Long Pants
| Long Pants | |
|---|---|
Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Produced by | Harry Langdon |
| Written by |
Screenplay: Robert Eddy Tay Garnett Story: Arthur Ripley |
| Starring | Harry Langdon Gladys Brockwell |
| Cinematography | Glenn Kershner Elgin Lessley |
| Edited by | Harry Langdon |
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Production
company |
Harry Langdon Corporation
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| Distributed by |
First National Pictures Kino Video (Home video release) |
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Release date
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Running time
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60 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
Long Pants (also known as Johnny Newcomer) is a 1927 American comedy silent film starring Harry Langdon and directed by Frank Capra. Additional cast members include Gladys Brockwell, Alan Roscoe, Priscilla Bonner, and others.
The silent tells the story of Harry Shelby (Langdon) who has been kept in knee-pants for years by his mother. One day, however, Harry finally gets his first pair of long pants.
Immediately, his family expects him to marry his childhood sweetheart Priscilla (Priscilla Bonner). Yet, Harry soon falls for Bebe Blair (Alma Bennett), a femme fatale from the big city who has a boyfriend in the mob.
Harry thinks that Bebe is interested in him as well, so he risks everything when Bebe ends up in jail. This leads to a lot of trouble for Harry. Throughout the whole ordeal Priscilla waits for Harry to face reality.
When it was released, film critic Mordaunt Hall gave the film a positive review. He wrote, "Some hilarious passages enliven Harry Langdon's latest film oddity, Long' Pants...Although these incidents are acted with consummate skill, except for an occasional repetition, it is quite obvious to any male who has made the decisive change from short to long trousers that the idea offers possibilities far greater and more genuine than those that greet the eye. The answer is that Mr. Langdon has once again capitulated to his omnipotent band of gag-men. It may be all very well for Harold Lloyd to rely on mechanical twists, but Langdon possesses a cherubic countenance, which offers him a chance in other directions...Mr. Langdon is still Charles Spencer Chaplin's sincerest flatterer. His short coat reminds one of Chaplin, and now and again his footwork is like that of the great screen comedian."
Film historian David Kalat reports that Buster Keaton, a long-time fan of Langdon's known for his own morbid jokes about death and killings, criticized a scene in which Langdon's character tries to kill Priscilla as "going too far" in making light of murder.
More recently, critic Maria Schneider reviewed Langdon's work and wrote, "Long Pants (1927), also directed by Capra, was a peculiar change of pace for Langdon, and possibly an attempt to poke fun at his baby-faced image by casting him as a would-be lady-killer; sporting little of the ingenuity of The Strong Man, it was a box-office failure that set off the comedian's quick decline into obscurity. An acquired taste, Harry Langdon's gentle absurdities and slow rhythms take some getting used to, but patient viewers will be rewarded."
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Wikipedia