Topic: HIS FIRST FLAME (1927)

[Hammond Eggar]

Here is the 1927 silent film, His First Flame, starring Harry Langdon.  Featured in the supporting cast is none other than Stooge player Vernon Dent.  Enjoy!

[metaldams]

......not to mention Bud Jamison as a doomed husband.

I'm a big Harry Langdon fan, and while I enjoy this film, I like his other features better.  Langdon was transitioning from shorts to features at the time this was made (I want to say it was shot in 1925 or early 1926, released much later on in 1927), and this was released when he was at Sennett, not a studio known for their features.  TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP and THE STRONG MAN are the features to start at, and the shorts are also a great place to start.  It may be bizzare to some, but I think THREE'S A CROWD is a masterpiece in its own unique way.

By the way, Vernon Dent was a regular sidekick to Harry Langdon, and anybody wants to check out Vernon's work outside The Three stooges, his work with Langdon is a must.  I'll call HIS MARRIAGE WOW my all-time favorite Vernon Dent performance.

[Hammond Eggar]

Thanks for the info, Metaldams.

[metaldams]

Thanks for the info, Metaldams.

No problem.  Us Langdonites are a rare breed, we must speak up when given the opportunity.

[FineBari3]

No problem.  Us Langdonites are a rare breed, we must speak up when given the opportunity.

And how! 

I love Langdon, and I think my favorite bit he does is a sound short with Vernon Dent in it, called 'The Head Guy'.  Langdon is eating his lunch, and is having a breakdown over his girlfriend.  It is pathetic and very strange!

[BeAStooge]

Vernon Dent was a regular sidekick to Harry Langdon, and anybody wants to check out Vernon's work outside The Three stooges, his work with Langdon is a must.  I'll call HIS MARRIAGE WOW my all-time favorite Vernon Dent performance.

Recommended is 2008's DVD box set "The Harry Langdon Collection: Lost and Found" which contains a dozen or so Langdon-Dent teamings at Sennett Studios, 1924 - 1927 (HIS FIRST FLAME and HIS MARRIAGE WOW among them).  Plus, their reunion in a couple 1933 talkies done at Educational.

Hopefully Sony will someday package their Columbia Langdon shorts (and Chase, and Clyde, etc.), with more Langdon and Dent appearances, sharing scenes but not as a team.  Far from Langdon's best, these shorts do have historical interest as among his final work... seeing Harry shoehorned into the raucus Columbia style with familiar faces like Christine McIntyre, Bud Jamison, Monte Collins, etc.

[metaldams]

And how! 

I love Langdon, and I think my favorite bit he does is a sound short with Vernon Dent in it, called 'The Head Guy'.  Langdon is eating his lunch, and is having a breakdown over his girlfriend.  It is pathetic and very strange!

I gotta say, I never saw that short.  Is it avaiable on youtube?  I'll have to do a search tonight.

[metaldams]

Recommended is 2008's DVD box set "The Harry Langdon Collection: Lost and Found" which contains a dozen or so Langdon-Dent teamings at Sennett Studios, 1924 - 1927 (HIS FIRST FLAME and HIS MARRIAGE WOW among them).  Plus, their reunion in a couple 1933 talkies done at Educational.

Hopefully Sony will someday package their Columbia Langdon shorts (and Chase, and Clyde, etc.), with more Langdon and Dent appearances, sharing scenes but not as a team.  Far from Langdon's best, these shorts do have historical interest as among his final work... seeing Harry shoehorned into the raucus Columbia style with familiar faces like Christine McIntyre, Bud Jamison, Monte Collins, etc.

Agree on both paragraphs.  The LOST AND FOUND set is actually one of my most watched collections and I double the recommendation.

[BeAStooge]

I gotta say, I never saw that short.

Vernon isn't in THE HEAD GUY (1931).  That's one of Harry's Hal Roach talkies, and played him off Roach tough-guy stock player Eddie Dunn. *  Harry subs as a train station master, when bad weather strands a troupe of chorus girls and their manager (Dunn); Harry falls for one of the girls.

TCM ran THE HEAD GUY last year during its Salute to Hal Roach Studios month, in a Langdon block of shorts.  It's also on a 1980s VHS from Nostalgia Merchant, "Hal Roach Comedy Classics Vol. 1."


* Dunn may be most recognizable as the chauffeur in Fields' THE BANK DICK.

[metaldams]

Vernon isn't in THE HEAD GUY (1931).  That's one of Harry's Hal Roach talkies, and played him off Roach tough-guy stock player Eddie Dunn. *  Harry subs as a train station master, when bad weather strands a troupe of chorus girls and their manager (Dunn); Harry falls for one of the girls.

TCM ran THE HEAD GUY last year during its Salute to Hal Roach Studios month, in a Langdon block of shorts.  It's also on a 1980s VHS from Nostalgia Merchant, "Hal Roach Comedy Classics Vol. 1."


* Dunn may be most recognizable as the chauffeur in Fields' THE BANK DICK.

Thanks Brent.  I have seen one Langdon Roach short, THE SHRIMP, in what is probably the worst print of a film I've ever seen.  I'll have to search those old VHS tapes on amazon and ebay in that series you mentioned, maybe I'll find some gold.

[FineBari3]

Vernon isn't in THE HEAD GUY (1931).  That's one of Harry's Hal Roach talkies, and played him off Roach tough-guy stock player Eddie Dunn. *  Harry subs as a train station master, when bad weather strands a troupe of chorus girls and their manager (Dunn); Harry falls for one of the girls.

TCM ran THE HEAD GUY last year during its Salute to Hal Roach Studios month, in a Langdon block of shorts.  It's also on a 1980s VHS from Nostalgia Merchant, "Hal Roach Comedy Classics Vol. 1."


* Dunn may be most recognizable as the chauffeur in Fields' THE BANK DICK.

Thanks for correcting me, Brent!  Yep, I got it when TCM ran the Roach stuff last year. 

It isn't on YouTube, sadly.  There is not a lot of Langdon stuff there, but enough to get started if you don't know him (that's what I did!).

[middlenamewayne]

I have seen one Langdon Roach short, THE SHRIMP, in what is probably the worst print of a film I've ever seen.

Ahhh, thanks for the reminder -- I know Lamont Cranston was The Shadow, but I can never remember that Langdon Roach was The Shrimp.

Seriously, though, I assume this print of "First Flame" has not been restored, right? With all the dark-light-dark-light flickering, it certainly lives up to its title! Can things like that be repaired, or is it a matter of praying for better source materials to show up? Just a question for those who know about that sort of thing -- I don't know what stuns me more; how wretched an old film can look when left to the elements, or how gorgeous they can be when properly resored!

  - mnw

[metaldams]

Ahhh, thanks for the reminder -- I know Lamont Cranston was The Shadow, but I can never remember that Langdon Roach was The Shrimp.

Seriously, though, I assume this print of "First Flame" has not been restored, right? With all the dark-light-dark-light flickering, it certainly lives up to its title! Can things like that be repaired, or is it a matter of praying for better source materials to show up? Just a question for those who know about that sort of thing -- I don't know what stuns me more; how wretched an old film can look when left to the elements, or how gorgeous they can be when properly resored!

  - mnw

The best print of HIS FIRST FLAME is in the HARRY LANGDON: LOST AND FOUND COLLECTION.  I didn't look at the print above, but I do know several bootlegs have been going around for years of this film, including one I owned before the Langdon DVD set came out, and they're not in the best shape.  Even the version in the LOST AND FOUND COLLECTION has some wear and tear on it, which is admitted in the audio commentary, and is believed to be incomplete.