The great comedians of the silent era all experienced varying levels of success in transitioning to sound. Charles Chaplin flourished in the talkies, expanding his artistic vision and becoming more important of a cinematic voice than ever. Buster Keaton found his daring style neutered, leaving his career at the mercy of inferior gag writers. Charley Chase, on the other hand, fell smack dab in the center, having enjoyed roughly equal fame in classic comedies before and after the advent of audio. In contrast to the wide-eyed dreamers and unflappable heroes that his contemporaries portrayed, Chase's persona embodied much less tact, often cast as a nervous wreck who high-tailed it in vain at the first sign of ensuing hijinks. He may not have been the smoothest operator, but even jittery mugging and high-pitched hollering can be entertaining, as the man demonstrates in Charley Chase Shorts - Volume 2, a 12-movie round-up of quickie cut-ups from the Sony Pictures Choice Collection.

The Big Squirt (1937) - A soda jerk with a love for crime magazines gets tangled up in the hunt for an escaped felon.

Calling All Doctors (1937) - A hypochondriac's friends and family scheme to scare him out of his bogus illnesses.

From Bad to Worse (1937) - A timid groom's honeymoon becomes plagued with all manner of wacky misunderstandings.

The Grand Hooter (1937) - A henpecked hubby takes his wife on a vacation to get away from his lodge buddies.

His Bridal Fright (1940) - A lovestruck sap tries sucking up to his girlfriend's father by looking for a rare stamp.

Many Sappy Returns (1938) - A nervous cab driver's first day on the job leads to one disaster after another.

The Nightshirt Bandit (1938) - A criminology teacher finds out that he's the sleepwalking thief he's been asked to catch.

Pie a la Maid (1938) - A case of mistaken identity leads to a waitress taking her frustration out on an innocent doofus.

The Sap Takes a Wrap (1939) - An attorney ends up in a comedic clash over the ownership of a fur coat.

Teacher's Pest (1939) - A schoolteacher is assigned to educate a village full of hostile hillbillies.

Time Out for Trouble (1938) - A jilted groom turns to a gangster for help in ending his life.

The Wrong Miss Wright (1937) - A man fakes being crazy to get out of an arranged marriage.

Nobody's going to accuse the dozen dalliances with daffiness contained within this collection of being too subtle. These slices of slapstick (each clocking in at around 16 minutes or so) are very much in line with Columbia's other comedic two-reelers of the time that featured Buster Keaton and the Three Stooges. The shorts come complete with the traditional yelling, stereotyping, and fourth wall-breaking eyerolls to the camera, some of which wear out their welcome even before reaching the five-minute line. Teacher's Pest is an especially unfunny featurette, indulging in bad redneck cliches that don't take long to get downright discomforting. There are many shorts that do get a nicely humorous rhythm going, only to throw their hands up at the last second and give us a wacky shrug in lieu of a proper ending. But for as frequently as this mugging grates on one's nerves, it results in just as many hearty laughs, too. Selections like Calling All Doctors and The Nightshirt Bandit are packed with sight gags that'll ellicit good-natured sighs from viewers, and ones like The Big Squirt even demonstrate Chase's perfectly passable singing prowess. On that note, as corny as a lot of these mini-movies can get, Charley himself remains the glue trying hard to hold everything together. He plays the panicky type to perfection, and though he finds himself acting out more than a few hackneyed scenarios here, his timing alone guarantees at least one or two giggles no matter which short you queue up.

Charley Chase had what it took to make audiences laugh, whether they could hear him speak or not. Though the likes of Lloyd and Keaton made a more lasting impression on cinema we know it, Chase was the kind of guy you could depend on for easy but well-intentioned gags, delivered with bug eyes and just a touch of a schemer's streak. Exploring this second volume of Charley Chase shorts was a consistently chuckle-inducing ride, one that fans of the man himself or old-timey comedies as a whole will likely get a kick out of, as well.

(Released by Sony Pictures Choice Collection; not rated by MPAA.)