Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

Councel on De Fence (1934) - Harry Langdon

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Paul Pain:


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025003/

I apologize for lousy quality of this YouTube video.

We enter the next phase of our journey with Harry Langdon's Columbia debut.  Harry was a silent film legend who took a long time to adjust to sound.  Much like Buster Keaton, he needed to find a new role as slow-paced pantomime fell flat in the sound era, more so than Buster's.  Buster's character could be adapted to sound as his falls and smacks worked.  Harry, however, developed a whole new persona based on his old one.  This unsurprising as Harry had come from the prior sound era... that is, Vaudeville.

Harry jumps into Columbia style comedy with a bang.  This is one of the wildest shorts I have ever seen from Columbia pictures.  They really experimented in these early ones and sadly discarded a lot of good bits.  Before I get into this review, just imagine Shemp Howard or Roscoe Arbuckle in this role; their characters work, but it would be funny in a different way!

The pre-code era allows for some crazy gags in this short.  Poison, homosexuality, strangulation, sex, broken legs, and stomach pumping all are key moments in this short.

The opening is so strange, with Harry stroking his girlfriend in a very deliberate manner only to drop her like a brick.  He does this smoothly and shamelessly in a truly caustic way... Darrow Langdon is  too stupid to be genuinely harmful.

Earle Fox is fantastic as the defense attorney and Langdon's boss.  Explosive rage is his strong suit, and it's well-needed here.  When he's kissing Renee Whitney and Harry walks in... well, let's just say that due to circumstances Harry thinks his boss is gay.

Langdon strangles a woman, throws a brick at a cop (is that Stanley Blystone?), and drinks a bottle of poison before this one is done.  But the ending sequence is both cringe-worthy and hilarious, though overdone.  It's a wild ride to the finish, with this one being one of the most macabre and hilarious shorts ever produced by Columbia Shorts.

Don't worry, folks, this isn't the only short Arthur Ripley directed!

I could write more, but this one deserves you to see it for yourself.

10/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

Umbrella Sam:
Interesting idea, and the number of exterior shots is pretty impressive for a Columbia short. Still, I was a bit confused at times. I assume the woman did actually poison her husband since she freaks out and has Harry’s stomach pumped. Also, was it implied that he threw up in the taxi cab? That’s the only explanation I could think of for him not wanting to go to the hospital anymore.

Even though I was a bit confused, I did think the “stomach pumping” thing was pretty funny. For me, the real highlight is the confusion between the fake and real police officer. It’s a pretty clever mix-up, and Langdon does a good job with his confused reactions when the fake officer never responds. I think the opening’s a bit slow, though. To me, Earle Fox seems like a generic boss type, which I suppose is fine considering that’s what was needed, but I never really find I enjoy watching him, even when he has his little freak out. The courtroom scene also drags a bit, as it’s mainly there just for exposition and not really comedy.

It’s an interesting, dark comedy short and definitely has good moments, but I think it has some slow moments as well. It’s still worth watching for that police scene, though.

7 out of 10

Umbrella Sam:
Also, thought it might be worth sharing this neat series of articles I found recently about the relationship between Harry, Stan Laurel, and Hal Roach. Here’s the first part:

http://thescribefiles.blogspot.com/2016/02/langdon-laurel-hardy-hal-part-1.html

metaldams:
I don’t feel I can judge this one too well because of the print.  Part of the charm of Langdon is studying the reactions with his face and half the time his face is nothing but pure white.  The mustache makes his face look older.

The poison at the beginning is an OK bit of pantomime.  The whole gag with the girl in the cart being switched with another cart and Langdon trying to summon a dummy cop from across the street is straight out of LONG PANTS, done better there, though passable here.

The faux homosexual kiss I suppose was risky for the day, and the stomach pump thing was funny towards the end as they really built things up well on that scenario.  The court monologue with Langdon - again, I need a better print to judge.  Couldn’t see him like I wish.

Interesting short, I hope this and the other Langdon Columbias get restored and released one day.  As far as Arthur Ripley, a regular collaborator with Langdon back to the silent years.  His presence at Columbia I imagine was because of Langdon’s influence.

Paul Pain:
Unfortunately, almost all of these early Langdon Columbia shorts are in this level of condition, or worse.  As far as I know, absolutely no effort has been put into restoring these.

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