Saturday Afternoon (1926)
** (out of 4)
Fair 28-minute short has Harry Langdon playing Harry Higgins, a weak little man who is constantly being pushed around by his wife (Alice Ward) who believes the only place for a man is under her thumb. A buddy (Vernon Dent) talks Harry into coming out with him and a couple girls but it doesn't take long for everything to go wrong. Saturday AFTERNOON was co-written by Frank Capra but none of the magic he's known for managed to make its way onto the actual film. Overall this is a fairly amusing film that will at least keep you entertained from start to finish but there's still no question that it runs on way too long and for a comedy there just aren't enough laughs. In fact, I'd say after the opening sequence there aren't any laughs that follow and this here is certainly something that kills the film. I mean, how can you have a comedy with no laughs and it still work? I thought the early sequence of Langdon having to call home to the wife because he's going to be two-minutes late was pretty funny. After this we basically get scenes where not much is going on except for Langdon's sad face looking at the camera. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Langdon fan as I'm usually hit and miss so perhaps those who love him will find more entertainment here than I did.
** (out of 4)
Fair 28-minute short has Harry Langdon playing Harry Higgins, a weak little man who is constantly being pushed around by his wife (Alice Ward) who believes the only place for a man is under her thumb. A buddy (Vernon Dent) talks Harry into coming out with him and a couple girls but it doesn't take long for everything to go wrong. Saturday AFTERNOON was co-written by Frank Capra but none of the magic he's known for managed to make its way onto the actual film. Overall this is a fairly amusing film that will at least keep you entertained from start to finish but there's still no question that it runs on way too long and for a comedy there just aren't enough laughs. In fact, I'd say after the opening sequence there aren't any laughs that follow and this here is certainly something that kills the film. I mean, how can you have a comedy with no laughs and it still work? I thought the early sequence of Langdon having to call home to the wife because he's going to be two-minutes late was pretty funny. After this we basically get scenes where not much is going on except for Langdon's sad face looking at the camera. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Langdon fan as I'm usually hit and miss so perhaps those who love him will find more entertainment here than I did.