Tramp, Tramp, Tramp

While it may today mark a milestone for giving early work to both Joan Crawford and director Frank Capra (here writing his first feature), "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" mattered at the time for quickly launching Harry Langdon as one of the silent screen's chief clowns.

By the way, that may be the first time the words "Harry Langdon" and "quickly" have appeared in the same sentence.

As a piece of history, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" is certainly worth viewing and relatively painless at just over an hour. As a comedy, it's not so smooth a ride, with a thin-as-crepe main story about a walking race across the United States and a lot of padding in the form of Harry's ceaseless blank-faced mugging.

The story has the makings of a Capra classic: While big corporation Burton Shoes ("The Sole Of The Nation" its omnipresent billboards read) gloms up the market by sponsoring the walking race, little shoemaker Logan & Son struggles to pay the rent. It's up to the "Son," Harry, to win the race for the $25,000 reward - with help from Crawford as the Burton CEO's daughter.

"I'll get the money in three months if it takes a year," Harry vows.

But nothing is done with the whole big-company-versus-little-guy thing, it just sort of is there. Harry doesn't have any problems with Mr. Burton, except when he tries to shake the man's hand while eating a sandwich. The love interest with Crawford likewise just sort of happens, with Crawford looking as lost in her role as underdog-loving ingénue as Babe Ruth would be playing shortstop. If her father notices her falling in with this no-account, he doesn't seem to care.

Long sections of the film grow tedious, like a section which finds Harry a prisoner in chains, or another where he first meets Crawford with much shy blinking. At one point Harry shares a bedroom with his chief race rival and landlord, Nick Kargas (Tom Murray). It's almost like Laurel and Hardy, except for the absence of chemistry and Murray's inability to play anything for a laugh.

You see why people talk about Langdon as a proto-Stan Laurel; with his baby face and winsome gaze you never feel anything other than protective of the poor guy. Sections of the film do work, too, like the culmination of a cliff-hanging scene that keeps Harry a step ahead of his competition, or a big finale where Harry and Nick cower in a barber shop buckling in a cyclone.

But even the film's big moment, of Harry on that cliff, only work when you don't think too hard of those other silent clowns whose thrill sequences involved real danger. Here you can see Harry's working with the aid of process shots, and the jump cuts as Harry dodges a series of rolling rocks are hard to miss.

Whoever was directing the film (Harry Edwards is credited, though Capra may have been helping) doesn't seem able to sustain anything, or get the various bits to cohere. While the title cards amuse, the laugh lines are weak. "I'm so crazy about that girl I'm crazy," Harry exudes.

Give "Tramp X 3" points for charm: Langdon was a genial clown, and a minute or two of his finger nibbling can be amusing. It just goes on too long, including two minutes at the end when we see Harry mug some more, this time as a baby in a giant cradle. As a vehicle to launch Harry Langdon to a national audience, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" worked like a charm. But as a lasting testament to his comedy, it stumbles more than a bit.

Desperately in need to pay the rent, a naive young fellow begins the long TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP of a walking race across the United States for the prize money.

Harry Langdon brings his own brand of minimalist comedy to this charming little silent film. Eschewing most manifestations of slapstick, Harry instead portrayed his famous character as an innocent child-man, a kind of adult baby, who reacts with insouciant naiveté to the perils the wicked world flings at him. Here he must compete with his devious landlord for the prize money, while the race itself confronts him with prison gangs, wild weather & honest-to-goodness cliffhangers. All the while Harry never loses the daffy optimism which continues to propel him along.

A talented supporting cast adds to the film's success: Alec B. Francis as Harry's crippled, impoverished shoemaker father; Tom Murray as the belligerent landlord, who also just happens to be the world's champion race walker; and Edward Davis as the shoe tycoon who sponsors the race. As his lovely daughter, Joan Crawford doesn't have much to do except encourage Langdon in his endeavors, but her few romantic scenes with him manage to be both poignant & ludicrous simultaneously.

