Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Discs contents:
Disc One (6,73 Gb): Picking Peaches, Smile Please, His New Mamma, The First 100 Years, The Luck o' the Foolish, The Hansom Cabman, and All Night Long
Disc Two (7,41 Gb): Feet of Mud, The Sea Squawk, Boobs in the Wood, His Marriage Wow, Plain Clothes, Remember When, Lucky Stars, and There He Goes surviving extract.
Disc Three (6,83 Gb): Saturday Afternoon, Fiddlesticks, Soldier Man, and His First Flame. Plus Bonus extra: Catalina Here I Come, a sample of faux-Langdon starring Eddie Quillan and Madeline Hurlock.
Disc Four (7,38 Gb): Knight Duty, Hooks and Jabs, and Love, Honor and Obey (the Law). Plus bonus extra: Lost and Found, an original feature-length documentary on the life and films of Harry Langdon.

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Harry Langdon's first directing attempt, Three's a Crowd, had just been released when his former boss, producer Mack Sennett, released this short subject which features Langdon in the lead. The exhibitors' trade papers virtually leapt on this release and sang its praises – "far better than some of his productions since he graduated into the feature class," Film Daily proclaimed. Fiddlesticks does offer a lot of what's best about Langdon, including his wistful quality in the midst of gags and other mayhem, and distills it into two reels.

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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This admittedly does give this (and many of his other shorts) a richness that some of his lesser features lack. The premise of the film couldn't be more simple: Harry fancies himself a cellist and he goes out into the world with his instrument. Unfortunately, audiences don't exactly welcome the fledgling musician – wherever Harry plays, he is pelted with old shoes, broken alarm clocks, and the like. But his luck changes when he joins forces with a junk dealer. The more Harry gets pelted with junk, the more the partnership flourishes. Eventually Harry is able to return home a success.

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Although Harry Langdon was nearing his peak as a two-reel comedian (in just a few months he would graduate to features), not all his films during this period were winners. Of this picture, trade paper Moving Picture World complained, "The gags carry little punch and the action is constantly slowed up for no palpable reason." This is too bad because the beginning is promising. Harry, naïve as always, goes to a sidewalk "astronomer" who advises him to seek his fortune under the guidance of a certain star. The star takes him to an equally phony doctor who is actually a snake oil salesman (Vernon Dent), and they head for San Tobacco in Mexico to peddle their wares. They're quite successful, much to the chagrin of the local druggist and his daughter (Natalie Kingston). She grabs a dagger and goes off to kill the intruders, but her boyfriend has already ruined their business by adding a secret chemical to their potion. The resulting brew poisons their clientele who take out their anger on Harry and the "doctor."

Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon plays a timorous fireman in His First Flame. Much of the action involves Langdon's efforts to impress the unimpressable Ruth Hiatt. She is so resistant to his "charms" that she can't even act grateful when he rescues her from a burning house. Filmed during Langdon's last year at Mack Sennett's studio, His First Flame was originally a three-reeler. It was expanded into a feature (using stock footage and outtakes) after the success of Langdon's official feature-film debut in First National's Tramp, Tramp, Tramp.

Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection (1924-35) [Re-UP]

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Features:
- 20 comedy shorts
- Langdon's first feature film
- Alternate versions
- Never before seen clips
- Audio commentaries
- Archival audio interviews
- Langdon's home movies
- 1942 music video
- Original Langdon documentary
- Plus Facets Cine-Notes collectible booklet