Harry Langdon Movies
After working several odd jobs, Harry Langdon joined an Omaha medicine show and went on to spend 20 years traveling with minstrel shows, circuses, burlesque, and vaudeville; he had some success with a comedy act called "Jimmy's New Car." Langdon was in his late 30s when he joined Mack Sennett's film company in 1923. He quickly appeared in numerous two-reel comedies, in the course of which he developed his own screen persona: his childlike face covered by traditional pantomime white make-up, he wore a tightly buttoned jacket as though he were a boy who had outgrown it. Juvenile in appearance, he played the bewildered, clumsy, wide-eyed simpleton out of step with the behavior of normal adults, eerily baffled by erotic situations and naively trusting in the world's goodness. The character caught on, and by 1926 he was one of the Big Four of American screen comedy (along with Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton). His best work was done in collaboration with director Harry Edwards and writer Frank Capra. Langdon's enormous success fuelled his ego, and after a year or two he dispensed with Edwards and Capra and took sole responsibility for his films. Langdon was soon fired by his film company, after which he returned to vaudeville for almost two years. When he returned to Hollywood, the sound era was underway and he was out of touch with prevailing fashions. He went on to appear in numerous films as a character player, and also starred in dozen of talkie shorts, never reclaiming his earlier popularity. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1924
Although Harry Langdon was an established vaudeville star when he signed on to make films for Mack Sennett, it took him several pictures (not to mention teaming up with director Harry Edwards and writer/ future director Frank Capra) before he really began to gain his film footing. Nevertheless, this short, the fifth he made for Sennett, was quite well-received. Trade paper Moving Picture World raved, "This comedy is on the type of Charles Chaplin's Easy Street and is every bit as funny as that classic." Langdon plays a reticent young man whose sweetheart (Alice Day) somehow convinces him to take her to a notorious resort by the name of the Cat's Meow. He's almost immediately beaten up by thugs, and, for some reason, the town's reformers decide he would make a good cop to help clean up the place. Ultimately, he manages to round up the bad guys by tricking them into the paddy wagon. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Although Harry Langdon was nearing his peak as a two-reel comedian (in just a few months he would graduate to features), not all his films during this period were winners. Of this picture, trade paper Moving Picture World complained, "The gags carry little punch and the action is constantly slowed up for no palpable reason." This is too bad because the beginning is promising. Harry, naïve as always, goes to a sidewalk "astronomer" who advises him to seek his fortune under the guidance of a certain star. The star takes him to an equally phony doctor who is actually a snake oil salesman (Vernon Dent), and they head for San Tobacco in Mexico to peddle their wares. They're quite successful, much to the chagrin of the local druggist and his daughter (Natalie Kingston). She grabs a dagger and goes off to kill the intruders, but her boyfriend has already ruined their business by adding a secret chemical to their potion. The resulting brew poisons their clientele who take out their anger on Harry and the "doctor." ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1926
When baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon left Mack Sennett Studios to make features for First National, he wisely brought along the two Sennett staffers who helped make him a star: gag writer Frank Capra and director Harry Edwards. Langdon's first feature-length comedy at his new studio was Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, which not only ranks as one of Harry's best efforts, but also one of the funniest comedies ever made. Our hero plays a bumbling cobbler's son who enters a cross-country walking race sponsored by shoe manufacturer John Burton (Edwards Davis). This he does partly to save his dad's business, but mainly out of love for Burton's daughter Betty (Joan Crawford), whom Harry knows only from her appearances on the Burton Shoe advertising billboards. As our hero tramp, tramp, tramps along, one mishap after another befalls him. At one point he is arrested and placed on a chain gang, leading to pantomimic tour de force in which the hapless Harry tries his best to make little rocks out of big ones. He also runs afoul of a belligerent herd of sheep, nearly plummeting off a cliff as a result. The climax finds Harry being literally swept off his feet by an outsized cyclone -- a surprisingly convincing special-effects sequence staged entirely within the studio! Miraculously, Harry wins the race and Betty's hand in marriage (According to Frank Capra, leading lady Joan Crawford was so amused by Langdon's antics that she couldn't film her big scene with him without collapsing into laughter; as a result, the scene had to be shot with Crawford's back to the camera). An amusing coda featuring a "baby" Langdon in his bassinette caps this well-nigh-perfect film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon, Joan Crawford, (more)
