Hooks and Jabs (1933) User Reviews

Among the poorest available Langdon films

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 9 September 2008]

This short is from disk 4 of the four-disk set entitled "Harry Langdon: Lost and Found"--a new lovely set of Langdon shorts. Up until its release, there really were very, very few of his shorts available, so it's a set well worth seeking if you are a fan of silent comedy. Unfortunately, most of disk 4 are his lesser-quality talking films--including HOOKS AND JABS.

The film begins with Langdon being given a dollar by a Salvation Army worker so he can get lunch. Langdon wanders into a bar offering a free lunch with a beer. However, the folks in the bar are jerks and spend a lot of time pushing him around--particularly the often-seen Vernon Dent (who was in many, many Langdon films). Oddly, there is also a boxing ring in the place and through some cheating, Langdon knocks out the resident champ and Dent--now everyone has new-found respect for him.

The problem here is timing and pace. Unlike his earlier films, this one seems more rushed and contrived. More importantly, unlike these earlier films, Harry is less a sweet kid trapped in a man's body--and just another physical comedian. As a result, it's not particularly inspired and is not a good example of his work.

Harry Delivers, and Takes It To The Finish Line

[mbanak · 7/10 · 19 November 2017]

The gags and plot development are just enough to keep me watching, until the hilarious ending. There are several good sight gags here and situational gags as well. Watch for the checker game on the drink bar. I almost didn't get it. Once again, Harry takes average material, adds his own energy, and makes for a profitable short. If I am honest with myself, as I review all of Langdon's work, I see approximately the same number of quality gags and clowning around, as I see in a Laurel and Hardy short. Relax for this one, and let Harry take you there.

Disappointing Langdon

[Michael_Elliott · 25 February 2008]

Hooks and Jabs (1933)

** (out of 4)

Harry Langdon, broke and poor, gets a dollar from a woman and goes into a bar to use it but finds himself in one fight after another. There aren't many, if any, laughs here due partly because everything we see here had been done countless times before and in much better films. There's not a single fresh idea to be found.

You can find this short on the Harry Langdon: Lost and Found Collection, which features four discs worth of shorts.

Apparently there are a couple different sources of this floating around but the Langdon set is complete.

A win, but not quite a knockout

[hte-trasme · 7/10 · 7 January 2010]

Prohibition may not have been popular when it was in effect, but it did provide a goldmine for comedians who drew a lot of great plots and situations from illegal alcohol. This is one comedy short from a little later that takes much of its material from the fact that Prohibition had been repealed and, as the lead comic says, "Beer is back!" The star is the great former silent comedian Harry Langdon, after a series of financially unsuccessful films appearing in this series of shorts for Educational Pictures, who spent much of their budget on hiring bigger names (they also hired such former silent stars as Buster Keaton, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and Lloyd Hamilton).

Harry is, as in not a few of his films, really a victim punished by fate here. Thrown in jail, the dollar he his given by a Salvation Army worker for food is stolen for beer, he gets beat up a lot, he's fooled into thinking he's strong enough to take on an entire bar, the Salvation Army girl who took pity on him ends up thinking he spent his money on the demon drink, and he ends up falling in a pothole.

Being a sad victim of the harsh world works really well far Harry's perfectly innocent, childlike character, who becomes funny, pitiable, and sympathetic by contrast. But that grim grittiness of the real world makes more sense when it to is relatable by us as viewers who are not as innocent as Harry. Here it is undermined by the fact that several elements of the short seem to appear randomly or without explanation. Verdon Dent, Harry's perennial foil, gets plenty of chances to play off him, but we never find out quite what their previous relationship was. It seems Harry has habitually been stealing his pies, then he is a fellow who has some sort of authority in a bar. The bar is for some reason attached to a boxing studio. A strange man stares at Harry as he takes a sandwich that is too big. Who drinks what beers is decided by a game of checkers with the glasses as if as a matter of course.

Vernon Dent himself gets credit as a writer here and he clearly provides material that shows his understanding of what works for Harry Langdon, although as actual material for a short it doesn't really hold together. He also, unusually, gives himself a song to sing, and acquits himself quite well. Harry Langdon is excellent as usual, and it is, as not uncommonly, the little bits of business that he fills his performance with that most makes the short memorable. He also at this point has found a good talkie characterization for his character. He only speaks when he has do and therefor can do plenty of silent business when the need arises, but when he speaks he is intelligible, humorously vague and dazed, and believably childlike.

"Hooks and Jabs" is funny and very much a Harry Langdon film. I was undecided about whether the parts that are never explained or simply don't make sense detract or contribute to its pleasant otherworldliness, and I think other viewers might be as well.