Topic: Here Comes Mr. Zerk (1943) - Harry Langdon

[Paul Pain]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035989/

This short starts off in a way that makes you think it will be a drag.  But then it turns into a slam bang fast-paced comedy, and one that manages to work around Harry's style.

The actors are great, and unsurprisingly John T. Murray again delivers another fantastic role as an insane man.  The opening is classic Vernon Dent.

The plot itself is simple, and it is enjoyable watching Harry confusedly wonder why people are attacking him.  His handling of being with the insane Mr. Zerk couldn't have been better.

Sadly, however, the end of this real is destroyed, so much so that the short abruptly ends without a full resolution or the Columbia closing screen.  As a result, I won't rate this film.

[metaldams]

      Yes, agreed about the ending.  Can’t help but think something is missing.

      Actually a really great premise for a short.  A simple concept of confusion milked for all it’s worth.  The problem is the public is more confused than Langdon is.  In that context, any comedian could have done this short. 

      Langdon acts well being a typical comedian who reacts fast and panics.  He carries the material just fine.  But again, it’s journeyman Langdon.  Imagine the classic Langdon character in this role.  Slow to react, a step behind, just as confused, and maybe a bit more so, than the public.  As the short is, he’s onto John T. Murray’s loon right away.  Imagine Harry going along with it fora bit until the slow blink realization comes.  None of that here.  Again, a good short, Langdon’s earning his paycheck and doing fine by the material, but I can’t help think if done differently, he could of added so much more.  Highlight of the short - the kid in the stroller running away from Langdon.

[HomokHarcos]

The premise is similar to Buster Keaton's The Goat, as a misleading picture gets him into a bunch of trouble. Actually, this would have probably been a good film for Buster to do when he was at Columbia as it would have fit him more than Harry Langdon. On it's own the movie is enjoyable. Harry's lucky that in a gun-loving country that he didn't get shot for walking around like that. Interesting for me was the game where you could shoot caricatures of Tojo, Mussolini and Hitler. I wonder if those games actually existed? The ending was abrupt, but Columbia comedies were usually resolved that way so I'm not sure if we were missing much.

[Umbrella Sam]

It’s a shame this is incomplete because this seems like a really good short for the most part. True, it’s not exactly 100% tailored for Langdon (like HomokHarcos, THE GOAT was what immediately came to my mind as well), but outside of the stuff in Harry’s room, I didn’t feel there was anything frustratingly wrong with his performance. Like Paul mentioned, a lot of this allows for Harry to be confused, and Langdon being confused usually leads to funny things. For some reason, I really liked his reaction to all the people at the apartment approaching him with axes and chairs; I kind of feel that may have been his reaction even in the silent era.

Oh, and of course John T. Murray playing a crazy person just makes this even better. I do see metaldams’s point about Langdon realizing the craziness of Murray right away, but I still like how Harry plays along with the fake cigar bits and everything. It may not be exactly like how Harry would have handled this in the silent era, but like A BLITZ ON THE FRITZ, I do think they still managed to get a pretty good result. And again, I think the only real parts where Langdon truly feels uncomfortable are the parts when he’s in his own room.