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Shanghaied Lovers (1924) - Harry Langdon

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Paul Pain:


IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015322/

Shanghai: to use drugs, violence, or threats to force someone into working on a ship. 

SHANGHAIED LOVERS is the first short that has felt like a real, genuine Harry Langdon short.  By this I mean the timid, small Harry who has to get himself out of an uncomfortable or dangerous situation.  In this short, we get both as Harry faces two dangers: (1) his lurking, violent captain and (2) the advances of his disguised wife.

There is some Sennett knockabout stuff here, but it's mostly worked around Harry's persona.  An example of this is how Harry handles the leak early in the short and how he uses the ball-and-chain to knock out the captain.  The kitchen and ending scenes quintessential Harry as well, but in the context of a more standard situation for Harry to find himself in.  I take it "person thinks the pet cat was killed for food" is an old workhorse gag?  I thought the rubber bands could have been milked a little more, but perhaps it's just the print quality and not the film on that one.

Harry has a great cast around him.  Alice Day is going to be with us for several more weeks, and Kalla Pasha isn't done yet either!  Lots of quality background work from the Sennett crew, including Billy Robertson and Andy Clyde (who has multiple roles in this one).  It's fun watching these and discovering either actors of were considered top-notch regulars in their heyday (like Kalla Pasha) or early career folks yet to make their mark (like Andy and George Cooper).

metaldams:
Has this film been found within the past fifteen years or so?  This is not on the LOST AND FOUND DVD set which came out in 2007.  I will get to this tomorrow, but it looks like I’m going to be seeing a Langdon silent I haven’t seen before - I think.

metaldams:
According to this site, 2017 is when it showed up.

https://archive.org/details/BillSpragueCollection-HarryLangdon-SHANGHAIEDLOVERS

Paul Pain:
Yeah, 2017 was the date I had seen for its for first decent-quality full version.

Umbrella Sam:
Yeah, Harry’s definitely more like the Harry we expect here. It’s still not a great short; the rubber band part in particular was painfully unfunny. But there is still some decently creative stuff here; the captain throwing Harry around and Harry dropping the ball-and-chain on the captain are particular highlights. I also like the overall relationship between Harry and his wife here; her disguising herself to be near him is kind of sweet and they do manage to make some funny moments out of Harry freaking out whenever she annoys him. Also to the film’s credit, it certainly has less of a random sketch comedy feeling than the ones before it; it does feel more cohesive from beginning to end. It’s a huge step in the right direction for Harry.

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