better served by films such as "The Wrong Miss Right" and "The Heckler."
