Soitenly
Moronika
The community forum of ThreeStooges.net

Knight Duty (1933) - Harry Langdon and Vernon Dent

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Paul Pain

  • Moronika's resident meteorologist
  • Moderator
  • Bunionhead
  • ******
  • The heartthrob of millions!


IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024228/

Simple but sweet.  Harry as a hobo and Vernon Dent as a cop.  A perfect recipe for some chicken and dumplings if you ask me.  Mix in a sucky supporting cast, and you classic Educational Pictures flavor, much like a Cracker Barrel meal where they forget a side with your order, the two they remembered sucked, and the meal itself is absolute perfection.

KNIGHT DUTY does so well because Harry is relying on the thing that made him famous: being a quiet bumbling manchild.  Vernon Dent is menacing, aggressive, and irate, which is what he is best at.  The supporting cast is just shoot-me-please awful in most of it, but the setting and stars are great.

Every comedian has a signature approach, and Harry and Curly are my favorites when it comes to inedible objects.  It's just enough here to give some much welcome smiles.  Similarly, only Harry could find a loaded gun attached to a wax dummy in a museum.  Little moments of nonsense like this are what separate Educational Pictures from the rest.

The whole chase angle works nicely, especially with the recurring gag of Vernon with his helmet.  It gives time each of the stars to give their own touch to everything.  :)
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline Umbrella Sam

  • Toastmaster General
  • Knothead
  • *****
    • Talk About Cinema
This was the only one of the Educational Langdon shorts I’d seen prior to us deciding to go through them. I thought it was great the first time and still think it’s great now.

What really works in its favor is that it’s clearly playing to Langdon’s strengths in terms of its narrative. A lot of this amounts to people having to pose as wax dummies, which, if you know Langdon, going slower and slower to the point of a complete stop is one of his specialties. Another huge point in its favor is that, in some ways, this is basically a silent film. I’m actually kind of tempted to go back and count exactly how many words Harry says in this short, because it’s certainly not a lot. There are long stretches where he doesn’t have any dialogue at all, and he just allows his movements do the talking for him. Look at the beginning when he first meets Nell O’Day and see how he comprehends what’s going on and then does a fake “tough guy” act without any dialogue; maybe it’s just me, but I found bits like that super impressive. Obviously I’ve made clear before that I think Harry had a fitting voice and he definitely could work well with dialogue, but it’s also nice to see that every now and then, he could pretty much just go back to the old style flawlessly (THE BIG KICK is another good example).

As far as comedic highlights go, I absolutely love the bit Harry does with the hose while trying to retrieve his hat; once again, just an opportunity for Harry to use his movements and expressions to carry the comedy. There’s also a really funny moment where one of the criminals is looking at Harry through a mirror and Harry, despite the criminal facing in the wrong direction, somehow thinks he is actually aiming at him; the payoff is predictable, but just Harry’s reaction alone is enough to make me laugh. I also like the moment where Harry disguises himself under a balloon with a face on it; the face is super childish and the type of thing I could actually imagine his character drawing up really quickly. Every joke hits in this film and, like Paul says, it relies very much on the chase angle, so it’s always moving at a good pace.

I will disagree with Paul on the supporting cast...for the most part. I’ll admit, there are a few moments where I feel Nell O’Day is kind of phoning it in (especially that part where she talks about how worried she is about the ruby in the most monotone way possible). At the same time, though, there are moments where she does fit her part, mainly whenever she is acting impressed with Harry’s skills at stopping robbers; she does seem more invested in these parts. Everyone else I think is pretty good; Vernon Dent as always is great, Billy Engle’s freak outs can be kind of funny, and Eddie Baker and the two people playing the crooks do a good job keeping up with the fast pace of the chases, which is really all that was required of their roles for it to work.

We’ve still got some Educational shorts to go, but KNIGHT DUTY is a pretty tough one to beat. I say this not to disparage the quality of the other Educational shorts (I actually enjoyed THE HITCH HIKER a lot more than I thought I would), but rather to compliment just how good KNIGHT DUTY is. Not only do I think it’s one of Langdon’s best sound films, but I think it’s one of his best films in general; such a creative idea for him, and it’s executed well. Definitely recommended for Langdon fans.
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

My blog: https://talk-about-cinema.blogspot.com


Offline metaldams

      You guys summed this one up pretty well.  I would say if I was making a Robert Youngson style compilation of silent comedians in sound and had access to the Educational library, the scene with Harry and the hose and the scene with Harry at the bar would definitely be in it.  So would Keaton’s silent bits in THE GOLD GHOST and on that note, these two films have something in common for me.  There is about five or six minutes of almost silent genius in each.  The rest of both shorts are good, but can’t measure up to the genius of those five or six minutes.

      I mean, Harry with the hose?  Pure comic bliss.  His dancing and timing around the hose and getting the water to come in and out synched with his movements is such a beautiful sight to behold.  So is the surrealism of seeing Harry interact with those wax figures in and around the bar.  Heck, the two set ups in the beginning are also prime Langdon.  Harry is in his hammock and just happens to fall on the crook to have him captured.  Harry just happens to be in the truck and has a dummy fall and hit him on the head with a nightstick, knocking Harry out and making him appear a dummy.  Notice how pure chance puts Harry into these situations.  He initiates nothing.  Classic Langdon.  As far as Langdon speaking, or not speaking, other than a few noises, he doesn’t really get his first line until about six minutes into the short!

      The chase stuff is all good but a lot of it could be done by other comedians.  Sure, it’d be a little different, but possible, unlike the other stuff mentioned above.  I agree with Sam that the mirror gag is indeed a stand out.  Beautifully done.

      A few other observations.  Vernon, who is wonderful as always, is also at his heaviest here.  Between this and YOU’RE TELLING ME, I think ‘33 - ‘34 was his heaviest point.  As far as the leading lady.  Between this and the Keaton shorts, I’d say, most, if not all of the time, the pre requisite for an Educational leading lady is to be between the ages of 16 - 22, pretty, and not much else.  Not exactly the female talents of Roach or even Columbia at times.

     But yeah, overall, a really good short that for the first third of it or so, is Langdon at just about his absolute best.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Freddie Sanborn

      You guys summed this one up pretty well.  I would say if I was making a Robert Youngson style compilation of silent comedians in sound and had access to the Educational library, the scene with Harry and the hose and the scene with Harry at the bar would definitely be in it.  So would Keaton’s silent bits in THE GOLD GHOST and on that note, these two films have something in common for me.  There is about five or six minutes of almost silent genius in each.  The rest of both shorts are good, but can’t measure up to the genius of those five or six minutes.

There was such a film made in 1963, called “The Sound of Laughter”, hosted by Ed Wynn. It was made by the rights holders of Educational’s sound films on the heels of the success of the Youngson compilations.  I can’t find it anywhere online except for a few clips. But I have it on VHS and will digitize it and upload if I can find it.
“If it’s not comedy, I fall asleep.” Harpo Marx


Offline metaldams

There was such a film made in 1963, called “The Sound of Laughter”, hosted by Ed Wynn. It was made by the rights holders of Educational’s sound films on the heels of the success of the Youngson compilations.  I can’t find it anywhere online except for a few clips. But I have it on VHS and will digitize it and upload if I can find it.

Genuinely had no idea such a compilation existed, but if you do end up uploading it, please let us know.
- Doug Sarnecky