TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP (1926) is the first released Harry Langdon feature and the first film produced by Langdon himself after leaving Mack Sennett. By this time, Langdon had his minimal reaction and distant from the world act down perfectly. Most silent comedians of the era either do a ton of creative things and react in a real broad way but Langdon got his laughs by doing little. The story of TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP is quite simple. Langdon’s Dad runs a little shoe store that’s about to be run out of business by a large national competitor called Burton Shoes. Langdon’s Dad has three months to pay the rent or lose his home. The father depends on his son Harry to earn the money in the three months. Langdon stumbles into a cross country walking race, (from Massachusetts to California), and the grand prize is $25,000. The majority of the comedy stems from this simple premise of a cross country walking race. Simple premise, lots of land covered to breed several comic situations. There is also, as with most silent comedies, the girl. She is the daughter of the Burton Shoes owner and appears on the billboard ads, so Harry becomes smitten with her. She is none other than a young and pre fame Joan Crawford!
As far as Langdon being separate from the world, a lot of funny comedy stems from this. As his father mentions his needing three months to pay back rent or they’ll be thrown out, all Langdon can think about is how he won’t get his new bicycle before staring at the billboard across the street with the picture of his girl. He has these vacant looks on his face and does random nose wipes and looks into space. It’s not for everybody but for me, fascinating to watch. More examples of a distant Langdon include the walk itself. Notice how there’s a large group of men walking together in this race. He is never with the group of men. He finds random ways to take the wrong path and get into trouble by himself. After getting into trouble for stealing chickens and arrested, same situation when he breaks away from the chain gang. He’s never breaking free with the crowd, always a few steps behind them, always in his own little world. As far as the cyclone in the end? The rest of the town runs away and hides. Harry arrives in the town later than everyone else and finds out about the cyclone moments later. Langdon, on the other hand, stays in the middle of the buildings that are collapsing and barely notices what’s going on, waiting for a shave and a haircut. Langdon is a fascinating character and this distant from the rest of the world persona I find to be quite funny.
Some great performance pieces from Langdon as well. After the hysterical scene where he’s plastering pictures of a beautiful Joan all over his bedroom, his competitor roommate gives him alcohol and a ton of sleeping pills to finally put a hyper Langdon to sleep. The camera just fixates on Langdon for a minute or two in a close up. He’s rambling to no one, eyes slowly getting heavier and again, just fascinating watching him milk a simple premise liking getting tired and falling asleep. Really amazing to watch. Also hysterical when he’s looking at the billboard of Joan only for the real Joan Crawford to be right behind him. When he notices this, all he can do is run around is dazed circles, completely confused. Really funny when Joan beckons him to sit on the bench next to her and he is on the opposite end, only for her to tell him to come closer. He’s like a dazed little kid, totally funny.
In the physical comedy realm, we do get a thrill comedy act where Langdon is being held on the middle of a fence with a belt buckle being strapped to a nail. The fence is at the edge of a cliff. There’s a similar, though less dangerous gag in THREE’S A CROWD and the theme is similar - there is no way Langdon is going to get out of this safely without some fall. Lloyd, as dangerous as his stunts were, had a safe way out, not Langdon. All Langdon does is take a hammer and remove another nail in the fence, causing the fence to slide down a long cliff. As Langdon is sliding down, a few rocks need to be dodged similar to Buster Keaton in SEVEN CHANCES. When he lands on the ground, the fence just happens to land upright at the very moment the other walkers in the competition are in that spot, blocking them. Langdon, on the other side of the fence, remains separate from everyone else. Brilliant gag.
TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP is a great Langdon feature that I highly suggest to everyone. Also fascinating seeing such a young and pretty pre stardom Joan Crawford. Also check her out a year after this in Lon Chaney’s THE UNKNOWN. Stooge fans, directed by Harry Edwards. Yes, that Harry Edwards. Edwards was a regular collaborator with Langdon and I would venture to guess got his Columbia gig because of him.
