Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

Blonde and Groom (1943) - Harry Langdon

(1/1)

Paul Pain:




https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035684/

The day Harry Langdon met Mrs. Ziffel was an odd one.  In BLONDE AND GROOM, again Harry Langdon is the script writer.  And do we get a weird short that nicely blends both Harry's and Columbia's styles, siding toward the latter.  Unfortunately, there are some pieces clearly missing from the reel, as this one is jumpy and clocks in at just under 15 minutes.

Yes, Rex's (Eddy Chandler) fiancée is played by Barbara Pepper, best known as Mrs. Ziffel on Green Acres.  Stanley Blystone and Gwen Kenyon fill out the solid cast that overall suffers much abuse.

Now, the opening scenes with Harry hauling sand and working on the roof are classic Columbia style.  He does well with this material and really gives it his own touch.  Throughout the short, he takes a ton of abuse and takes it well.  By the end, you feel bad for Harry and all his pain, especially when he steps on the pincushion.  The jokes about Harry's pictures are a cute way to introduce he and his wife's characters.

Rex is an ass, plain and simple.  Unlikable and an absolute cad.  Stanley Blystone does well as the one-eyed jilted ex-boyfriend bent on murderous revenge.  Gwen is solid as Harry's irritable  and shrieky wife who also takes a little abuse.

Barbara Pepper: she delivers a fine performance as a rotten lady.  She's abusive and domineering, pushes Harry around perfectly, and controls the situation.  She takes her role like a champion and makes the proper reaction for every bullet, stab, and smack.  The way she acts quickly to save herself and Harry is a perfect turn for things.

But that ending just chilled me.  That was a little too gruesome, but it doesn't detract from a solid short.

9/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

HomokHarcos:
Yes, I really enjoyed this one. The beginning was obviously a wartime scene, preparing the roof with sand in case of an air raid. I'm not exactly sure of the history behind that and what the sand did. Then his wife left. It was funny when she was looking at the pictures than Harry informed her that she missed one! Then the other woman comes. What's refreshing is that the fiance is behind this; most of the time in these Columbia comedies a misunderstanding would lead to Harry's wife and the woman's man wanting to kill him. Then we get all sorts of good slapstick when she is in the house. What I really like about Columbia comedies is that the slapstick abuse is spread out, here Barbara gets stabbed by a pillow and is nice to see after the abuse she gave Harry. I like surreal gags, so the ending was fine for me.

metaldams:
Another pretty enjoyable one.  I like the ending and I’ll give the reason.  Harry losing blood the way he did gave him the opportunity to act real slow and if there’s one thing Langdon does better than any comedian, it’s slow down.  The turning to dust thing was a nice surreal touch as was the whole ending bit.

The rest of the short is good.  I did enjoy the rooftop stuff very much and the rest of the gags and situations, while not classic, was good enough.  Moved along at a steady pace and again, is acceptable Columbia.  I did enjoy Barbara Pepper. 

My impression of these Langdon Columbias so far is I DON’T REMEMBER and COLD TURKEY are the classics while the rest seem like generally acceptable Columbia fare with Langdon in it. Nothing highly distinguished, but Langdon was working hard and entertaining and I’m curious if this pattern will continue going forward.

Umbrella Sam:
Pretty good for the most part. I too liked the stuff on the roof as well as Rex’s re-enactment with Harry. There are still occasionally things that feel a bit more Columbia than Harry, notably the part with the spikes, but for the most part, Harry’s performance is pretty good, as are those of the supporting cast. The ending might be the most bizarre ending I’ve seen in a Columbia short. I guess it’s not bad; I do like Harry’s reactions when he gets up, but the set up is just so weird that I really wasn’t sure what to think. Overall, a pretty good short.

8 out of 10

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