Harry Langdon ...The Forgotten Clown (The Strong Man / Tramp, Tramp, Tramp / Long Pants)
by Frank Capra, Harry Edwards
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Actor: Gertrude Astor, Harry Langdon, Priscilla Bonner, Robert McKim, William V. MongDirector: Frank Capra, Harry Edwards
Brand: Kino International
Writer: Harry Langdon
Writer: Frank Capra
Writer: Arthur Ripley
Writer: Gerald C. Duffy
Writer: Hal Conklin
Writer: J. Frank Holliday
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 193 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-09-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 1732
Studio: Kino Video
Product features:
- HARRY LANGDON:THE FORGOTTEN CLOWN (DVD MOVIE)
DVD Reviews of Harry Langdon ...The Forgotten Clown (The Strong Man / Tramp, Tramp, Tramp / Long Pants)
DVD Review: Why Harry was forgotten
Summary: 4 Stars
It's important to remember that not only is Harry Langdon an acquired taste for some people, but that the modern-day assessment of the greatest silent clowns is something people make in hindsight. For example, Harry was never considered one of the great silent clowns (except, probably, during his all too brief heyday) the same way Buster Keaton, now considered one of the big three, never was ranked that high either back then (he wasn't recognised as one of the greats until the 1950s). In the Teens and early Twenties, a number of now-forgotten comedians were routinely #2 on the lists of the best comedians, some (such as Roscoe Arbuckle and Larry Semon) even beating out Chaplin as the #1 clown in some areas. If it hadn't been for the unfortunate scandal in 1921, it's almost certain that Arbuckle would still be considered one of the top silent clowns. And so after various events like that occurred, not just the scandal but other silent clowns who are generally largely forgotten today diminishing in popularity, critics came up with other names to make up a new list. Harry Langdon was just one of those names.
During Harry's own brief original heyday, he was considered the fourth great silent clown, but it appears as though he was always a distant fourth, not someone held in as high or consistent regard as a Lloyd or Chaplin. He was already a veteran of vaudeville when he transitioned to film in 1923, and this move from stage to screen led to a meteoric rise and some quite good shorts and features, many of them directed by the better-remembered legend Frank Capra. The two of them had a falling-out during the making of the disastrous 'Long Pants,' with Harry siding with the writer and not the director of this film, and due to this the picture lost money. After this he fired Capra and began directing all of his own movies from then on out, which basically sealed his fate; most of his movies from then on out (the majority of the films he starred in were actually sound pictures) were financial disasters, driving people away as quickly as they had flocked to see this shining original new comedic star.
The three films on this disc are a mixed bag. 'The Strong Man' is easily the best of the three-fold sample, and even only having seen these three, it can easily be apparent to the first-time viewer just why it is considered to be Langdon's best feature film. Harry plays hapless Belgian soldier Paul Bergot, who is captured during WWI and brought back to America with the other soldier, as part of his circus act. Paul however is more interested in tracking down his American penpal Mary, who happens to be the daughter of the local preacher in one of the towns they end up having to perform in, a town rife with corruption and out of control seedy elements. There are a lot of good creative gags and scenes in this film, getting better and stronger as it goes along. The second film, 'Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,' is also pretty good and entertaining, but not quite as fine as the first film. This one is about the son of a poor shoemaker, determined to raise enough money to save his wheelchair-bound father from bankruptcy, who ends up in a cross-country walk that will easily earn him enough money, if he's the winner, to save the day. The daughter of the man whose company is sponsoring this walk (Joan Crawford in a very early role) also happens to be the girl Harry is smitten with. The final film, 'Long Pants,' is just bizarre, some good moments but overall really painful and unfunny to watch. I agree with people who have noticed how creepy it is to see fortysomething Harry wearing a short pair of pants, up in the attic, eavesdropping on his parents arguing over whether he should get a chance to wear long pants. His mother is convinced wearing short pants has kept him out of trouble, and although this probably wasn't intentional, the way all of this is portrayed and played out, one can get the impression that Harry is "special," and this impression gets even stronger as the film wears on. He seems more than just childlike and sheltered, he seems more infantile and moronic. And the business of him trying to shoot his would-be bride in the woods is more disturbing than funny. I didn't get a single laugh out of this film, and can see why he fell from grace so quickly when this film was released. He was only great when he was being handled by the right people; when he was directing himself he no longer had anyone around for quality control and ego checking.
I wanted to like Harry, and I liked 'The Strong Man' enough to want to see some of his earlier two-reelers, where perhaps he seems more funny and likeable, but I just didn't personally connect with his character enough to root for him and sympathise with him. I wouldn't say I found him irritating and annoying as others have done, just more like clueless, passive, and infantile, not the sweet endearing kind of stupidity and childlikeness other comedians who played similar characters (such as Stan Laurel and Curly Howard) displayed. And he did co-write some of Laurel and Hardy's best feature films, so it's not like he totally lost a sense of funnyness in his later years. I guess I'm just one of those people who feels Langdon is an acquired taste as opposed to instantly becoming a fan.
More Harry Langdon ...The Forgotten Clown (The Strong Man / Tramp, Tramp, Tramp / Long Pants) reviews:
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Description of Harry Langdon ...The Forgotten Clown (The Strong Man / Tramp, Tramp, Tramp / Long Pants)
HARRY LANGDON:THE FORGOTTEN CLOWN - DVD MovieIn an exceptional case of good timing, Harry Langdon emerged as a silent-comedy clown just as the careers of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin were stagnant or (in the case of Chaplin) on extended hiatus. Along came Langdon with his own screen persona--a cherubic, innocent man-child in ill-fitting clothes, his weathered hat at a permanent tilt--and by the mid-'20s he was a critical and box-office smash. The three short features offered here represent the best work of this "forgotten clown," and although Langdon's slapstick was gentler and somewhat derivative, his endearing character was featured in delightful stories that earned his place in the silent-comedy hall of fame.
The Strong Man (1926) was Langdon's second and finest film; it's bracingly ambitious in both scope and story, and marked director Frank Capra's feature-film debut. Harry plays an unlikely World War I hero who immigrates to America to find his pen-pal sweetheart, posing as a vaudeville strongman as his love-struck odyssey spins through a series of increasingly audacious comedy set pieces. Langdon's debut feature, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926), costars Joan Crawford as the woman who's captured Harry's fancy, and he joins a cross-country walking race in an adventurous effort to impress her. The film's climactic cyclone scene is as impressive for its time as anything in Twister--and a whole lot funnier. Finally, 1927's Long Pants follows the familiar formula: Harry's misguided attraction to a brazen vamp (which tempts him to dispatch his unsuspecting fiancée) leads to a series of misadventures, but as always, Harry's innate goodness wins out in the end.
Langdon's career was never again as bright; he directed himself in subsequent, lesser films and his popularity rapidly faded. That makes this collection essential for silent-comedy aficionados; these films are the enduring legacy of Langdon's brief but shining time in the spotlight, and they should not be forgotten. --Jeff Shannon
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