- 1926
Baby Face Harry Langdon is a videocassette collection of selected Mack Sennett two-reelers starring pasty-faced comedian Harry Langdon. Langdon's character can best be described as an overgrown baby (with all the bad attributes of infancy as well as the good), and as such he seemed an unlikely candidate for stardom in the mid-1920s. But with Charlie Chaplin between pictures, movie audiences turned to Langdon for large dollops of character comedy seasoned with pathos. Many of Langdon's silent short subjects for Mack Sennett Studios were scripted by Frank Capra, and most were directed by Harry Edwards, a mediocre talent who did his best work with Langdon (who, in turn, trusted Edwards without question). The highlight of this collection is Saturday Afternoon (1926) a near-perfect three-reeler in which Langdon escapes his domineering wife for an afternoon of carefree abandon with his pal Vernon Dent and two flirtatious flappers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1926
The Strong Man was the second starring feature of silent screen comedian Harry Langdon--not to mention first feature-length directorial effort of Frank Capra. Langdon plays a Belgian soldier who, during World War I, is captured by German conscript Arthur Thalasso. Almost immediately, the armistice is declared. Having nowhere else to go, Langdon sticks with Thalasso, who in civilian life is a popular circus strong man. When Thalasso gets the opportunity to tour the US, Langdon is delighted; at last he will meet minister's daughter Priscilla Bonner, with whom he has been carrying on a romance-by-correspondence. Arriving in New York, Harry wanders around the street with a photo of Bonner, asking passers-by if they know the girl. Jewel thief Gertrude Astor, hoping to use Langdon as a dupe in order to evade the cops, claims that she is the girl he's looking for. A marvelous comic set piece ensues, beginning with Langdon's clumsy efforts to carry the unconscious Astor up a long flight of stairs, and ending with Astor's athletic "seduction" of the confused little immigrant. When Langdon finally finds the real Bonner, he discovers she is blind--just as well, he reasons, since she regards him as something of a strong, strapping hero-type, which he most decidedly is not. Subsequent plot complications involve a corrupt element that has taken over Priscilla's town, and a wild climactic sequence wherein puny Langdon must try to pass himself off as strong man Thalasso...and through plain dumb luck, gets away with it! Far better seen than described, The Strong Man is one of the sweetest, funniest comedies of the 1920s. Harry Langdon would never again have a vehicle so perfectly suited to his "grown up baby" screen persona; if you've never seen this unique comedy genius in action, catch this film when the opportunity arises. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon, Priscilla Bonner, (more)
- 1926
Baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon plays a timorous fireman in His First Flame. Much of the action involves Langdon's efforts to impress the unimpressable Ruth Hiatt. She is so resistant to his "charms" that she can't even act grateful when he rescues her from a burning house. Filmed during Langdon's last year at Mack Sennett's studio, His First Flame was originally a three-reeler. It was expanded into a feature (using stock footage and outtakes) after the success of Langdon's official feature-film debut in First National's Tramp, Tramp, Tramp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon, Natalie Kingston, (more)
- 1926