Harry's production company burnished the film up nicely, with the cyclone sequence particularly effective. One of the story writers was a young Frank Capra, who would be a big contributor to Harry's short-lived stardom.

Harry's father is about to lose his business, so to raise money he enters a walking race across America. Despite looking about as athletic as a cheese blintz, he manages to not only excel in the race but catch the eye of the sponsor's daughter. Will he win? Will he get the girl? Tune in and see.

For years, I have wanted to see more Harry Langdon films--especially when Robert Youngson played him up so much in his compilation film WHEN COMEDY WAS KING. So I was thrilled to find this and two other of his full-length films on a DVD from Kino. However, after seeing the film, I am not really sure if the wait was worth it. I had liked his short films, but TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP left me very flat--mostly because there just weren't many jokes AND the pacing was so slow. The same can be said about the other films on the disk. Now this does NOT mean I need to have a constant string of pratfalls and side-splitting comedy--after all, many of my favorite Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton films were NOT their physical comedies but ones that relied a lot on characterizations and plot--such as THE KID BROTHER, THE CIRCUS and OUR HOSPITALITY. However, compared to TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP, these three classic films seem frenetically paced! There are no BIG gags in TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP and only a few small ones. Instead, the film seems to be saying "look how cute and sweet Langdon is--don't you just love him?". Well, no...not particularly--and I am a huge fan of silent comedies but I oddly believe they should also be funny. Still, I didn't dislike the film--just don't make the mistake of thinking Landon was in the same league as these other three comedy greats! Passable with some cute moments.

By the way, THE STRONG MAN and LONG PANTS also on the DVD and they are both better films.

Baby-faced Harry Langdon never made it to the top in the way that Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd did, and watching this, his first feature film, it isn't difficult to see why. Langdon isn't a bad comic actor, but the pacing of the gags is sometimes painfully bad (over-extended usually) and, while this film does hit a few modest high notes it never comes near to challenging the work of the silent comic greats.

Langdon plays the son of a shoe store owner who is going out of business because of the competition from Burton Shoes, a major factory with a nationwide advertising campaign fronted by a young (and barely recognisable) Joan Crawford, on whom young Harry has a hopeless crush. This being Hollywood, Joan is quite attracted to Harry too, and encourages him to embark on a cross-country race to raise the money he needs to save his father's store.

While there are some funny scenes, too many of the big moments seem to be steals from other movies. Harry hangs precariously from a fence on the edge of a cliff by his belt buckle in much the same way Harold Lloyd hung from the side of a building in Safety Last. He also slides down a long hill, dodging rolling rocks as Keaton did in Seven Chances. The comical scenes that are original aren't all that funny and go on too long, and the climactic cyclone sequence is particularly poorly handled.

While Tramp, Tramp, Tramp isn't by any means a dud, it's purpose now seems merely to show how much better the likes of Chaplin and Keaton were at their craft.

This is a pleasant comedy with a good assortment of gags and stunts. It also gives Harry Langdon a showcase for his brand of comedy, which is distinctive, although a cut below the comedy greats of his era like Keaton and Chaplin. Langdon's approach is slower and more child-like, sometimes overly so, but often it works well (which is no doubt thanks in large part to some good writing).

"Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" has a light, deliberately silly plot that sets up many good moments. Harry is trying to win a cross-country walking contest to win a prize that would save his father's business, while also trying to impress the girl he loves. (It is quite interesting to see a young Joan Crawford in this role - she does not look very much like she would in her later starring roles.) There are several very entertaining scenes, and even if you are not fond of Langdon's personal style, there are some creative gags, and most of the sequences work well. There's also a rather breath-taking stunt on the side of a cliff that even Keaton or Harold Lloyd would have been proud of.

While it may be of interest mainly to those who already like comedies of the era, most silent film fans should find this worthwhile and entertaining, if a notch beneath the great comedy classics of the era.