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Defective Detectives (1944) - Harry Langdon & El Brendel

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Paul Pain:




https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036751/

THIS piece of $#¡+ was the first film I saw with either Harry Langdon or El Brendel in it.  The thought makes me want to take up alcoholism, because this is a dud.  I watched this, read up on it, and decided that I would have to eventually watch some 1920s Harry Langdon.  I did.  End of story.

My God is this short disappointing.  This is basically standard Columbia fare.  Except for one scene where Harry sits on the couch that El is hiding beneath, there are no moments that suit Harry's talents at all.  Instead, we get a cohesive story of Harry and El being a couple of bungling idiots who almost would forget to breathe without being reminded to do so. 

The cast is all right and performs well, but the writing is sloppy.  Christine McIntyre is a dish, as always; Vernon Dent is comedically emotional; George Lewis is nicely cynical.

It's just not... good.  This is bad even for El Brendel.

5/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

HomokHarcos:
Maybe I don't care as much if something fits somebody's personal style, because I happened to find this short very funny. But then again, I like to see people keep bumbling their jobs. It has pretty much everything I like in Columbia comedies: people bashing their heads together, hurting each other accidently, being terrible at their jobs, Vernon Dent and Christine McIntyre. Is it possible that their former boss hated them so much he tried to intentionally get them killed by gangsters? Because it's unbelievable that they would be able to catch a crime boss.

Umbrella Sam:
Well, it’s not particularly good and almost nothing in it is truly indicative of Harry’s style, but I did find that I enjoyed quite a few moments. In particular, I liked the couch gag, which seems the most like a Langdon moment, Harry moving his tie to look like a mustache, El Brendel pulling Harry in the wagon, the re-enactment of how they captured Vernon Dent and Christine McIntyre, and any moment involving Dent being scared.

There definitely is good stuff here. Unfortunately, the stuff that’s bad...is really bad. The short starts off terribly; it involves El Brendel making horrible squeaking noises. There’s also this really bad moment involving Harry and El pretending to sell flowers and Harry once again has to do overreactions that he’s clearly not comfortable doing.

Harry and El are not a truly defined team here. At least in TO HEIR IS HUMAN, it was clear that Una Merkel was more of the “leader” of the two. Here, it kind of shifts, and neither actor does a good job being the leader; Harry because it’s out of character for him, and El Brendel because...well, he’s El Brendel. Actually, in Brendel’s defense, I do think that the slightly more fast-paced, almost Marx Brothers type anarchy of this teaming does seem to be something he’s well-suited for. I could actually see this type of short working if the mix-up just wasn’t so stupid and if he could work with someone like Monte Collins or someone who excelled at fast paced humor. It’s not terrible as a whole, but it’s just so sad to watch Harry Langdon acting so out of character.

5 out of 10

Umbrella Sam:

--- Quote from: HomokHarcos on February 27, 2021, 08:52:38 AM ---Maybe I don't care as much if something fits somebody's personal style, because I happened to find this short very funny. But then again, I like to see people keep bumbling their jobs. It has pretty much everything I like in Columbia comedies: people bashing their heads together, hurting each other accidently, being terrible at their jobs, Vernon Dent and Christine McIntyre. Is it possible that their former boss hated them so much he tried to intentionally get them killed by gangsters? Because it's unbelievable that they would be able to catch a crime boss.

--- End quote ---

I think he was so desperate that he was willing to try anything to capture the crime boss. According to him, no one else he hired could catch him, so maybe he thought that a different approach would work?

Paul Pain:

--- Quote from: Umbrella Sam on February 28, 2021, 05:49:03 PM ---I think he was so desperate that he was willing to try anything to capture the crime boss. According to him, no one else he hired could catch him, so maybe he thought that a different approach would work?

--- End quote ---

It's stated that Henry the Hacker's girlfriend personally knows every detective in the city, so she will recognize whoever is tailing her.

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