Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

Shanghaied Lovers (1924) - Harry Langdon

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HomokHarcos:
I agree this was more cohesive, I could easily follow along from the start to finish. Even the way they end up on the ship feels like logical enough. There are some good gags here, the key one being Harry not grasping the person making advances on him is his wife in disguise. Harry being shocked and confused reminds me of Stan Laurel. I know it's been stated before that Langdon influenced Stan Laurel's style. Overall the best Langdon short so far.

metaldams:
      Fascinating short and thanks for posting this, Paul.  This really is the earliest example I’ve seen of Langdon, for the most part, being Langdon.  A ton of slow moments though I have to say, the print itself does let Langdon down a bit.  There were two videos of this I could find on YouTube and they looked to be the same print.  With Harry, the facial expressions and reactions are so important and a huge part of the humor, more so than most other comedians.  A lot of times Harry’s face was completely whitewashed, like with various times when he got hit on the head with an object or when he was eating the spoiled soup for Kalla Pasha or when he was calling his cross dressing wife down to bed.  The body language was there, but I really wanted to see the face.

      There were a few Sennet like moments, like Harry getting thrown around like a bouncing ball and that cartoon like jump he does through the window towards the end, all pretty funny stuff but for the most part this felt pretty Langdon like.  The scene earlier where the guy is getting doused with water through the window and Harry jumping around like he has no clue what to do is pretty Langdon like for sure.

      There is also the homosexual imagery, if not actual practice, in this short.  Even though it was really Alice Day (sister of Marceline Day from Buster Keaton’s THE CAMERAMAN), dressed like a man, there is still the image of what appears to be a mustached man kissing Harry in bed.  Pretty risqué and boundary pushing for the time and more Mack Sennett than Harry.  Check out the Sennett short HEARTS AND FLOWERS where there is an actual cross dressing female kissing another female.  Of course, all Alice had do to was whisper to Harry it was her, and she had opportunity to do so.  It would’ve avoided confusion though admittedly made the film less fun.

      A really interesting short overall and I’d say important to Langdon’s on screen development.  There are a couple of shorts after this one missing as far as I know, hopefully someday they show up.

Paul Pain:
I am impressed with even myself.  There is a Harry Langdon silent comedy that I watched before metaldams!

All in all, I agree with the comments concerning the period.  A lot of this was extremely risqué and would never have made it to theaters after the Hayes code came around, although little bits got by here and there.  Sennett comedy is certainly an American treasure of what vaudeville was like.

metaldams:

--- Quote from: Paul Pain on January 27, 2022, 07:18:14 PM ---I am impressed with even myself.  There is a Harry Langdon silent comedy that I watched before metaldams!

All in all, I agree with the comments concerning the period.  A lot of this was extremely risqué and would never have made it to theaters after the Hayes code came around, although little bits got by here and there.  Sennett comedy is certainly an American treasure of what vaudeville was like.

--- End quote ---

If you can conjure up a copy of HEART TROUBLE I’d jump through the roof.

Paul Pain:

--- Quote from: metaldams on January 27, 2022, 08:37:50 PM ---If you can conjure up a copy of HEART TROUBLE I’d jump through the roof.

--- End quote ---

I am comedy reviewer, not a magician.  HEART TROUBLE sounds like it has a very Langdon-esque plot too.

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