Alice Cooper Video:

		List Price: $39.95		Label: FACETS Salesrank: 33357 Released: December 26, 2007
		Our Price: $18.00
		Used Price: $19.99
		MPAA Rating: Unrated Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Discovered in 1923 by slapstick pioneer Mack Sennett, Harry Langdon quickly rose to the ranks of the other silent comedians, rivaling Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton in popularity. Langdon s comic persona of the wide-eyed innocent bewildered by the world around him was developed in such classic shorts as Picking Peaches and His New Mamma, which have been restored and included in this four-disc set.
LOST AND FOUND contains most of Langdon s seminal work for Sennett s studio, including Smile Please, The First 100 Years, and The Hansom Cabman. Digitally re-mastered from original negatives and archival preservation material, this essential collection also features restorations of several lost films. Each film is accompanied by an original musical score. The set includes audio commentaries by silent-film historians, rare clips, and Lost and Found, a documentary covering Langdon's career. Sennett considered Harry Langdon the best comedian he'd ever seen, and this remarkable four-disc set shows us why.
Disc One: Picking Peaches, Smile Please, His New Mamma, The First 100 Years, The Luck o' the Foolish, The Hansom Cabman, and All Night Long
Disc Two: Feet of Mud, The Sea Squawk, Boobs in the Wood, His Marriage Wow, Plain Clothes, Remember When, Lucky Stars, and There He Goes surviving extract.
Disc Three: Saturday Afternoon, Fiddlesticks, Soldier Man, and His First Flame. Plus Bonus extra: Catalina Here I Come, a sample of faux-Langdon starring Eddie Quillan and Madeline Hurlock.

Disc Four: Knight Duty, Hooks and Jabs, and Love, Honor and Obey (the Law). Plus bonus extra: Lost and Found, an original feature-length documentary on the life and films of Harry Langdon.
Special Features: Lost and Found, a feature-length documentary, Audio Commentaries by Film Historians, Home Movies, and Facets Cine-Notes collectible booklet, Home Movies, Beautiful Clothes Make Beautiful Girls talkie from 1942, HEART TROUBLE press book

Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection Reviews:
There are Gems amongst the Chaff
2009-12-11 - There are 9 films I found engaging, and that's enough to make this DVD set worth buying. They are: "Smile Please" (although really just the last segment 'Look Pleasant'), "The Luck O' The Foolish", "The Hansom Cabman", "Feet of Mud", "Boobs in the Wood" (my favorite, and the funniest), "His Marriage Wow", "Fiddlesticks", and "Soldier Man". All have good to almost excellent soundtracks except "Feet...", which needs a much funnier, old-time sort of score, with more sound effects. I might have included "All Night Long", but the musical score is just too bizarre and creepy to bring out the whimsy in the film. Andrew Simpson does VERY good piano for "The First 100 Years." MUCH better than his Snark-ensemble work up to this point in the set. The soundtracks mostly improve after this.

Some fault Langdon's shorts for being poorly written, or lacking good gag sequences with big laughs. If you watch his films as character studies, rather than belly-laugh farces, I think they become much more watchable. "Lucky Stars" must be watched this way. On the other hand, "Feet of Mud", "Boobs in the Woods" and "Soldier Man" strike me as very well-structured narratives and profoundly amusing. But not "laugh-out-loud" somehow... Supplement these with the nightmarish scenario and exquisite pantomime of "The Hansom Cabman", the peculiar improvisations in "Luck of Foolish", the Harold Lloyd-ish jokes and runaway finish in "His Marriage Wows", and the pure gag fest in the last sequence of "Smile Please, and this compilation is a winner.

~ ~ ~

Langdon certainly is an odd fellow. He's not funny so much as amazing. After watching his silent films in the "Lost" collection, two of the three good Capra features, and seven or eight sound movies, my theory about his sudden fall from glory goes like this:

1. By 45 he had a double-chin and was just beginning to look too old to play the baby-man character. Compounding this problem are the uncomfortable close-ups more common in sound films than silent.

2. The baby-talk, although completely fitting his character, was and is too embarrassing to be funny, and it is boring: it slows the movies way, way down. The patter probably worked better in front of an audience, where he could judge his timing from their reactions.

