Topic: Tied for Life (1933) - Harry Langdon

[Paul Pain]

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024670/

TIED FOR LIFE is a partially lost short of which 13 minutes survive.  I think the plot was like this: Harry's getting married, loses the ring, rescues by destroying Vernon Dent's car, gets married, has issues with his mother-in-law, and then is pursued by both Vernon and his mother-in-law.

The first bit should seem great, because it's a remake of HIS MARRIAGE WOW.  The first part is great... and then it's all downhill.

The opening bit with Harry being congratulated by his friends is a nice opening, especially when he gets sprayed with rice and drops the beer he was about to hand out.  The ring bit is just a reenactment.

The train scene.  Oh, dear sweet Lord, is this awful.  The mother-in-law is such a b***h that she won't let Harry and his wife do anything married couples do... as in she goes on their honeymoon with them and won't even let them hold hands.

Somehow, Vernon Dent's trying to sabotage the marriage as well and is doing stuff in blackface, but we don't understand exactly what's happening because so much is missing, but eventually in the midst of a brawl Harry's wife grabs him and drags into safety in the berth.

The closing bit is also confusing and leaves me wondering if it would have been any better as a complete film or not.

[metaldams]

Yes, I too thought Vernon as the porter was in blackface.  I thought maybe the print was just bad, but no, Vernon looked darker than anyone else and it definitely adds to the bizarreness of this short.

Now in all fairness, yes, I’m going to assume this print is incomplete.  For example, the cut from the wedding to what I assume is the honeymoon on the train is very sudden and unexplained.  So speaking of bizarreness, there’s the whole idea of Harry and his new bride not being allowed to share a berth together because of mother.  I don’t care how meek his screen character is, put your foot down, Harry.  If IMDb is accurate, Harry is 25 years older than his bride and 10 years older than his mother in law.  (Sings) “Hollywoooooood…..”

The moment that ring hit the ground, I guessed the tire gag from HIS MARRIAGE WOW and was correct.  Lacked the daredevil camerawork of Sennett.  Don’t have too much else to say, this one leaves me speechless by my standards.  Crazy mother in law angle, incomplete print, I guess on the positive I liked the pause Harry did when the mirror broke.  That felt appropriately Langdon.  A step or ten down from KNIGHT DUTY.

[Umbrella Sam]

Yeah, not really anything I can add to what’s been said. As is often the case with comedies involving annoying in laws, it’s bad. OK, I guess that’s kind of unfair to say considering it’s incomplete, but...man, what survives is pretty dreadful, especially once they get to the train and it’s just Vernon switching the numbers and causing the usual chaos in these kinds of train berth comedies. As far as things I liked, I did enjoy Harry’s reaction to the mirror; once again, another one of those very predictable setups, but Harry finds a way to make it unique based on his persona. The only other true highlight is the tire gag, which is reused from the far superior HIS MARRIAGE WOW. Beyond that, though, I would be surprised if it were any better even if the missing footage was still intact, as it doesn’t seem like it could be very coherent; certain scenes feel like they’re from different films completely, particularly the ending. And what’s up with the random singing on the train? Whatever, it sucks, I guess we’ll just leave it at that.

[Paul Pain]

If IMDb is accurate, Harry is 25 years older than his bride and 10 years older than his mother in law.  (Sings) “Hollywoooooood…..”

I have an ancestor... actually multiple ancestors, I think, who were older than their in-laws.  Not that this is relevant really to the short at hand.  Vicki Lawrence Shultz was younger than each one of the actors that depicted her "children," "daughter-in-law", and "son-in-law" on Mama's Family.  Some of them by a significant amount.