The Heckler (1940) is an American short film produced by Columbia Pictures Corporation directed by Del Lord and starring Charley Chase.

The Heckler
Directed byDel Lord
Written byJohn Grey
Produced byCharley Chase
Del Lord
Hugh McCollum
StarringCharley Chase
Bruce Bennett
Richard Fiske
CinematographyHenry Freulich
Edited byArthur Seid
Release date
  • 1940 (1940)
Running time
20 mins
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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At a baseball game, an irritating heckler (Charley Chase) annoys the crowd and the players with his obnoxious taunts.

Reception

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The Heckler has received positive reviews. Hal Erickson wrote that, "The Heckler is without question one of the most consistently funny shorts ever assembled at Columbia, not to mention one of Charley Chase's most hilarious performances."[1] In his book The Great Baseball Films, Rob Edelman described The Heckler as "one of the best-ever baseball-related talkie shorts."[2] Film critic Leonard Maltin wrote that The Heckler was one of Charley Chase's "best starring comedies"[3] and included it in his book "The Great Movie Shorts."[4]

It was remade with minimal stock footage as "Mr. Noisy" starring Shemp Howard in 1946.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Erickson, Hal (2002). The baseball filmography, 1915 through 2001. McFarland. p. 494. ISBN 0786412720.
  2. ^ Edelman, Rob (1994). The Great Baseball Films. Carol Pub. Group. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-8065-1479-6.
  3. ^ Maltin, Leonard (1994). Leonard Maltin's movie encyclopedia. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-93635-0.
  4. ^ Maltin, Leonard (1972). The Great Movie Shorts. Crown Publishers. ISBN 9780517504550.
  5. ^ Davidson, Robert. "ThreeStooges.net :: MR. NOISY". threestooges.net. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
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