Harry Langdon's feature debut film removed him from the slapstick genre and modeled him after Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. Like the big three comedians of the silent era, Harry is given a girl, a cause, and many obstacles and pratfalls to overcome. A very young Joan Crawford is the girl, saving his father's shoe business is the cause, and winning a cross-country foot race is the scenario for obstacles and pratfalls. Langdon dresses similar to Chaplin's tramp character without the cane. He even walks a little like him at times. Keaton and Lloyd were far more acrobatic than Langdon, but here Harry places himself in at least one hair-raising sequence, hanging from a fence, dangling from a cliff, and sliding down the steep hill on a section of wooden fence. There are a few sight gags but no where near the amount you'd expect to see from the big three. The film concludes with a neat cyclone sequence that recalls a scene from The Gold Rush the year before and which undoubtedly influenced Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. a couple years later. The special effects are pretty decent, although the cyclone is a bit hokey. Frank Capra was one of the writers of this film and would go on to direct some of Langdon's films. **1/2 of 4 stars.
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CitizenCaine23 May 2009
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planktonrules12 July 2008Harry'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. -
JoeytheBrit30 June 2009Baby-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. -
mgmax22 August 2002The Strong Man is generally considered THE Langdon film, but I
think that's because it's dramatically stronger and more unified-- which in some ways only makes it less suitable for the quizzical little comedian at the center of the story, who's really too small to carry such a big film. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp is more shapeless and to my mind is the quintessential Langdon comedy, especially since its high point lets him do his own distinctive variations on famous moments from two other silent comedians. A competitor in a cross-country marathon walk, Langdon winds up in the middle of nowhere, dangling from a fence over a cliff; where Harold Lloyd dangled over a busy city, the reaction of the crowd being used to whip up a comic frenzy, Langdon's childlike struggles occur in the most desolate, abandoned nowhere, a place where his body wouldn't even be found for 50 years. Later, sliding down the cliff, Langdon finds himself in the middle of an avalanche, much like Keaton in Seven Chances-- but where Keaton dodges boulders heroically, Langdon simply shuts his eyes and wishes his predicament away. From the wildly oversized mugging of the Keystone era we are now at the absolute extreme of comedy minimalism; Langdon is to slapstick what Malevich's White on White is to painting. -
springfieldrental9 March 2022Harry Langdon appeared in his first feature film, playing the son of a shoe maker who tries to win a large monetary prize by a walk-across-America race contest in March 1926's "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp." The sponsor of the race, a shoe manufacturer, uses the photo of Joan Crawford for the contest's promotion, sparking a love-interest in Langdon's heart. This movie has been credited as one of the first films to use a Madison Avenue-type public relations slant as the main nexus to the plot.
The screenplay was written by Frank Capra. He was a gag writer for Mack Sennett since 1924. Sennett assigned Capra to work with Langdon a year later when the comedian was acting in two-reelers. Langdon was offered a more lucrative salary and feature film roles with First National Studios in 1926, taking along Capra with him to be his personal writer and later on his director.
Joan Crawford, in only her second year on the screen, received her largest role yet in cinema as the promotional woman in the ad. She also was the central motivational force for Langdon's deep inspiration for winning the foot race. The actress was on loan from MGM to increase her visibility in Hollywood. She appears in the concluding scene with Langdon admiring a baby, which turns out to be Langdon in a crib with infant clothes. During filming, the real baby was so fidgety and uncooperative that Langdon lightly suggested he could replace the baby to garner a laugh from the viewers. When the preview audience saw the Langdon stand-in for the baby, they howled. The comic decided to leave the scene of him in the nationally-released version.
"Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" was a financial success for Langdon. Film Critic Maria Schneider described Langdon's character as an innocent caught up in the middle of a corrupt world. She felt Langdon's acting to be "an acquired taste, his gentle absurdities and slow rhythms take some getting used to, but patient viewers will be rewarded." The American Film Institute felt the same way, nominating it as one of 500 movies to be considered for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies Ever Made. -
lwmtem17 August 2016Harry, the son of a shoemaker that is about to lose his business to the shoe conglomerate across the way, is expecting a bicycle as he returns home from school. Instead he learns his father must have money to stay in business. His babyish face and deadpan look provide a confused and almost hopeless and hapless appearance with no idea how he will succeed. As he walks around to think and come up with a plan, he comes across a billboard displaying the most beautiful face he has ever seen and is captivated.
He then learns of a big race to prove the quality of the mass produced shoes from the big company and prepares for the event that would provide a prize of $25,000 to the winner to save his father's business.
As the contestants gather for the start, Harry has wandered off to the billboard with the lovely face. As he gazes at her face, he is love struck and is unaware that one pair of shoes has yet to be given to a participant, Harry. As he stands there he is unaware that the shoes are coming his way and for a moment, something causes him to turn around and he sees his love and still does not realize it.
He looks at her as if to remember where he saw such beauty, then turns to the billboard as he finally understands that "she" is there near to him. In his befuddled way he is unsure of what to do or which way to walk and ends up walking in irregular circles and abruptly stopping and changing direction until she asks his to sit beside her on the nearby bench. The talk and she gives him the shoes so he can start of the race.
Harry is now determined to succeed but his hapless adventure is to put him in danger at almost every turn. For every misstep that throws him backwards, something happens to vault him forward and in with the leaders of the race. From the many times he is near defeat he finds a way to win and becomes a hero in the process. But the money is not his final reward. Its only the beginning! -
FerdinandVonGalitzien29 May 2006"Tramp!, Tramp!, Tramp!" was an American song very popular in that country during their particular civil war and the perfect excuse for this German count to show in his private silent cinema a double feature with two films with that same name. Of course, this aristocrat prefers to sing patriotic German songs as "Lili Marleen" The first one was a Max Fleischer's animated cartoon produced in 1926.During the 20's Max Fleischer was ahead of his time (and Walt Disney ) in the creation and development of new techniques in cartoon films, perfecting the"Rotoscope", a device that enabled animators, frame by frame, to trace character movements from live action film onto animation paper. During those years he created "Ko-Ko", a kind of animated clown that was very popular with his "KokoQuartet Band" which naturally provided the perfect excuse for singing along with him in many cartoons with the help of a bouncing ball.So picture it: a German aristocrat in his private cinema singing along with an Amerikan song and trying to fall into step with the help of that damned bouncing ball, all without losing one's Teutonic composure. A very difficult task, certainly Anyway, the film is a funny divertimento skilfully produced.
The second one was a film directed by Harry Edwards in 1926 too and starred Harry Langdon.The story tells the adventures of Harry ( Herr Harry Langdon ) and his attempt to save his father's shoemaking business; his father can't pay the rent to the landlord because he can't compete with the powerful Joe Burton footwear corporation.This rivalry leads to the creation of a cross-country footrace, the "Burton Cross Country Race" a publicity stunt with a prize of 25.000 dollars, just enough to save Harry's father shoemaking business. As always, Herr Harry Langdon plays his popular character, a childish, naïve butlikeable hero who will be involved in many and complicated adventures .
