Hard Knocks

Hard Knocks (1924)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) is working for pennies and is too afraid to ask his boss for a raise. His co-worker isn't afraid and gets the raise and soon he and Jimmy are after the boss's daughter. She likes Jimmy but only wishes he would stand up for himself and he's going to get the chance when someone breaks into the office to rob it. This is a decent entry in the series that once again features some mild writing but Chase does what he can to make it work. The character Chase is playing is really starting to hit its stride as it appears the actor has found how he wants to play it and what type of humor he wants the character to have. The early part of the film has some nice stuff dealing with him being too much of a coward to speak up and then at the end we have him finally fighting. There really weren't any major laughs to be had here but the 10-minute running time goes by very quickly and Chase keeps it moving well enough for fans.