I’ve really been gaining much more of an appreciation for Harry Langdon lately, especially his short subject work. He had such a unique style and while it could be problematic, especially when it came to milking unfunny situations, it really does hold up well in a short subject. While I haven’t thought all of his Columbia shorts so far were perfect, I do think that he felt comfortably in character in them. This is the first one where I do start to notice some sort of power struggle. Looking at the credits, I noticed that Jules White was the director, but Harry wrote the story. I bring this up because I think there are noticeable parts that reflect both of their styles. Harry trying to carry Ann Doran up definitely is his type of gag; he was in a similar situation in THE STRONG MAN. However, while he’s doing that, we also have to deal with key and needle gags which are so obviously favored by White. The part with Harry getting Bud Jamison to essentially act as a nutcracker also felt like a Harry Langdon gag, but then there’s also that scene at the beginning where he’s eating the ball of yarn which definitely feels like something White would have favored.
I also noticed that Harry did that one trademark of his where he put a finger up to his mouth. As far as I’m aware, this was the only Columbia short so far where he did that. I note this because I actually feel this is a bad sign. Watching his other Columbia shorts, it seems to me that Harry was evolving his style somewhat. He still could do many of the same gags and even have many of the same personality traits, but it really felt like he was playing down the childish aspect to his character and making him more of a dopey idiot; a funny, dopey idiot, mind you. The fact that the finger thing is in here indicates to me that, in addition to trying to inject his own formulaic style into this short, White may have also been trying too hard to make Langdon recapture his old silent film style rather than continue with his more evolved personality.
Now, I know it does seem like I’ve been pretty critical of this short so far, but truth be told, I actually liked it for the most part. The chases were fun and most of the gags did work. I especially loved when Langdon kept getting his foot stuck in the bucket. I also really liked the Monte Collins gags when he was trying to search the apartment. The only really tedious part was when Harry landed his rocking chair on the cat’s tail. I get they were trying to build up suspense, but we knew what was going to happen; they didn’t need to spend that much time on it. Otherwise, this was a pretty fun short. However, the fact that I am beginning to notice those White trademarks does also seem like a bad sign for the future, considering we’re now getting to the allegedly “mismatched pairings” era for Harry Langdon at Columbia...
9 out of 10