Sometimes one gets the feeling that nothing much happens with the story in HerrLangdon's slapstick comedies because the actor deliberately takes his time to play slow and care mime scenes as well as setting up intricate and astounding gags like the cliff or the cyclone sequences. One can see the influence of great comedians as Herr Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd but fortunately Herr Langdon don't imitate those greats but uses them to enrich his particular style with elaborate and funny sequences. By the way, besides the prize of 25.000 dollars for the winner, at the end of the footrace, Harry will have an extra reward;Damen Betty ( Joan Crawford ), the woman he loves and the perfect excuse to cross not one country but two.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must to rest after such a long tramp. -
Judging from this film and THE STRONG MAN, made the same year, I would not place Harry Langdon at the top of the list of great silent screen comedians. There simply is not enough there. Perhaps he was on his way to developing his style but sabotaged himself by taking his first big successes too seriously. In any event, all of his tricks are reminiscent of the greater funny men, but he lacks the acrobatic skills of Keaton and the prodigious ingenuity of Lloyd. He also undermines his own persona by dressing and walking like Chaplin's tramp character. His trademarks are childlike innocence, timidity of approach and a tendency to under-react to calamity by looking perplexed, batting his eyes or touching his pursed lips with the tip of his forefinger. The comedy in Langdon's films results from fate throwing various obstacles in his path which he tries to overcome in wimpy or naïve ways or with a minimum of physicality, such as throwing rocks at an approaching tornado to drive it away, propping up a collapsing building with a two-by-four or dodging boulders by lifting a leg so that they roll under him. In this story, about the son of a shoemaker who joins a cross-country walking race to publicize a rival company's footwear, he manages to win by sheer luck. There is nothing here that hasn't been done far better by the Big Three.
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Ron Oliver12 June 2004Desperately 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. -
jellopuke9 May 2023A meek shoe store employee is tasked with making money for his dad's store so he enters a cross country race to earn 25,000 and maybe the hand of the girl on billboards.
This is so close to being an all timer with only the fact that the concept wasn't fully explored enough and the ending is a little too silly holding it back. There are a few really solid gags and the weird character of Harry and the weird comedy shines in those. It's only the idea that the race part is sort of left on the side and the romance a bit too tacked on that keep this from being up there with a Chaplin movie. Still worth seeing for the oddness of Harry Langdon! -
mjneu5911 January 2011The title of silent comedian Harry Langdon's debut feature may have been borrowed from the popular song of the same name, but it also carries a hint of challenge, suggesting by comparison to the Little Tramp that Langdon must be three times as funny as Chaplin. And, under certain circumstances, he was just that. Unlike other comics (Chaplin included) who needed constant activity to be funny, Langdon's wistful, winsome character was at his best when simply standing still, getting the maximum effect out of a minimal effort: subtle facial expressions, tentative hand gestures, and so forth. Not that he wasn't given plenty to do: enlisting (reluctantly) in a cross country foot race; falling in love with the billboard image of young Joan Crawford; escaping from a chain gang; and battling a cyclone almost as fierce as the one Buster Keaton faced in 'Steamboat Bill, Jr'. His minimalist technique and odd, infantile mannerisms are an acquired taste today, but adventuresome fans of silent comedy will discover in Langdon a unique, often astonishing talent.
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Snow Leopard29 November 2001This 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. -
hte-trasme24 December 2009"Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" was the first feature film Harry Langdon made for his own newly formed production company to be distributed by First National Pictures, and the first of his features to be released.As such it faced the problem of adapting his slow, underplayed style of comedy to a greater length for the greater length and more lavish production of a feature, and it meets this challenge well to create a very funny film.
The plot is strange -- essentially Harry finds himself walking in a cross-country marathon to save his father's shoe business -- but it manages to pull of the trick of remaining quite unified while encapsulating a number of discrete stages for Harry to do spread out and do comedy. The first ten minutes or so of the film are taken just to lay out the scenario, and that saves the necessity of their being interruptions during further scenes. In fact, all the opening revelations about the small businessman being squeezed dry by the big company are played more like grim drama than comedy, and this works -- I think Harry Langdon is funnier when he innocent, childlike, and somehow supernatural character is contrasted with the unpleasantness of reality.
Harry's fallen in love with a young Joan Crawford, the girl on the shoe conglomerate's billboards. This is funny in itself just as a concept, funny because of the humorous sight of sophisticated, glamorous Joan and befuddled, infantile Harry falling for each other, and funny because of gags that are drawn out of it (the torn-off images of her all around Harry's hotel room, and then hiding under his sheets). It also works to drive Harry along in walking the race. The girl's character isn't really built though, and little time is actually spent on their interactions (except for a great gag shot where a house is blown away in a cyclone to reveal them kissing passionately). At such this element of the film works well, but "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" doesn't have quite the emotional punch that other Langdon comedies sometimes have.
