It's not often a film will elicit such unusual responses in it's audince. "This is so depraved", says Edwin Q. Oslan. "It had the cutest first degree murder I've even seen" says Andrew J. Aldea. Oddly enough, this is not a David Lynch film, but a Frank Capra/Harry Langdon colaboration. As longtime readers will remember, I am not a big fan of Langdon. I find his character creepy and not funny. Mr. Oslan feels that Langdon is creepy and funny, so I guess the two traits are not mutually exclusive.
Anyway, Long Pants is, like its predecessors, episodic, with a plot designed only to fit around Langdon's comedy routines. In a general sense, the film involves Harry Shelby's (Langdon) attempts to shake his fiencee Priscilla (Priscilla Bonner) and marry the much attractive (apparently that's the only reason) Bebe Blair (Gladys Brockwell), a drug attadict wanted by the police. This puts Harry in a series of black comedy situations, such as having to kill Priscilla.
I realize from looking at my synopsis that the movie sounds much more interesting than it actully is- Capra doesn't find the right tone or point of view to make this material work, so the audience is in awe of Harry's evil instead of amused by it. Comedy is always a personal preferance, so others may find Langdon's antics more enteratinig than I do. Nevertheless, I don't think the film works and can't reccamend it.
Long Pants (1927)