Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews
Lucky Stars (1925) - Harry Langdon
Paul Pain:
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016053/
The next two shorts, supposedly HORACE GREELEY, JR. and THE WHITE WING'S BRIDE, are lost shorts. We thus move to LUCKY STARS.
LUCKY STARS is a direct vehicle for Harry Langdon. All else is gravy. Harry's innocent childlike qualities are featured front and center throughout this one.
Harry is gullible, timid, naïve, and more in this short. First, he consults an astrologer who tells him to follow his "lucky stars." All after is a series of mishaps that befall the innocent and well-intended man. A crate is recklessly through on his trunk; he boards the wrong train; falls into the clutches of a quack; gets chiseled; falls for a vamp; and gets chased by angry citizens of a town.
The funniest part may be Harry with the alcoholic beverage. This drink leads to a funny exchange between he and Vernon Dent involving turn-arounds and deception. It ends with the glass put on the ground awkwardly in the middle of a street.
The other highlight is Harry mixing the "medicine." First, observe how he adds the ingredients; second, watch him mixing the snake oil. Throughout everything, Harry brilliantly carries every scene by his body language.
metaldams:
About two minutes of footage from HORACE GREELY, JR. exists.
My understanding of HORACE GREELY, JR. and THE WHITE WING’S BRIDE is they were shot in 1923 for Sol Lesser but not released at the time. Mack Sennett bought the films when he bought Langdon’s contract and released them in 1925 while Langdon was filming HIS FIRST FLAME, a feature. Since this took longer to film, Sennett released these old Sol Lesser films to get Langdon product out there in the interim.
The release order of Langdon’s silents and actual filming order, all the way up to 1927 do not reflect Harry’s artistic development. It must have been unconsciously jarring for the public.
Freddie Sanborn:
--- Quote from: metaldams on May 15, 2022, 09:37:29 PM ---About two minutes of footage from HORACE GREELY, JR. exists.
My understanding of HORACE GREELY, JR. and THE WHITE WING’S BRIDE is they were shot in 1923 for Sol Lesser but not released at the time. Mack Sennett bought the films when he bought Langdon’s contract and released them in 1925 while Langdon was filming HIS FIRST FLAME, a feature. Since this took longer to film, Sennett released these old Sol Lesser films to get Langdon product out there in the interim.
The release order of Langdon’s silents and actual filming order, all the way up to 1927 do not reflect Harry’s artistic development. It must have been unconsciously jarring for the public.
--- End quote ---
From what I’ve read, Pathe owned those two Lesser films, not Sennett. Just like Sennett would do later, Pathe delayed their release knowing that Langdon’s popularity would only grow under Sennett. This practice really hurt Harry. His First Flame was shot in 1925 but held back until 1927 AFTER Harry had released Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, The Strong Man, and Long Pants. His First Flame must have looked archaic compared to Harry’s mature First National work.
metaldams:
Yeah, according to IMDb, it is Pathe, so I stand corrected. Could have sworn I read somewhere it was Sennett who released it, but I guess not.
Paul Pain:
This practice explains the jarring setbacks we see in some of these shorts... they've been stewing a while before release.
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