Of course, the real comedy in a good Harry Langdon comedy comes mainly between what happens, from Harry's subtle but mesmerizing and hilarious little reactions and ineffectual, childish attempts at action. This film allows for a good assortment of comedy set pieces where there is room for that, and probably one of Harry's best pieces of pantomime comes in the extended shot where he is flummoxed by encountering two Betty Burtn's at once: one on a billboard and one the real person. It would be a throwaway gag to most comedians, but Harry draws a long series of laughs from his reactions to it. There's a great scene around Harry's inadvertent antagonism of his new roommate the walking champion of the world (in which, in the don't-try-this-at-home department, he is given a whole handful of sleeping pills), and a sequence of Harry in a chain-gang after his arrest for stealing berries that could have been rearranged slightly into its own two-reel comedy. It also contains perhaps my favorite little moment where Harry, breaking up tiny rocks with his tiny hammer, is given a gun -- and uses the butt of it to break up slightly bigger rocks.
While the characteristic signature of Langdon is in these moments, bigger production gags are in evidence here as well, and are both funny and impressive. Especially the scene in which Harry, after hanging off a cliff (and, characteristically, is very funny just by being oblivious to it) falls down it but easily survives by accidentally sliding on a detached fence, and the one in which the barber shop he has entered is constantly being physically twisted around by a volcano are extremely funny, inventive, and visually impressive.
The end, in which Harry is revealed to have had a baby named Harry that is exactly like him in an over-sized cradle, is very weird, but somehow very appropriate. Harry is an eternal baby in a grown-up world, who will be somehow the same no matter what his supposed real age. -
unkle_weaser21 November 2006Mack Sennett discovered Harry Langdon in the 19-teens, buying a film of his vaudeville act; he didn't know what to do with him. (My source for this is Frank Capra's THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE) Capra and co-writers, Harry Edwards and Arthur Ripley helped draw Harry's character out in a series of Keystone shorts. After a couple years, Harry was offered a huge sum of money to move to First National. He took Capra, Edwards and Ripley with him to make features.
TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP, the first film from Harry and his First National contract, helps Capra and Co. flesh Harry's character out. In the shorts, he was a slapstick comic. Here, he's got a motive (save his dad's shoe company) by entering in a walking race; and taking their own sweet time Edwards (directing) and Capra and Ripley, have given Harry a female lead, played by Joan Crawford, who looks very sweet and innocent.
There are the requisite silent-comic situations, including placing the comic in danger at the top of a cliff. When Harry realizes Joan is looking at him, he goes through a series of "flirty" looks unused by any other comedian.
Harry Langdon's name isn't as well known as Chaplin, Keaton, or Arbuckle, but that's because those guys managed to last longer. He's worth a look-see if you like silent comedy, but he's a bit slower on the uptake than the "big three." TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP is a very funny movie from a very funny man who never realized what a gift he had. -
slokes6 November 2011While 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. -
JohnHowardReid22 April 2008One of Harry Langdon's most enjoyable outings, this one gets into the plot straight away. The laughs start coming thick and fast as soon as he makes his dull-witted entrance, and they continue most heartily right up to the cyclone climax which, with all its mechanical contrivances, I thought the least funny in the movie. I feel Harry is at his best when he has minimal props to sustain him and is forced to rely heavily on his stop-and-start walk, his facial twitches and his hesitant to-and-froing to keep laughter at its height.
Langdon's style of comedic reacting needs excellent stooges and in this film he has two of the best in his entire career: Tom Murray who is beautifully set up for conflict right from the opening shot and is then brilliantly revealed not only as a ruthless landlord but as a stop-at-nothing competitor; and pushy Brooks Benedict who artfully manages one of Harry's funniest routines in the movie.
And then, of course, there's Joan Crawford. Admittedly, although she is the catalyst for Harry's cross-country sprint, she is not exactly treated as a star equal. In her key scene with Harry, her face is hidden by her cloche hat. But nonetheless, she's in there swinging.
