Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926)

Director:

Harry Edwards

Writers:

Release Date:

21 March 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Low-life Harry falls in love with sweet Betty who inspires him to improve himself so he can marry her...

Plot Keywords:

Mortgage | Contest | Contestant | Fruit | Chain Gang

Cast

Harry Langdon	...	Harry Logan
Joan Crawford	...	Betty Burton
Edwards Davis	...	John Burton
Tom Murray	...	Nick Kargas
Alec B. Francis	...	Amos Logan
Brooks Benedict	...	Taxi Driver
Carlton Griffin	...	Roger Caldwell

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Harry Langdon Corporation

Trivia:

When Harry and Joan's "baby" is introduced, we see that he is also played by Harry Langdon. This came about because the real baby that was to be used for the scene wouldn't cooperate, and as a gag Langdon had the cameraman shoot him playing the baby. After it was screened, Langdon liked it so much he left it in.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

Not one of the greats...

Baby-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.