This comedy from Harry Langdon's first stint as a headliner for Columbia Pictures' Shorts Department has a title that would serve as a great setup for Abbott and Costello. "What's the short called?" "I Don't Remember." "Well, see if you can't think of it." "I know it!" Et cetera.
Beyond that, it's quite a funny short that's a blend of mostly some good, characteristic Harry Langdon material with a few random wrong notes that must have been the influence of Jules White, the director. Harry's character was modified a little to make him just slightly more grown up when he started his Columbia series, and I think that adjustment worked. Here the main device of the plot -- that Harry is superhumanly forgetful -- works to help him be even a little more childlike and innocent than usual while still keeping the extra realism by giving it some kind of explanation. It also sees him working with longtime collaborator across many studios Vernon Dent, which is nice to see.
It also gives him plenty of business to do, like a great quiet shot of him blithely not noticing as he manages to make a ruin of his breakfast while he chats with his wife and mother. It's very in-character too for him to be taken in and convinced that an Irish sweepstakes is a good way to invest his money.
There is a brilliant gag at the centre of this two-reeler that could make the short all on its own: Harry is a painter, so after he loses the furniture he paints replacements (better-looking than any of his paintings) on the walls. It's just hilarious to watch, as are the gags that top it, with various permutations of people's attempts to use the two-dimensional tables, chairs, and couches.
There's also a very black sequence that nonetheless works in which Harry attempts to kills himself, then turns his gun onto the friend that put him up to losing the money (and therefore his wife) in a protracted murderous rampage (after he remembers to amend the "Goodbye everybody" on the wall to "Goodbye Glick!).
A few moments, like Harry seeming to fall into the bathtub for no reason, his getting his legs pulled about by a fake doctor, and some of the sequence with the escaping ticket at the end don't seem to come from much of anywhere, but they don't detract much from a comedy with some very funny material
Beyond that, it's quite a funny short that's a blend of mostly some good, characteristic Harry Langdon material with a few random wrong notes that must have been the influence of Jules White, the director. Harry's character was modified a little to make him just slightly more grown up when he started his Columbia series, and I think that adjustment worked. Here the main device of the plot -- that Harry is superhumanly forgetful -- works to help him be even a little more childlike and innocent than usual while still keeping the extra realism by giving it some kind of explanation. It also sees him working with longtime collaborator across many studios Vernon Dent, which is nice to see.
It also gives him plenty of business to do, like a great quiet shot of him blithely not noticing as he manages to make a ruin of his breakfast while he chats with his wife and mother. It's very in-character too for him to be taken in and convinced that an Irish sweepstakes is a good way to invest his money.
There is a brilliant gag at the centre of this two-reeler that could make the short all on its own: Harry is a painter, so after he loses the furniture he paints replacements (better-looking than any of his paintings) on the walls. It's just hilarious to watch, as are the gags that top it, with various permutations of people's attempts to use the two-dimensional tables, chairs, and couches.
There's also a very black sequence that nonetheless works in which Harry attempts to kills himself, then turns his gun onto the friend that put him up to losing the money (and therefore his wife) in a protracted murderous rampage (after he remembers to amend the "Goodbye everybody" on the wall to "Goodbye Glick!).
A few moments, like Harry seeming to fall into the bathtub for no reason, his getting his legs pulled about by a fake doctor, and some of the sequence with the escaping ticket at the end don't seem to come from much of anywhere, but they don't detract much from a comedy with some very funny material