Superbly enhanced by some of the most beautiful tints ever presented on the screen, this movie is a visual delight from first to last. -
Some of my favorite movies, and some of the best movies ever made, hail from the silent era. There is a treasure trove of cinema classics from way back when that has been sadly forgotten, or even lost. Not all silent pictures are equal, however, and some just don't capture the imagination in the same way that others do. I can appreciate why Harry Langdon was considered a fine comedic star, as he routinely expresses a certain bumbling, nervous disposition, and demonstrates adept physical capability, to bring his characters to life. For whatever cleverness he may claim, though, or the writers or co-stars of his films, from what I've seen to date of his oeuvre his pictures kind of struggle to inspire: not bad by any means, but even compared to other contemporaries, they bear very simple - and very light - entertainment. Yet with this said, I'm pleased that for my money 'Tramp, tramp, tramp' seems to be a little more consistent and worthwhile.
Frank Capra's is a name that I think most any fan of movies should recognize, and here he serves the picture as its screenwriter. However slight, the narrative is suitable as a vehicle for the humor, and more important here is the scene writing - the details poured into each passing moment to build not just the story, but the active comedy. There's some wonderful wit to be had in 'Tramp, tramp, tramp,' with physical comedy, sight gags, and situational humor serving up some fun. Langdon and his fellow actors do a swell job of making the silliness as lively as it could be, alongside director Harry Edwards, whose orchestration of the more robust instances is fairly tight and mindful. The stunts, set pieces, and effects that we get also look great, relatively uncomplicated as they are for the era.
There are, however, unquestionably elements of the production that raise a skeptical eyebrow. Most substantively, there are multiple points where story beats or gags linger too long and lose their luster - what Benjamin Franklin said about fish and houseguests applies just as well to bits in film or television. There's also something distinctly off about the fundamental presentation. Theoretically it could be chalked up to a degraded surviving print, but the nature of the issue indicates that something is awry with the makeup, lighting, cinematography, or some combination thereof. Specifically, this extends almost exclusively to Langdon: there are instances where his facial features are all but indistinguishable, and his face seems to perfectly match the clothes he's wearing - while other people with whom he shares the scene look normal and realistic. Then, too, at the same time that Langdon is distinguished in this way in some scenes, in others he is not, and one can readily discern his expressions. And this is true throughout the whole film, back and forth, with no rhyme or reason to the discrepancies.
Still, the only intention here was to have a good time. In this case the faults aren't so severe as to wholly squelch the entertainment, and despite them, 'Tramp, tramp, tramp' succeeds more than it doesn't. There's some earnest intelligence and heart in Capra's screenplay. Edwards makes use of some shots or camerawork that were still somewhat novel for the 1920s, and while she only has a supporting role, it's a small joy to see Joan Crawford here in one of her earlier features. I don't know that I'd say this title is outright funny, or solidly engaging, but even with some rough patches it is at least rather reliably amusing - more than some others could boast. And that steadiness ultimately makes more of an impression than any shortcomings, with the result that this comes off as a quietly delightful viewing experience.
Not all viewers can abide silent pictures, which I certainly understand, and there are definitely issues with this specific film that detract from the greatest of what it could have been. Those issues include an especially ham-handed and even unnecessary ending that frankly just altogether breaks with the tone of the preceding material. But when all is said and done, 'Tramp, tramp, tramp' actually bests my expectations. I enjoyed watching this, and I think it earns a soft recommendation for silent cinephiles who happen to come across it. It may not stand out as much as some other pictures of the era, yet nonetheless stands tall enough on its own merits. -
nickandrew3 August 2002This was a very early silent film Joan Crawford did before her shot to stardom in OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS (1928). It is a short and to the point Harry Langdon comedy, in which he plays a big loser who is in love with the young, attractive Crawford. Then, things change for him dramatically after winning a marathon. Not too bad, but not too great either.