Harry Langdon's first directing attempt, Three's a Crowd, had just been released when his former boss, producer Mack Sennett, released this short subject which features Langdon in the lead. The exhibitors' trade papers virtually leapt on this release and sang its praises -- "far better than some of his productions since he graduated into the feature class," Film Daily proclaimed. Fiddlesticks does offer a lot of what's best about Langdon, including his wistful quality in the midst of gags and other mayhem, and distills it into two reels. This admittedly does give this (and many of his other shorts) a richness that some of his lesser features lack. The premise of the film couldn't be more simple: Harry fancies himself a cellist and he goes out into the world with his instrument. Unfortunately, audiences don't exactly welcome the fledgling musician -- wherever Harry plays, he is pelted with old shoes, broken alarm clocks, and the like. But his luck changes when he joins forces with a junk dealer. The more Harry gets pelted with junk, the more the partnership flourishes. Eventually Harry is able to return home a success. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon
- 1927
After achieving success in the mid-'20s, Harry Langdon decided to emulate the silent era's premier comedian -- Charles Chaplin -- and turn auteur. He fired Frank Capra from his staff and directed this feature on his own. Although both writer (and future director) Arthur Ripley and director Harry Edwards stayed on with Langdon, the story line and directoral approach clearly indicate that Langdon was doing his darndest to encroach on Chaplin's pathos-laden terrain. It's a simple story, stretched quite a bit to fill out six reels -- Harry is a timid dreamer who longs for a wife and family. He believes he's achieved his heart's desire when he finds a pregnant girl (Gladys McConnell) in a snowstorm. Harry happily takes care of his new family -- until the girl's husband (Cornelius Keefe) finds her and takes her and the baby back home. Unfortunately, when Langdon directed this picture, he laid on the sentiment but forgot about the comedy, so there are few laughs to be had. Three's a Crowd was a commercial flop, as were the next two films that Langdon directed. After that, he was fired by his studio, First National, and he lost Ripley, who returned to Mack Sennett's studio. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys McConnell, Cornelius Keefe, (more)
- 1927
Few comedies of the 1920s were as bizarre and surreal as Harry Langdon's Long Pants. Having recently come of age, small-town-boy Langdon aspires to become a great lover, drawing inspiration from the romantic novels he's been reading since childhood. Falling hard for a "vamp" (Alma Bennett), Harry vows to rid himself of his childhood sweetheart (Gladys Brockwell) in the traditional literary manner by taking her into the woods and shooting her! Of course, he fails in this effort and flops even worse with the Vamp, who turns out to be a gangster's moll. After a bloody gangland shootout in which the Vamp is killed, a sadder-but-wiser Harry returns to the arms of his hometown girl, who has never quite figured out that she'd previously been a candidate for extermination. Written by future director Arthur Ripley, Long Pants is as kinky as any of Ripley's film noirs of the 1940s. Long Pants represents the second and final collaboration between star Harry Langdon and director Frank Capra, who was fired when Langdon wrong-headedly decided to become his own director, resulting in a series of career-destroying flops. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon, Gladys Brockwell, (more)
- 1928
A patriotic German American attempts to prove his loyalty to the U.S. (and also impress the gal he loves) by enlisting in the army during WW I, but unfortunately is rejected. This romantic silent comedy follows his exploits as he proves his mettle after accidently discovering a German base, single-handedly capturing it and freeing a U.S. hostage. Naturally the young hero's girl is delighted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon, Doris Dawson, (more)
- 1928
Achieving "critic's darling" status with three well-constructed starring features, baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon became convinced that he could produce, write and direct his own vehicles, a la Charlie Chaplin. Langdon's first auteur exercise, Three's a Crowd, was a disaster; his second, The Chaser, was somewhat better, if only because Langdon returned to a domestic-comedy formula he'd utilized during his Mack Sennett days. Incongruously cast as a philanderer, Langdon is hauled into court by his disgruntled wife Gladys McConnell. As punishment, the judge orders Langdon to assume his wife's household duties, leading to the film's funniest moments. After this promising sequence, the film degenerates into an uninspired rehash of Langdon's 3-reel classic Saturday Afternoon (1925), with Langdon being led astray by pal Bud Jamison. Like Three's a Crowd, The Chaser was codirected without credit by Harry Edwards and written by Arthur Ripley, two of Langdon's collaborators at Sennett. After a third unsuccessful feature, Heart Trouble (1928), Harry Langdon was finished as an independent producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys McConnell, Harry Langdon, (more)
