Product Description

Three complete features from the rediscovered genius of silent comedy! These classic silent slapstick films are the high points in Harry Langdon and Frank Capra's collaboration during 1926 and 1927, culminating in some of the finest American comedies of all-time! "The Strong Man" (1926, 74 min.) - After a tour of duty in World War I, Paul, a witless young Belgian, comes to America and seeks out the dedicated pen pal (Priscilla Bonner) whose letters lifted his spirits during the heat of battle. But to Paul, the land of opportunity turns out to be a world of confusion, as his quest for Mary Brown leads him from mishap to comic disaster. "Tramp. Tramp, Tramp" (1926, 61 min.) - In an effort to save the family business, a shoemaker's son enters a cross-country foot race with hopes of walking away with the $25,000 prize. During the course of his westward hike, Langdon woos Joan Crawford, is thrown in a chain gang, dangled from the edge of a cliff and caught in a violent tornado. "Long Pants" (1927, 58 min.) - When a sheepish young man yearning for romance is given his first pair of grown-up trousers, he springs into adulthood and is immediately smitten by the wrong woman. When his queen is jailed, Harry abandons his small-town sweetheart and comes to the brazen woman's rescue, ushering his fugitive moll through a series of riotous scrapes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47728 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-09-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 193 minutes

Amazon.com
In an exceptional case of good timing, Harry Langdon emerged as a silent-comedy clown just as the careers of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin were stagnant or (in the case of Chaplin) on extended hiatus. Along came Langdon with his own screen persona--a cherubic, innocent man-child in ill-fitting clothes, his weathered hat at a permanent tilt--and by the mid-'20s he was a critical and box-office smash. The three short features offered here represent the best work of this "forgotten clown," and although Langdon's slapstick was gentler and somewhat derivative, his endearing character was featured in delightful stories that earned his place in the silent-comedy hall of fame.

The Strong Man (1926) was Langdon's second and finest film; it's bracingly ambitious in both scope and story, and marked director Frank Capra's feature-film debut. Harry plays an unlikely World War I hero who immigrates to America to find his pen-pal sweetheart, posing as a vaudeville strongman as his love-struck odyssey spins through a series of increasingly audacious comedy set pieces. Langdon's debut feature, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926), costars Joan Crawford as the woman who's captured Harry's fancy, and he joins a cross-country walking race in an adventurous effort to impress her. The film's climactic cyclone scene is as impressive for its time as anything in Twister--and a whole lot funnier. Finally, 1927's Long Pants follows the familiar formula: Harry's misguided attraction to a brazen vamp (which tempts him to dispatch his unsuspecting fiancée) leads to a series of misadventures, but as always, Harry's innate goodness wins out in the end.

Langdon's career was never again as bright; he directed himself in subsequent, lesser films and his popularity rapidly faded. That makes this collection essential for silent-comedy aficionados; these films are the enduring legacy of Langdon's brief but shining time in the spotlight, and they should not be forgotten. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

The Fourth Man
Harry Langdon is generally considered to be the fourth great silent comedian. Considering that the other three are Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, this assessment is high praise indeed. The three films on this DVD show Langdon at his best and are the reason why briefly, during 1926-27, he was very popular indeed. After this his decline into obscurity was swift, not least because he chose to leave one of the people most responsible for nurturing and developing his talent, a person by the name of Frank Capra. It is already apparent that Capra was a talented director, for the two films he directed The Strong Man and Long Pants are much better than the one he only co-wrote Tramp, Tramp, Tramp.

Langdon is something of an acquired taste. His comic persona of a bewildered childlike man is such that he is rarely the agent of the events that happen to him. He is rather the passive recipient and the humour lies in his reaction to the circumstances which unfold around him. This reaction is often absurdly slow with Langdon reacting to something after it has already happened. He is thus a completely different sort of comic to, for example, Keaton whose behaviour is active, quick witted and in control. But this difference makes Langdon all the more of a pleasure to watch for he is a true original. Much of what makes Langdon so funny is the contrast between his style of comedy and that of Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd. His difference from them is one of the reasons why he was once so popular.

This DVD is really great value lasting more than three hours and including the three best feature films of an important comedian. The colour-tinted prints of all three films are in good condition. There is some occasional damage and sometimes, especially on Long Pants, the print has become rather bleached and over-exposed, but for the most part these films have survived in a near mint condition. Each film is well scored with music which fits the action, adding to the atmosphere and aiding the comedy. These films are very funny indeed and this DVD is essential for fans of silent comedy.

Classic silent slapstick films
I'm not an especially big fan of silent movies, but I do have a soft spot (on my head) for silent comedies. Having recently purchased a Laurel and Hardy DVD, Amazon made the recommendation of this disc, and I decided to give it a try.

