Isn't Life Terrible?

1925 Comedy 22 minutes Directed by Leo McCarey

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About Isn't Life Terrible?

Charley cannot shake failure or a brother-in-law who will not work. He plans a camping trip. His wife hears of a pen-company contest whose first prize is an ocean voyage, and Charley sells enough pens to win. The ship is a hulk on its last voyage to the scrapyard. They leave their small daughter on the dock, and the ship sails without her.

Cast & crew

More about Isn't Life Terrible?

Leo McCarey directed. Hal Roach produced. Pathé Exchange released this 22-minute short in 1925, a parody of D. W. Griffith's Isn't Life Wonderful (1924).

Themes

  • A contest won with pens
  • A prize ship bound for scrap
  • A daughter left on the dock
  • Charley Chase
  • ocean trip
  • pens
  • brother-in-law
  • Oliver Hardy
  • parody

Notes

  • Charley Chase stars. Oliver Hardy, Fay Wray, Katherine Grant, Lon Poff, Charlie Hall, and Leo Willis are in the cast.
  • The outdoor staircase is the same one later used in Hats Off (1927) and The Music Box (1932). It still stands in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.

Scenes

  • The family wins the voyage and finds the ship is being towed off to be scrapped.
  • The ship leaves with the child still on the dock.

Influenced by

  • Isn't Life Wonderful (1924)

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Isn't Life Terrible (1925).webm)

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