The Strong Man is generally considered THE Langdon film, but I
think that's because it's dramatically stronger and more unified-- which in some ways only makes it less suitable for the quizzical little comedian at the center of the story, who's really too small to carry such a big film. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp is more shapeless and to my mind is the quintessential Langdon comedy, especially since its high point lets him do his own distinctive variations on famous moments from two other silent comedians. A competitor in a cross-country marathon walk, Langdon winds up in the middle of nowhere, dangling from a fence over a cliff; where Harold Lloyd dangled over a busy city, the reaction of the crowd being used to whip up a comic frenzy, Langdon's childlike struggles occur in the most desolate, abandoned nowhere, a place where his body wouldn't even be found for 50 years. Later, sliding down the cliff, Langdon finds himself in the middle of an avalanche, much like Keaton in Seven Chances-- but where Keaton dodges boulders heroically, Langdon simply shuts his eyes and wishes his predicament away. From the wildly oversized mugging of the Keystone era we are now at the absolute extreme of comedy minimalism; Langdon is to slapstick what Malevich's White on White is to painting.
think that's because it's dramatically stronger and more unified-- which in some ways only makes it less suitable for the quizzical little comedian at the center of the story, who's really too small to carry such a big film. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp is more shapeless and to my mind is the quintessential Langdon comedy, especially since its high point lets him do his own distinctive variations on famous moments from two other silent comedians. A competitor in a cross-country marathon walk, Langdon winds up in the middle of nowhere, dangling from a fence over a cliff; where Harold Lloyd dangled over a busy city, the reaction of the crowd being used to whip up a comic frenzy, Langdon's childlike struggles occur in the most desolate, abandoned nowhere, a place where his body wouldn't even be found for 50 years. Later, sliding down the cliff, Langdon finds himself in the middle of an avalanche, much like Keaton in Seven Chances-- but where Keaton dodges boulders heroically, Langdon simply shuts his eyes and wishes his predicament away. From the wildly oversized mugging of the Keystone era we are now at the absolute extreme of comedy minimalism; Langdon is to slapstick what Malevich's White on White is to painting.