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Goodness, a Ghost! (1940) - Harry Langdon

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Paul Pain:




IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193979/

GOODNESS, A GHOST! is the only film that Harry Langdon made for RKO.  I do not know what sort of deal this was, but the screenplay was written by Harry as well. The condition of the reels is dreadful in places, so be prepared to either turn up the brightness on your screen or to do a lot of squinting.

This isn't a bad two-reeler, but it starts off really well and drops off at the end.  The first reel has a wonderful setup with a typically cowardly Harry being the owner of a haunted 1800s police suit that once belonged to his grandfather.  All we know is that is grandfather was an Irish cop named O'Toole, and Harry's character is an O'Toole.  We have this build-up to explain how why it's haunted and how it's affecting the environment of the play that is being produced.

That first scene that leads up to the revelation of the ghost is the best part.  We have cheesy bad acting on display in an absolute mockery of... cheesy bad acting; I guess Harry had a thing for parody given this and THE STAGE HAND.  Harry is fine as the dimwitted special effects man with a grandiose but comical setup.

The revelation that the suit is haunted is done nicely within the limitations of special effects circa 1940 (although these techniques go back to at least the 1920s if not sooner).  This ghastly character then drives Harry into a situation where a real cop is needed to arrest some gangsters.  The setup is fine at this point and involves a comical poker game in which Harry is coached to victory by the ghost... and then it all goes to hell in a handbasket.

The travesty that follows is just awful as almost the entire second reel just consists of an airplane strafing the villains and Harry for what feels like forever.  The close-ups are terrible, the reactions are worse, and the timing is atrocious.  As horrible as it sounds, this scene needed Jules White to come in and save the day because that's the kind of scene he would have handled to perfection.  There's no cast on IMDB or in the film itself, but that's James C. Morton as the criminal with the eyepatch.  Notice they even do his famous toupee routine.

When Harry runs back into the theater... missed opportunity again.  Good film turned to hot garbage by the end.

metaldams:
Haven’t seen this short in 15 years!

https://moronika.com/forums/index.php?topic=2164.0

Will get a fresh viewing sometime this week.

metaldams:
I don’t think this film is bad.  Actually, the whole cliche of Harry being guided by the hand of God is almost in play here.  Just substitute God for the ghost of Harry’s grandfather.

Again, Harry has this fascination for me when he’s separate from the rest of the world.  I like the fact when he’s at the card table, he’s alone in his shots and the three gangsters all take up another shot.  The whole airplane thing again has Harry separate and his relative lack of action compared to others works well for his character.

Harry’s interactions of being a puppet on the strings of his dead grandfather also works. “Chin up, chest out,” etc. These kind of things work well for Harry.  I’m not going to call this an all time classic, but it satisfies the Langdon fan in me.

Umbrella Sam:
My understanding is this was supposed to be sort of a test for whether or not a Langdon series would have worked at RKO. It’s a shame they decided not to pursue it, because I would much rather watch a Langdon RKO series than their annoying Edgar Kennedy series.

I actually really liked this short. The set up works perfectly for Langdon, with circumstances leading him to fall into situations rather than him actively pursuing them. I think the actual introduction of Langdon to the gangsters is pretty funny; I like how both sides immediately panic and hide after seeing each other. The card table scene is great; Harry confirming and then confirming again what his grandfather wants him to do with his hand feels like a true classic Harry moment, one that’s properly slow and drawn out. I also love how obvious it is that the villains are cheating too, and yet they get mad when they discover Harry was (unintentionally) doing the same thing.

I can kind of see what Paul is saying about the whole airplane part in the sense that it does start about a minute too early, but I think they do enough with Harry’s different methods of trying to stop the plane that it works. I really like the idea of him trying to help the villains only to unintentionally get them arrested; again, it’s a perfect idea for him, and not the kind of thing you really saw from him at Columbia, even though I do like some of those shorts.

So, yeah, I actually enjoyed this one overall. Everything I could ask for in a Langdon short is there and at least to me, they do a good job executing it. Good short.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz:
Is that Billy Bletcher voicing Grandpa?

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