The First 100 Years

First 100 Years, The (1924)

** (out of 4)

Harry Langdon and his new wife are shocked when their new cook arrives and she's a large, cigar smoking woman who is also quite ugly. This arrangement doesn't work out so they hire another cook but this one here is beautiful. The first half of the film dealing with the ugly cook contains some pretty good laughs including a great sequence where she scares Harry's bulldog who takes off running down the street dragging Harry with him. After this the film slows down without many laughs.

Thanks to the efforts of dedicated film restoration experts several of Harry Langdon's early short comedies have been recovered, painstakingly cleaned up, and pieced back together again for home viewing. Until fairly recently, Langdon's two-reel short The First 100 Years could be seen only in the form of brief, tantalizing excerpts in Robert Youngson's 1960 compilation When Comedy Was King. Now, a Langdon DVD set offers a 13-minute version of this film. Some footage is still missing, but on the bright side this reconstruction represents about two-thirds of the original short, more than has been available for a long time. Happily, the surviving material gives a full sense of the story-line, and includes a lot of amusing moments for Harry and his supporting players. In its restored version the film ranks with the best of Langdon's early work for the Mack Sennett Studio.

The opening sequence is set high on a cliff overlooking crashing sea waves, and what transpires is so histrionic and deliberately overplayed we assume it will turn out to be a daydream or hallucination on somebody's part: Harry plays the stalwart hero of a melodrama, bravely defending the leading lady from "Black Mike," a top-hatted villain. There's a fight and Harry lands a hay-maker on Mike's jaw, causing the villain to sail off the cliff and fall to a distant ledge—though he immediately jumps up and shouts threats at Harry, shaking his fist as he hops up and down! "And then came wedded bliss," the title card informs us, and we realize that this prologue was intended as some kind of shorthand metaphor to explain how Harry won his girl from a rival. (Or perhaps it was just meant to be funny?)

The newlyweds must wash their own dishes until the arrival of their new cook, a fearsome gorgon played by Louise Carver, whose appearance suggests her previous job may have been as a guard at a women's prison. She quickly takes over the joint and bosses her employers. Harry's problems mount when an "old friend" of his arrives and immediately starts flirting with his wife. Unfortunately, at this juncture the footage gets a little choppy. However, there's a great bit where Harry tries to intimidate Louise with a newly-acquired bulldog, who takes one look at her and heads for the hills, dragging Harry behind him. Indignant, Louise quits the household, only to be replaced by slinky Madeline Hurlock, a dark-eyed beauty who wastes no time vamping the master of the house. When she kneels before him and massages his feet Harry's wife is taken aback, but Harry looks quite pleased with the new help.

The second half of the film turns into a haunted house comedy, as a storm blows in and the newlyweds find their home invaded by tall, mysterious bearded men in black who pop out of unexpected places. (Silent comedy buffs may be reminded of the later Charley Bowers short There It Is, which takes this sort of craziness and multiplies it to the 10th power.) There's a great moment when one of these guys leans over Harry, draping his long beard over Harry's face. Eventually, we learn the true identity of Harry's "old friend," the new cook, and all those bearded guys. Apparently the original finale is missing, but the surviving footage ends with a revelation which serves to wrap up the plot on an amusing note, so at least this version doesn't cut off in mid-scene. Even in abbreviated form, The First 100 Years is an enjoyable viewing experience and a nice addition to the Harry Langdon canon.

P.S. There is some controversy about whether Harry's wife in this film is played by Alice Day, who is billed in the credits, or her lookalike sister Marceline, best known as Buster Keaton's leading lady in The Cameraman. According to one source, Marceline substituted for her sister at the last minute, but Alice was nonetheless erroneously credited in the film and its publicity material. Personally, having watched the film carefully I believe the credits are correct, and this is indeed Alice Day.

I watched the thirteen-minute partial reconstruction of this short, available on the "Harry Langdon Collection: Lost and Found" DVD set. If you have access to the full twenty-minute-or-so version, contact a film archive as soon as you can.

I don't like to use the word "tragedy" to describe seven minutes of film being misplaced, but I really wish this film existed in a complete version. It's a hilarious comedy of Harry Langdon's total inability to deal with a tough cook he and his wife have hired, her suspicions of the seductive replacement they take on, and a malicious intruder in his house. Placing the wide-eyed innocent Harry among such sordid elements is inspired and places him in his best element. Relatively early in his career he is already playing the entire film like a master, and the direction allows him time to relax and react at a methodical pace. It's his comedy genius that turns what could have been another iteration of a common gag (that catsup looks like blood!) into something hilarious and unforgettable with just a few seconds' worth of facial expressions.

Alice Day seems to have picked up a little of the technique, in fact, and she is great as she reacts Louise Carver's burly cigar-smoking cook, and her suspiciously beautiful replacement. Carver is so over-the-top in her characterization that it's perfect.

This is a great thirteen minutes of comedy in its present form -- my thanks to those who have preserved it, and my hopes for the recovery of the rest!