Powder and Smoke

Powder and Smoke (1924)

*** (out of 4)

Funny spoof has Jimmy Jump heading out West to sell his lightning rods but running into a group of bandits who keep trying to rob a father and his daughter (Blanche Mchaffey). Each time Jimmy gets away he keeps having to return to the house where the robbery starts fresh. Fourth film in the Roach series has Charley Chase without a mustache, which is a pretty strange site considering he's hardly ever without it. With that said, the writing here certainly isn't the greatest but in the end there are enough laughs to make this worth watching for fans of Chase. Every silent comedian did a turn in the West and Chase makes the best out of it as director Parrott knows how to keep the film moving at an extremely fast pace and the way they spoof heroes and villains is pretty funny. Chase once again steals the show as his character always finds one way or another to get himself in trouble and most of the time he ends up starting it all only to have to work his way out. One of the best sequences has the bandits threatening to kill whoever they find the money on so Chase and another man have to try and plant it on one another.