The Sea Squawk

"The Sea Squawk" was apparently held back from release for some time while the rights to use the title -- a parody of "The Sea Hawk" -- could be secured. I don't know why some other sea-related title wasn't just used instead, as this is certainly not direct parody.

This is not the strongest of Harry Langdon's series of two-reel comedies for Mack Sennett from the 1920s, but it's still a very funny film. It looks much cheaper somehow than the rest of the series. Director Harry Edwards couldn't have done much to help that -- he actually does a great job with the material, maximizing the humor from Langdon. It's largely because this is a comedy set at sea but clearly shot nowhere near the water, forcing what seems to be a grey drop to be used instead. Also a gag involving a cat in Harry's clothes ends up using a patently false cat-tail for effect.

There is more time spent dwelling on "plot" here than usual, or it seems so because said plot, thin as it is, develops largely separately from Harry, our nominal protagonist. This doesn't hurt the humor too much -- a great deal of the first reel consists of Harry (Scottish here, apparently, as he's in a kilt) reacting very funnily to the presence of an armed thug in his room, and then to having swallowed the stolen jewel he is trying to hide away. There is some great business, and some great black humor, with gags revolving around Harry's childish reactions combined with situations revolving around vomiting and implied defecation. A great bit shows us that Harry doesn't even consider these, though, and imagines he will be cut up to recover the jewel! The second reel mainly revolves around Harry disguised as a woman (and, of course, becoming the object of men's affections) and other more generic gags around the ship's ball. They are well-played and funny, though, having been well set up by the previous a act.

The typical gangsters and man-in-drag material might not make for the greatest of Harry Langdon's shorts, but Langdon and Harry Edwards get a lot of credit for making it a very funny comedy that still works well with his character.

I agree with the other review that says that this film isn't among Harry Langdon's best, though it is a nice and reasonably funny short comedy. In this one, Harry gets mixed up with a thief aboard a ship and the crook is looking to kill him to protect his racket. So in fear of his life, Harry dresses like a lady and the Captain is quite taken with him/her. I thought this was pretty funny and noticed that Harry looked amazingly at home in the costume! Naturally, being a Harry Langdon film, by the end, Harry is able to capture the bad guy and become the hero--a rather familiar theme in his films (such as in PLAIN CLOTHES). Despite this familiarity, the film is well worth seeing and is about an average example of his work with Sennett in the mid-1920s.

By the way, the title is a play on the popular Rafael Sabatini novel of the day "THE SEA HAWK", though the movie really has nothing to do with the novel or the film versions of this wonderful Sabatini book. Though out of print and hard to find, it's a marvelous swashbuckling novel.

Not one of Langdon's funniest outings, although I feel it would have been so, if Vernon Dent had played the Blackie Dawson role. There is nothing like that same rapport here between Langdon and Christian Frank.

Another problem is the slapstick drag scene which is allowed to run too long, even though it has a number of choice moments including the bit in which helpful Harry offers to remove a streamer from a matronly dancer's back.

Another letdown is that, despite a great intro and her second billing, Eugenia Gilbert's role turns out to be disappointingly small. To compensate, Sennett has fleetingly filled out the passenger list and surrounded Langdon with lots of well-dressed Bathing Beauties at the ship's Fancy Dress Ball.

Directors Jones and Edwards handle all the proceedings with competence and even a modicum of style.