''The Heckler'' (1940) is an American short film produced by

Columbia Pictures Corporation Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...

directed by

Del Lord Delmer "Del" Lord (October 7, 1894March 23, 1970) was a Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Career Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the theatre, he t ...

and starring

Charley Chase Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with pro ...

Plot

At a baseball game, an irritating heckler (

) annoys the crowd and the players with his obnoxious taunts.

Reception

''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." In his book ''The Great Baseball Films,'' Rob Edelman described ''The Heckler'' as "one of the best-ever baseball-related talkie shorts." Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

wrote that ''The Heckler'' was one of Charley Chase's "best starring comedies" and included it in his book "The Great Movie Shorts." It was remade with minimal stock footage as "Mr. Noisy" starring

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known as the ...

in 1946.

References

External links

* 1940 films 1940 short films 1940s sports comedy films American baseball films Films directed by Del Lord American comedy short films American black-and-white films American sports comedy films 1940 comedy films 1940s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub