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Long Pants (1927) - Harry Langdon

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Paul Pain:




IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018102/

metaldams:
I’ll get to this one in the next few days.  Can’t wait to read everybody’s opinions on this one, as I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time.

metaldams:
      OK, it’s time to discuss LONG PANTS.  There are some people who think this is Langdon’s last great film.  There are some people who think Langdon jumped the shark here.  I’m in the weird position of viewing LONG PANTS as a big misfire but actually enjoy the features that came after.  Why is this a misfire?  One very simple reason.  Harry Langdon attempts to murder his fiancé.  Let me repeat that slowly - Har Ree Lang Don Uh Tempts To Mur Der His Fee On Say.  I hope I made that clear enough.  This scene, which happens about halfway through the film, makes me lose any sympathy for the character and also makes me view his character as a hypocrite who lacks any self reflection and projects his own failures onto others.  His judgmental attitude towards Bebe towards the end runs a little cold due to what was attempted earlier in the film.  If you took away the murder scene, this film has potential.

      So Langdon age wise, kind of ambiguous.  It seems like he’s in the early stages of adolescence, you know, graduating to long pants and discovering girls.  At the same time, his parents seem quick to marry him off, something someone older than an adolescent would do.  Add to the fact this role is being played by a 43 year old man and this gets stranger.  In THE STRONG MAN, there is the line about Harry needing a truant officer, but beyond that, Langdon was usually portrayed as an eccentric adult.  Here, he is being played as someone a bit younger.

      However, there is a good concept lurking in LONG PANTS that is hinted at but ruined by the murder scene.  It’s the idea that it takes Harry so long to figure out Bebe is a cocaine smuggling criminal.  This would have worked better with an innocent Harry, the kind of Harry who is a few steps away from the rest of the world like he us in other films we’ve watched.  The part where Bebe is holding up the man and Harry thinks the man is handing over all this stuff out of kindness is a good concept.  There needed to be more gags like that.  The fact that it takes a big catfight with Bebe and the other gangster girl for Harry to see what Bebe is is fascinating.  I love the shot where Bebe is sulking around after the fight and there is Harry, front of screen from behind, sitting there completely still for what seems like a minute.  He’s in total shock, it took him this long to figure her out!  Look, when I was a teen I liked a girl so much that her being hungover on the bathroom floor at Denny’s didn’t make me change my opinion on her.  I look back at that now differently.  So yes, the concept of beauty making young men blind is ripe with comic potential.  But most of us don’t go as far as attempted murder.

      In the end when Harry comes back home to his family and Priscilla, it should be a happy ending.  Instead, all I’m thinking is Priscilla needs to run.  Yes, the murder scene ruins this film for me.  The mannequin gag is funny, Harry running on the street with Bebe in the crate is funny, but funny only in isolation.  That one scene looms large for me and that’s all I have to say.  I’m curious as to your opinions.

Paul Pain:
My God does this suck... Every freaking frame is a giant sequence of wasted potential.

The highlight was Harry dealing with the dummy cop.  The rest just sucks.  Oh, Lord, does this suck.  This is Three Stooges Besser era level sucking.

Harry reads ao many books... but can't see that something is wrong with this woman?  He doesn't care that she's a serial criminal and decides to try to murder his fiancé.  Worse, he actually does try and doesn't feel an ounce of guilt about it.  He helps this woman break out of jail, and then he just quietly goes home without any signs of having learned from this escapade. 

Harry is supposed to be a man-child, not a perverted adolescent who can't look at a girl without getting an erection.

This movie can... BURN IN HELLTM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

metaldams:
I’m not sure Harry actually knew she was a criminal or lacking character until he witnessed the fight and gun action.  Notice his complete shock when he finally figures it out.  The headline in the paper indicated she was abandoned by her friends and in his mind, he probably thought her jail sentence was unjust.

I actually like the concept of Harry being oblivious to this girl, it really works for his character.  They just ruined it with the whole murder angle - totally unnecessary.

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