The Strong Man (1926) Directed by Frank Capra has Harry as a Paul, clueless Belgian solider who gets captured and carried away by an enemy soldier. After the war is over, we see the two of them arrive in America, and the soldier that captured Harry is none other than The Great Zandow, a strong man by profession. Seems The Great Zandow has made Harry his personal assistant. Was this common practice back in the day? Making captured prisoners indentured servants? No matter...Harry is more concerned with finding a romantic pen pal who sent him uplifting letters during the war. This leads a particularly funny sequence involving a case of mistaken identity, a gangster's moll, and a wad of illicit cash. Later we see Zandow and Co. (Paul) travel to Cloverdale, a small, wholesome town that has suffered an invasion of hooligans. Seems they have taken over the main city building and turning it into a beer and dance hall, much to the dismay of the more pious members of the community. Well, The Great Zandow has been booked to perform in the hall, and on their arrival, Paul finds his female pen pal, but their meeting is cut short as the strongman gets drunk and Paul is forced to perform in his place, with disastrous results. This one, in my opinion, is the funniest of the three presented here, and also the best looking in clarity and definition.

The next feature, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) has Harry as the son of a shoemaker and we find that they are having difficultly paying their rent and will be thrown out in the street in three months unless they come up with the money. Harry decides to go out and find a way to come up with the money, and stumbles into a major shoe manufacturers' promotional cross country walking race that will net the winner $25,000. Also, Harry becomes smitten with the president of the major shoe company's daughter, played by Joan Crawford. The race starts, and this leads to a number of comedic sequences, one involving a fence and a cliff, another involving stolen fruit and a prison chain gang, and so on. As the race comes to an end, watch for the cyclone scene, a truly inspired bit. The picture quality on this feature is not as good as the first, as there are some more noticeable flaws, but overall it's quite good, considering the age of the material.

The third and last feature on this disc, Long Pants (1927), directed by Frank Capra, is kind of an odd, sometimes creepy feature with spots of comedy. This one seems to put people off, and it's understandable. This one has Harry living with his parents, and shows him in short pants (knee length). He's taken an interest in women romantically, but, being that he's still in short pants, the women consider him still a boy. For Harry's birthday, his father wants to give him a pair of long pants, but his mother objects as she thinks it will be some sort of corrupting influence on their son. In the end, she relents, and Harry gets his long pants. I have to say, it seemed really creepy seeing a 40ish man in short pants. Anyway, it seems Harry is betrothed to a local girl, but becomes smitten with another woman, one who is in trouble with the law for smuggling 'snow', among other things. She ends up getting jailed, much to Harry's dismay. On the day of Harry's wedding, he concocts a scheme to get out of the wedding, and here's where it really gets creepy. His scheme involves taking his fiancé out into the woods and shooting her dead. He attempts this, but comic mishaps ensue. The bear trap gag was truly a great bit. In the end, he's not successful, and basically ditches his family to goes to rescue this other woman. She manages to escape, hides in a crate, and Harry tries to get her out of town. I thought this whole sequence was quite funny, and made up somewhat for the earlier creepiness. Everything works out in the end. I read another review on this feature, and I think it hit the nail on the head in that the reviewer stated that some of the situations played out in this feature are out of Langdon's character, as we want to like him, but a fantasy about killing his fiance' doesn't really make for a likeable character. This feature has the worst picture quality of the three, especially at the beginning, when the picture seems very bleached and washed out. The quality does improve marginally throughout the movie, but never matches the clarity of the other two. Again, given the age of the material, all three are actually in pretty good shape.

There are no extra features, but there are chapter stops for each film, and the total run time is around three hours (one hour for each film), so I feel I received a really good value, and was enlightened to a lesser-known comedic talent of a bygone period. Laurel and Hardy will always be my favorite, but there is always room for more.

Cookieman108

two hits and a (very big) miss.
As most people say, Langdon is an acquired taste. A little goes a long way and he was totally one dimensional but when handled right - aka Frank Capra - he was very funny. The Strong Man is one of the funniest silent conedies ever made and showcases his talents. His scene with moll Gertrude Astor is hilarious. Tramp Tramp Tramp is also good- Joan Crawford helps - but a plateau lower than the first film. Long pants is the of the unfunniest films ever made and Langdon's fingerprints are all over it showing why his career collapsed so quickly. It is unwatchable and his character is so underwhelming that it is impossible to feel anything but contempt for him. The DVD is recommended, though, for the first two films which give much joy while the last should be studied by any film maker who desires to self destruct.