Harry and his wife move into a "modern," gimmick-laden house.Harry and his wife move into a "modern," gimmick-laden house.Harry and his wife move into a "modern," gimmick-laden house.
Photos
Eddie Baker
- Cop
- (uncredited)
Alice Belcher
- Guest
- (uncredited)
Bobby Burns
- Doctor
- (uncredited)
Bud Jamison
- Host Salesman
- (uncredited)
Lew Kelly
- Sick Guest
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Featured review
Not really in love with it
I think the sporadic series of talkie shorts that Harry Langdon starred in for Columbia Pictures from 1934 until his death in 1944 often tends to get overlooked, and, as a consequence underrated. I've seen some very funny films from it, but unfortunately this doesn't seem to be one of the funnier ones.
The story is that Harry has just been married and visits a Honeymoon home where he encounters trouble from all the so-called "modern conveniences" it features, then in a strangely grim turn of events, everyone touring the house is quarantined in a smallpox scare. Langdon's comedy comes from his unique, delicate character and how he reacts to the troubles that surround him; this short mainly fails to take advantage of that. The gags are mainly mechanical and rely pretty unsuccessfully on the silliness of the inventions and audience technophobia to win smiles.
The premise here wasn't all bad, and Harry Langdon was certainly no stranger to getting laughs from his baffled interactions to inanimate objects (especially mannequins), but here the focus is almost all on the prop, not Harry. It's a real waste of his talents.
Then there's Billy Gilbert, often a delightfully eccentric or bizarre second banana for many comedians. Here, though. he's taken a little too far without much of a defined role. He seems to be some kind of drunk / madman / possibly-violent-killer / homosexual-threat / former-fabric-salesman who shows up for no reason and ends up chasing Harry around thinking he is a bottle of liquor. This is all supposed to be great comedy hijinx, but it is definitely a situation where some method to the madness would make everything work out nicer.
There are a few nice laughs here, largely from Harry working his distinctive bits of business in between events (such as his attempts to get his money back from the house's strange air conditioner. Overall though, its unfortunate how the particular comic talents of Harry Langdon and Billy Gilbert are misused or pushed aside for some unimaginative prop comedy.
The story is that Harry has just been married and visits a Honeymoon home where he encounters trouble from all the so-called "modern conveniences" it features, then in a strangely grim turn of events, everyone touring the house is quarantined in a smallpox scare. Langdon's comedy comes from his unique, delicate character and how he reacts to the troubles that surround him; this short mainly fails to take advantage of that. The gags are mainly mechanical and rely pretty unsuccessfully on the silliness of the inventions and audience technophobia to win smiles.
The premise here wasn't all bad, and Harry Langdon was certainly no stranger to getting laughs from his baffled interactions to inanimate objects (especially mannequins), but here the focus is almost all on the prop, not Harry. It's a real waste of his talents.
Then there's Billy Gilbert, often a delightfully eccentric or bizarre second banana for many comedians. Here, though. he's taken a little too far without much of a defined role. He seems to be some kind of drunk / madman / possibly-violent-killer / homosexual-threat / former-fabric-salesman who shows up for no reason and ends up chasing Harry around thinking he is a bottle of liquor. This is all supposed to be great comedy hijinx, but it is definitely a situation where some method to the madness would make everything work out nicer.
There are a few nice laughs here, largely from Harry working his distinctive bits of business in between events (such as his attempts to get his money back from the house's strange air conditioner. Overall though, its unfortunate how the particular comic talents of Harry Langdon and Billy Gilbert are misused or pushed aside for some unimaginative prop comedy.
helpful•10
- hte-trasme
- Apr 14, 2010
Details
- Runtime18 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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