Topic: Pistol Packin' Nitwits (1945) - El Brendel & Harry Langdon

[Paul Pain]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037992/

REQUIRED READING: OUT WEST (Three Stooges) discussion

PISTOL PACKIN' NITWITS was an astounding disaster.  Harry Langdon, who is only listed as a co-star on all posters for this even though he receives above-the-title billing, passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage before this was released.  Harry Edwards was fired mid-production, and the short was finished by Edward Bernds.

Worst part of this is that it's one of the worst short subjects I have ever watched.  Plot is pathetic, acting is weak... except of course for Dick Curtis and Christine McIntyre.  Dick is great in his role, and Christine is always a quality dish.  But... nearly any other actor could have done better in El and Harry's roles.

A special nod to Roscoe Arbuckle's OUT WEST with the concept of an "invincible man."

Folks, I hate to do this, but the Harry Langdon series ends with a...

BURN IN HELL^TM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3/10

[metaldams]

Won’t be able to get to this one in a bit, but want to quickly add The Three Stooges OUT WEST also should be mentioned as it’s almost the same script, from what I remember.

When I get around to this one, I will have much to say.

[HomokHarcos]

This short was pretty dire. Usually these Columbia comedies move at so quick a pace that you're not thinking if they're bad, but this one was not one of those fast-paced funny shorts. Harry Langdon is obviously not in good health, he looks like an old man. It's sad that the poster doesn't even show Harry on it aside from a cast listing. It's odd that they want to give El Brendel the whole billing, because this was his last short there also. It was awesome seeing Christine McIntyre as a tough woman here, usually she's more of a damsel in distress. She even gets to sing a song that's not opera.

After Charley Chase died in 1940, Buster Keaton left in 1941 and now with Harry Langdon dead, all the major silent comedians are gone from Columbia.

[Paul Pain]

Won’t be able to get to this one in a bit, but want to quickly add The Three Stooges OUT WEST also should be mentioned as it’s almost the same script, from what I remember.

Duly noted and added to my original post.

Here is one of the previously mentioned posters:

[Dr. Mabuse]

A sad farewell for the great Langdon, who deserved much better. Painful to sit through.

2/10

[Freddie Sanborn]

I want to give props to Harry and El for their fun vaudeville soft-shoe routine. Not so much fun for Harry though. Mabel Langdon was interviewed and said that Harry came home completely exhausted on the day this was shot and had his fatal cerebral hemorrhage shortly thereafter. He was only 60 but, as noted earlier, looks much older.

[Umbrella Sam]

Really just a sad film to watch, especially knowing that some scenes were filmed right before Langdon became bed ridden. Even taking that out of account, though, PISTOL PACKIN NITWITS just feels very generic. I do like two Harry moments; I like seeing him play the banjo as well as a quick gag of him fainting after taking a quick sip of a drink. Beyond that, though, there’s nothing funny about this short and I could not see anything about it that reflected Langdon’s style. It’s just a bunch of quick based gags that don’t feel very special. It’s strange because the crew lineup would normally make it sound promising. Harry and Edward Bernds share story credit and Harry’s old director Harry Edwards was behind the camera. Granted, Edwards’s glory days were behind him, but even then, you’d think there’d be something indicative of Langdon’s style with this lineup. Sadly, there isn’t.

Christine McIntyre and Dick Curtis are fine in their roles. Christine’s song goes on for a ridiculous amount of time, with few cutaways, although considering the circumstances of this short (they still had some scenes to film when Harry died), I understand why they went this route. Regardless, this is just hard to watch. A few weeks ago, I shared a picture from what I believed was home movie footage of this short and while part of me is curious to see it just to see how he interacted with others, the other part of me doesn’t want to see it because it would be just as sad, if not sadder.

3 out of 10

[Umbrella Sam]

Duly noted and added to my original post.

Here is one of the previously mentioned posters:

Wow! Harry doesn’t even get second billing, let alone above-the-title billing.

