Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

I Don't Remember (1935) - Harry Langdon

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Umbrella Sam:
Watching this short, two later Columbia shorts came to mind: Charley Chase’s THE MIND NEEDER and Sterling Holloway’s MORON THAN OFF. As I’ve mentioned before, I really enjoy Chase’s version, as it gave him a chance to show off his eccentricities, and it’s fun seeing his cheerful, but easily forgetful personality contrasting with his constantly frustrated wife. Holloway’s version isn’t particularly memorable, but that’s because he really wasn’t well suited for physical comedy (in one of his diary entries, Emil Sitka mentioned that Holloway was pretty frail when he worked with him).

As for I DON’T REMEMBER, I really like it. I still think Chase’s very loud and cheerful personality is a bit better of a fit for the bad memory story, but Langdon’s version still works well too. His version is eccentric too, but he’s more quiet. There are a lot of great gags here. I like when Harry has to pretend to be the test subject for the fake doctor, when Harry thinks the lion painting has come to life, and when he goes crazy and starts chasing after Vernon Dent. The chase for the ticket is great too. I especially love when Harry walks up some stairs only to fall when he realizes they’re actually ladder in front of the actual stairs; I feel like that was something Buster Keaton would have done as well. Probably my favorite part, though, is the painted furniture part. It’s pretty clever, and I like that they don’t forget about it either when Vernon Dent returns. Overall, this was a really fun short and while I do slightly prefer Charley Chase’s take, this one is still excellent as well. Easily the best of Langdon’s Columbia shorts that I’ve seen so far.

10 out of 10

Also, I’m curious to find out, does anyone know if Harry actually drew the paintings in this short? I know he did caricature work for BLOCK HEADS and THE FLYING DEUCES, but I’m not sure if he did art work for any of his own films.

Umbrella Sam:
I’m currently watching the Holloway version again and just realized that many of the gags are the same there as they are here. Again, though, Holloway really just wasn’t that well suited for this type of comedy. Just goes to show that sometimes you really do need the right type of performer for certain bits to work.

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