Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

The Leather Necker (1935) - Harry Langdon

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Paul Pain:


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026617/

So far, we have skipped two shorts.  First was SHIVERS, which is a lost film.  Second was LOVE, HONOR, AND OBEY (THE LAW!), which was a drivers education bulletin that we may address later.

THE LEATHER NECKER is an OK film.  Here at least we have a typical Langdon character, but in a weak, hole-ridden script.

The good: Harry, Bud Jamison, and Wade Boteler.  They are IT though.  This short is lacking.  The plot has holes that can't be excused with the horrible quality of the film strip itself.  This would have worked as a movie, but it's too much in too little time.

Harry is great, and his reaction when the girl kisses him is fantastic.  The girl herself is a tramp, much of the dialogue is in Spanish, we get sudden unclearly explained battle sequences, and we get inexplicable behavior during said battle sequences, including a large shift in scenes that leaves you wondering what happened.

A big dud this time.

4/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

metaldams:
A remake of the Langdon Sennett silent short, ALL NIGHT LONG.  THE LEATHER NECKER is nowhere near as good.  Yes, it is true Langdon’s reaction is good here when the girl kisses him.  It’s even better in the original when Langdon dances around in slow motion.  The whole dodging bullets on top of the pole thing is taken from that.  In the original, a great physical comedy finale involving great stunts.  Here, Langdon throws stuff at his rival.  The idea of Langdon having someone else fight for him is lifted from SATURDAY AFTERNOON, done with more wit and skill in the original.  The original ending with Harry and the girl is also more clever then the rush job here.

Hey, all this would be forgivable if the middle part of this film wasn’t so grim.  The whole idea of whether to keep Harry dead or alive is too much of a bummer.  Academically interesting but if you’ve never seen the original, watch it first then watch THE LEATHER NECKER.  Classic Langdon and Vernon Dent.

HomokHarcos:
The whole middle part is pretty forgettable. The beginning and the end were good. I liked when Harry was on the pole throwing slingshots at him. My favorite line is when it is explained that Harry has never been in a house before! He lives in a tent, but has a car?

Umbrella Sam:
Eh...it’s not super funny and I can see Paul’s point regarding all the plot holes; it really did seem like they skipped a whole section between the part at the girlfriend’s house and when they’re deciding whether or not to keep Harry alive. There are some moments I like. As others have mentioned, Harry’s reaction when the girl kisses him is really good, and I also like Harry watching and supporting Bud Jamison during the fight, although I also haven’t seen SATURDAY AFTERNOON, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to. I’m personally not a fan of the part with Harry and the slingshot. It’s another one of those gags that I feel he was milking way more than it was worth. I didn’t even find it funny the first time he did it.

Not terrible, but nothing really that special either, although I do like the story idea. When I get a chance, I’d like to check out ALL NIGHT LONG, because I imagine this must have worked better there.

5 out of 10

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