Frank Capra didn't care for the direction comedian Harry Langdon was steering his on-screen character. In March 1927's "Long Pants," Langdon decided to take a sharp turn reshaping his childlike persona. The actor saw an opportunity to take a few traits of his Harry Shelby, an innocent boy living with his parents, and create a dark side to him. Director Capra instinctively felt this was a wrong career move for Langdon and laid out his criticism in front of the actor. As filming progressed, the comedian's ego, with the press calling him the next Charlie Chaplin, was becoming more difficult to deal with, according to Capra in his biography detailing the events. Once the filming of "Long Pants" ended, Langdon decided to cut Capra's three-year working relationship and sent the director walking.
During "Long Pants'" production, Langdon mainly got what he wanted. Working alongside screenwriter Arthur Ripley, a future writer/director of dark 1940s film noirs, the comedian shaped the plot to give his character a devious dimension. His parents present him with a pair of long pants, signifying he's shedding his childhood clothes of shorts with high socks. Pushed to marry his childhood sweetheart Priscilla (Priscilla Bonner), Langdon is smitten with another woman, Bebe Blair (Alma Bennett), whom he happened to meet as he's riding his bicycle while she's stranded in her car with the chauffeur busy changing a flat tire. Alma, girlfriend of a mob figure, makes kissy with the pesky comedian to send him on his merry way. The morning of his wedding to Priscilla, Langdon decides to kill his bride-to-be with a revolver and pursue Alma. Because of several roadblocks, he's not able to murder her. The wedding is called off since all he can think of is Alma. He discovers she's in jail and springs her from there. Later, Langdon's sucked into the mob world where he finds himself in a cross fire shooting between an admirer of Alma's and another mobster.
The public wasn't buying the dark comedy of "Long Pants," resulting in a big-time flop for Langdon and The First National Pictures studio. Modern critic Maria Schneider wrote the picture "was a peculiar change of pace for Langdon, and possibly an attempt to poke fun at his baby-faced image by casting him as a would-be lady-killer."
During "Long Pants'" production, Langdon mainly got what he wanted. Working alongside screenwriter Arthur Ripley, a future writer/director of dark 1940s film noirs, the comedian shaped the plot to give his character a devious dimension. His parents present him with a pair of long pants, signifying he's shedding his childhood clothes of shorts with high socks. Pushed to marry his childhood sweetheart Priscilla (Priscilla Bonner), Langdon is smitten with another woman, Bebe Blair (Alma Bennett), whom he happened to meet as he's riding his bicycle while she's stranded in her car with the chauffeur busy changing a flat tire. Alma, girlfriend of a mob figure, makes kissy with the pesky comedian to send him on his merry way. The morning of his wedding to Priscilla, Langdon decides to kill his bride-to-be with a revolver and pursue Alma. Because of several roadblocks, he's not able to murder her. The wedding is called off since all he can think of is Alma. He discovers she's in jail and springs her from there. Later, Langdon's sucked into the mob world where he finds himself in a cross fire shooting between an admirer of Alma's and another mobster.
The public wasn't buying the dark comedy of "Long Pants," resulting in a big-time flop for Langdon and The First National Pictures studio. Modern critic Maria Schneider wrote the picture "was a peculiar change of pace for Langdon, and possibly an attempt to poke fun at his baby-faced image by casting him as a would-be lady-killer."