Also, why does Harry have a mustache in the top picture? He doesn’t have one at all in the short. Is that even him in the picture?

[Paul Pain]

Just to make it clear: to my knowledge, Harry Langdon did NOT die during filming of this short.

[Umbrella Sam]

Just to make it clear: to my knowledge, Harry Langdon did NOT die during filming of this short.

According to Harry Langdon: King of Silent Comedy, filming was not completed when Langdon became ill, hence the reason for McIntyre’s song being as long as it was. I’m not sure if anything was filmed after he died (it’s possible they had the song already and were going to edit it, but kept it all in due to the circumstances), but, if King of Silent Comedy is to be believed, this was not finished at the time of his death, since he and El Brendel still had additional routines they were supposed to film.

[metaldams]

This is a short I would love to see the filming dates for.

Yeah, toss this in with HALF-WITS HOLIDAY as the two morbidly curious Columbia shorts.  Like Freddie mentioned, I too heard Langdon did the dance routine and fell ill with a stroke shortly after, possibly the same day but am not sure.

[Umbrella Sam]

This is a short I would love to see the filming dates for.

Yeah, toss this in with HALF-WITS HOLIDAY as the two morbidly curious Columbia shorts.  Like Freddie mentioned, I too heard Langdon did the dance routine and fell ill with a stroke shortly after, possibly the same day but am not sure.

King of Silent Comedy has the dance bit as being shot on December 8. It also cites Bernds’s diary which suggests that production started sometime in November (seems like an unusual amount of time for shooting a Columbia short, but I imagine Edwards’s unreliability could have been an issue).

[Paul Pain]

King of Silent Comedy has the dance bit as being shot on December 8. It also cites Bernds’s diary which suggests that production started sometime in November (seems like an unusual amount of time for shooting a Columbia short, but I imagine Edwards’s unreliability could have been an issue).

Edwards was so unreliable that he got fired mid-production, so I am sure that had something to do with the delays.  So I agree with metaldams' comparison to HALF-WITS HOLIDAY.

[metaldams]

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen this one and just got around to revisiting it again.  Thanks for the date, Sam, as it appears the dance scene was about two weeks before Harry’s death.

It’s funny with health.  Curly was deteriorating in these shorts for years and has a stroke.
He lives another almost six years later and even fathers a child (and I just realized he was only a few months older than me when he had his stroke, yikes).  Langdon, while getting older naturally, seems fine and he’s gone just like that.

Under the circumstances, this short is OK.  Obviously there had to be some padding to complete this, but Christine does a fine job with her song and it’s always a pleasure for me to hear her sing.  In this case, almost with an Irish accent, if I’m not mistaken.

Langdon and El Brendel are a strange pairing and what gets me the most is Langdon in a few parts is the Moe of the team the way he speaks to his partner.  Langdon in his prime was the meekest comedian imaginable so it’s bizarre to see him ending up insulting El Brendel even slightly.

The fateful dance routine is actually the highlight of the short in my opinion.  A nice job by both and El Brendel is refreshing doing just strict physical stuff versus character based.  I think I only truly liked one short of his.

Yeah, sad to see Harry go like this.  Now that I’m moved into my new place (amongst a sea of boxes) and have WiFi hooked up, you might see a review from me in the next week or two.  I’ll be getting to more Langdon sometime, silent era stuff.  Definitely Langdon in his prime and a few of these I’d love to read your reactions to.  As far as the Columbia’s, interesting batch but silent Langdon is mandatory to understand him.  I must say, I DON’T REMEMBER was one heck of a pleasant surprise.

[Freddie Sanborn]

During his time at Columbia, Langdon said this in a press interview: “Without character, the comedian is lost. When I play in what I call the O-Ouch-O comedies, where the comedian runs about, is hit on the head, etc., I am just an animated suit of clothes.” Nothing endears someone to their employer like trashing them in the press.