On film, his was the most pantomimic of all the great silent personas, and the least real; talking was too real, and broke the spell. Therefore, he was most successful in sound when he said the least ("Knight Duty"), or when he played a different and more naturalistic character (he is actually quite good in "Zenobia", and "Halleluiah, I'm a Bum", but they are lame movies).

3. He needed great writers, and directors who could control him (and do what needed to be done for a comedy without interference from the producers or a skimpy budget). But he did not have these after 1927 (unless his 1930 Hal Roach films are better than we know). One of the problems with many of his films is that they seem largely based on his improvisations, which are not funny; they are mostly bits of characterization: a hesitation, a change-of-mind displayed physically, a set of compulsive but meaningless repetitions (very Jerry Lewis). He is at his most glorious when the story pushes him along into actual sequences of escalating comic events that he could pantomime against, punctuated by brief character improvisations. This is exactly what he got in his Capra features, and a few of his shorts.

typical shoddy Sennett
2009-02-11 - Nothing about Langdon's individuality can save these films from being typical low-budget, slipshod Sennett productions. The accompanying scores are dreadful and just make viewing that much more of a chore. I'm beginning to think that 'The Strong Man' was the aberration - the more I see of Langdon the less I feel he deserves any sense of equality with Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. I applaud Allday for creating this set so that all can judge Langdon for themselves - but if you're listening at Allday, please give me something less avant-garde musically on your next silent project.

Harry Was A Genius and This DVD is Wonderful!
2009-01-10 - I am so glad that Kino has put this DVD together! Most of the short films on this DVD were presumed lost for decades, so not only are we talking great comedy but also historical significance. I have not received this collection yet, but I know it will be great. Baby Faced Harry was never given his due as one of the truly great silent film comics. For my money, his ability at pantomime was unequaled, and he was able to evoke pathos simply with a gesture of his hands or a movement of his eyes. Sadly, Harry died penniless in 1944 as a second tier performer in B comedies, his early triumphs in the 1920s virtually forgotten. But retribution is finally attained! Here we have him in his natural element: silent film, which he mastered beyond the skills of any of his peers. Harry was a great little guy with an enormous ability to make people laugh! Hopefully, this DVD will reintroduce this comic genius to the masses and restore his rightful legacy of greatness.

A must for silent film buffs. A cornucopia of rare, valuable and educational films by an underrated icon of the silent cinema
2008-10-26 - Harry langdon, to say the least, an underrated silent film star like Harold Lloyd had been, is thrown into present-day classic film afficionados through a number of films long lost and just revived.

Prior to this product's availability, I had understood only by the book that Langdon was a contemporary of Chaplin and Keaton who neared these legendary stars in popularity and I could see myself what I had heard of him was absolutely true after enjoying this DVD set.

Langdon, in every movie included, plays an adorable childish and naive persona.

Each disc is filled with valuable shots and some interesting audio content that in my opinion perfectly serve as an educational materials for classic movie buffs.

On the other hand,I must confess that audio commentaries provided by film experts have poor audio quality resulting in my failure to learn facts and tips(This is principally why I only give 4 stars to evaluate.)

This box also includes some talkies as well and they themselves demonstrate Langdon's competence as a talking actor.



GREAT SILENT COMEDY PACKAGE!
2008-09-08 - For anyone who loves silent films & comedy, sound or silent, must see this package. It is so sad how a star of this magnitude is overlooked & cut very short. Langdon is this example. Even Harold Lloyd tried helping his career, so he had some great pals helping him.In the DVD it is said that Chaplin had one star that intimidated him;it was Langdon. That's how strong a star he was.
For Langdson afficionados, I was impressed of films I've tried to see for 40 years but was never recovered, here in this package INCLUDING an 'infomercial' for GOODRICH tires that was never put in his filmography till now. The commentaries were excellent,except for one who got so technical about film stock that it was boring(HIS FIRST FLAME).
At least his son, Harry Langdon, the famous LA photographer is doing well. Too bad that they didn't interview for this package BUT highly recommended for ANY comedy fans to check the evolution of great comedians. Thanks Harry!!!