Plain Clothes

"Plain Clothes," one of Harry Langdon's series of wonderful shorts for the Mack Sennett studios, puts him in the role of a not-especially expert detective charged with recovering stolen jewels. The crime plot line itself frankly doesn't generate any laughs but its main service is in placing the childlike, innocent, goodhearted Harry (he helps the movers repossess his office's furniture) in a dangerous and no-nonsense situation (where caught in the middle of a gunfight, he stands befuddledly still and shoots a capgun in random directions!).

This is a device that always seems to work well, and when the plot recedes "Plain Clothes" features some of the greatest Harry Langdon sequences -- running up and down the stairs in order to catch a busy elevator, shadowing a man who turns out to be a fellow (and more competent) detective, trustingly pulling at the crook's (Langdon staple Vernon Dent who plays off him well as always, here in tough-guy mode) lapel to make sure he too is a detective, &c. stand with Langdon's best comedy moments.

As a side note, this would seem to be the first appearance of the battered soft felt hat that would be the closest thing to a consistent costume Harry's character would wear. Here he surprisingly comes up with an effective and in-character way of saving the day himself, and this cute and fun ending, combined with all the wonderful sequences showcasing Langdon's comedy, make this a very fun and funny short to watch. My great thanks to those who preserved the only surviving print of "Plain Clothes" so we can enjoy it today!

The new four-disc DVD set devoted to the work of Harry Langdon has brought a number of forgotten, long unavailable short comedies back into circulation. Although Plain Clothes is not the best of the lot, it's a pleasant two reel comedy that offers Langdon's screen persona in full bloom. (I almost called it his "mature" persona, but that's definitely not the right word!) Harry plays a low-rent private detective, and on his first entrance we find all the familiar elements in place: the clown-white face, the battered hat, the over-sized jacket, and the uncertain, hesitant gestures. In the opening sequence with Harry and his girlfriend it's clear that she's the aggressor in the relationship. She has to lure him to a window seat to snuggle, but it isn't easy: Harry is cautious and plays hard-to-get. Their courtship scene is nicely staged, cute without turning cutesy, and precisely the sort of character comedy only Langdon could get away with.

Apparently the sole surviving source material for this film is a 16mm print which, unfortunately, suffered some decomposition in a key sequence early on, so the plot exposition is a little garbled. It seems that Harry has fallen behind on paying the rent for his office; his furniture is being carted away when Mrs. Rhodes, owner of a stolen necklace, hires him to find it. The footage is choppy at this point and it's not clear how or why she chose to hire him—why, for that matter, would anyone?—but the basic story is simple enough, and the damaged footage doesn't hinder our enjoyment all that much.

The mother of Harry's (unnamed) girlfriend runs a boarding house, and by an amazing coincidence the establishment happens to be the hide-out of the Ferrett Gang, the crooks who stole the necklace Harry has been hired to retrieve. Neither the girl nor her mother is aware of the gang's true identity, and it takes our hero awhile to figure it out, too. In the film's best sequence, Harry invites himself along with a dozen or so cops when they pile into a car and go on a raid; they've been tipped off that a gang member has attempted to hock the jewels at a neighborhood pawnshop. Just watching Harry ride in the back of the speeding patrol car, smiling blissfully, is good for a chuckle. He looks for all the world like a little boy who has been given permission to stay up late and hang out with the big guys. This impression is reinforced when he instructs the driver to stop for a moment so he can hop out and excitedly tell his girl they're on a raid! Harry rejoins the cops just in time for a shoot-out in an alley where his excitement gets the better of him: he wastes bullets (and endangers everyone) by shooting in all directions, then switches to hurling bricks. The finale brings Harry back to the Ferrett Gang's hide-out, i.e. the boarding house run by his girlfriend's mother. Matters are ultimately resolved and order is restored, not so much because of Harry's efforts as in spite of them.

Plain Clothes is a straightforward, amusing entry in the Harry Langdon canon, a fairly low-key comedy that gets most of its laughs not from slapstick but from character. And what a character he was!

For about as good a review as you can find on this film, try reading wmorrow59's--they have a lot of great insights into this and many other Harry Langdon films from the recent four DVD set of his remaining shorts. Unfortunately, due to the ravages of time on nitrate prints, many of Langdon's films are gone or the print is damaged like this one. Though not severely damaged, it isn't a particularly good print.

Harry plays a private detective in this film. About the only role I can think of where Harry was more out of his league was his being a lumberjack and bouncer in BOOB IN THE WOODS. For those of you out there unfamiliar with Langdon, this is because he almost always plays a sweet and innocent little boy-like man--amazingly naive as well as a weakling.

Harry goes to the boarding house his girlfriend's mother run and his sweetie tries to smooch--though shy Harry is definitely hard to get! Interestingly, the "great detective" didn't seem to notice that among the boarders was a gang of thieves--probably because he isn't much of a detective. You find soon after this that, not surprisingly, the contents of his office are being repossessed. Everything looks hopeless until Harry is promised a huge reward if he can recover a valuable necklace--that this same gang has stolen.

When Vernon Dent (a perennial heavy in Harry's films) tries to pawn the item, the police are called and Harry joins them. However, when the shooting starts, Harry is absolutely no good at all and accidentally helps Dent escape. Dent is thrilled and takes Harry to join the gang. The thought of poor Harry in a vicious gang is pretty funny, but what isn't funny is when Harry's girl accidentally tells the gang that Harry is a private eye! Somehow, despite this, Harry is able to escape, get the girl AND recover the necklace--ain't movies grand? The film has a pretty good story, several cute gags and us well-paced--so much so that I nearly gave the film an 8.

By the way, did you notice that Harry never turned off the gas AND that the film makers never really followed up on this?