In the mid to late 1920s, Charley Bowers made a string of bizarre comedy shorts that often involved him making some amazingly complex inventions. In other words, the star of most of his shorts are the bizarre machines and stop-motion used to make them appear to come alive. Even today, when you see the films you often finding yourself saying "wow".The first half of the film is very conventional--like a Chaplin or Keaton short. It begins with Charley heading to the city to ask a girl to marry him. Oddly, there is a cheap sign on a tree with an arrow pointing and it says "to the city". I wonder if ANYONE has ever seen such a sign in real life?! Once there, the girl who barely even knows Charley says that he must ask her father if it's okay to marry. But, when Charley arrives at the man's business (a restaurant), the guy thinks Charley has come for the job as dish washer. Well, oddly, Charley takes the job and assumes he'll impress the boss so much that he'll be thrilled to have him for a son-in-law. But, because the other employees are all members of a union, they walk off when Charley tells them he isn't a member. And, in a funny twist, one of the now ex-employees puts a secret sign on the boss' back saying that he hires non-union workers so that no matter how hard he tries, no union workers will take the job. So, he's left with a restaurant with only one employee--the dish washer.Charley has decided to impress the boss while he's away and he runs the restaurant all by himself. At first it kinda works, but eventually he blows the place up and the boss is naturally angry. Charley promises to have the place rebuilt better than it was in only one week. They never show him rebuilding the place, but one week later the place is amazing--so amazing you have to see it to believe it. Here is where the film becomes terrific--funny and practically beyond believe due to the great stop-motion camera work. Even today it is a marvel to behold due to the quality and inventiveness. I don't want to spoil it--you just need to see this new mechanized kitchen that requires only one employee for the entire restaurant. See the oyster stew, peas and hamburger--you won't believe your eyes! For shear inventiveness, this is among Charley's best and among the best silent comedies---period. The only non-Bowers film I can think of that comes close is Snub Pollard's IT'S A GIFT--another amazingly funny comedy. See this film!

This charming silent comedy can be found on a two-disc collection of Charley Bowers' work, compiled a few years ago by the French company Lobster Films, which is available in the U.S. from Image Entertainment. The print of He Done His Best offered in this set is the French version entitled "Invention Moderne," and unfortunately no English translation is provided for the title cards, but the story is easy to follow even if your high school French is a bit rusty. Despite the abrupt and downbeat ending it's one of Bowers' most accessible and amusing comedies, and could serve as a good introduction to this off-the-wall comedian for anyone who hasn't encountered him before.He Done His Best offers only a modest sampling of the amazing animated effects Bowers devised for his top-flight classics, such as A Wild Roomer and Now You Tell One, but Charley himself is more likable in this film. Even fans will admit that Bowers' on screen persona can be off-putting. He usually played a socially awkward "techno-geek," as we would say nowadays, more interested in his weird machines and inventions than in anyone or anything else. Like Larry Semon, Bowers generally comes off as something of a freak, a cartoon character rather than a human being we can relate to or root for. Here, however, Charley is unusually sympathetic: his actions are as strange as ever, but he's motivated by the desire to win the girl of his dreams. To marry her, he must first get permission from her father, a restaurateur. But the father misunderstands Charley's intentions and puts him to work as a dishwasher in his restaurant. The other employees discover that Charley is non-union labor and angrily walk out (an amusing bit of social satire), which forces Charley to become a one-man staff. When an unexpected mishap practically destroys the place, Charley promises his boss that he'll rebuild it better than ever.The comedy really takes off in the second half, when we get a look at the newly refurbished restaurant. Since this is a Charley Bowers short it's no surprise that he's revamped the diner as a fully automated establishment, complete with an elaborate system of tubes designed to convey food to each table. There's a great series of animated gags involving food preparation (the oyster soup and the hash bits are the highlights) that are pure Bowers: nobody else's comedies featured such elaborate, intricate sequences. In the end, things don't work out so well for our hero, but at least we feel his pain. Story-wise He Done His Best lives up to its title, and while it may not be the very best of Charley Bowers' surviving works it's an enjoyable and offbeat comedy, offering a good sample of what this highly idiosyncratic film-maker could accomplish in his prime.

This short comedy features the combination of amusing slapstick and creative gadgetry that characterizes so many Charley Bowers films. It makes very good use of the setting and the possibilities, and it makes for some very good entertainment.Most of the story is set in a restaurant, where Charley is working in the hopes of being able to marry the owner's daughter. Meanwhile, the owner is having labor trouble, and much of the action has Charley trying to manage things at the restaurant while the owner frantically tries to hire some more help. The restaurant scenes feature a fine array of Charley's inventions and ideas, while the other sequences have some good slapstick themselves.The fantastical machinery that Charley installs gets plenty of screen time, and not a moment of it is wasted. It's well worth watching the whole sequence carefully, because there are some clever details that are rather subtle, in addition to the obvious gags.Bowers often used a fair amount of the running time in his features just to set up the tricks and contraptions that were the main attraction. In this case, most of the setup is pretty funny in itself, and the trademark camera effects are very enjoyable as well.