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5.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Head Guy remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Okay, so 'The Head Guy.' It’s a short one, clocking in at around twenty minutes, give or take. You know, one of those old Two-Reelers that played before the main feature. If you’re into that kind of deep-dive into early comedy, this might be a little treat. Otherwise, it’s probably a hard pass. Don’t expect anything too deep here. This is pure, unadulterated fluff.
Harry, played by the always-beleaguered Edgar Kennedy, gets this sudden promotion to temporary stationmaster. And you can just see the gears grinding in his head. He's trying so hard to be important. Bless his heart.
His first big challenge? Dealing with the telegrams. There’s a scene where he’s trying to decipher a message, holding it up, squinting. It’s a very simple bit, but Kennedy’s face just sells it. He's got that wonderful exasperated look down pat. 😮💨
The whole thing revolves around this town, which feels like it has maybe five people living in it. And they all seem to have nothing better to do than hang out at the train station. It’s charming, in a very low-budget, stage-play kind of way.
There’s a bit with a woman, Thelma Todd, trying to buy a ticket, and Harry’s just completely out of his depth. He fumbles the money, mixes up the tickets. It’s not groundbreaking comedy, but it makes you grin. She has this way of looking at him, a mix of amusement and "is this guy for real?" It's great.
Harry Langdon even pops up for a bit! His character is just there, sort of observing the chaos. He has this one reaction shot, where he just stares blankly as Kennedy messes something up, and it’s perfect. He doesn’t say a word, just that classic, innocent Langdon stare. Made me laugh out loud. 😂
The plot, if you can even call it that, gets tangled up with a few romantic misunderstandings. Someone thinks someone else is seeing someone, and a lot of whispering goes on. It’s all very lighthearted, nothing to stress about.
What really sticks out are the little physical gags. Like when Harry tries to answer the phone and nearly trips over his own feet. Or when he slams a door and it rattles like the whole set is about to collapse. That felt very real for a film from that era.
The pacing is… well, it’s an old short. It starts, some things happen, it ends. No real build-up, no big climax. Just a series of escalating minor inconveniences for poor Harry. And he handles them all with a certain clumsy grace.
I mean, there’s no deep message here. No profound exploration of anything. It’s just a snapshot of a simpler time, when a guy trying to do a new job badly was enough for a laugh. And sometimes, that's all you need.
One odd detail: the train itself. When it pulls into the station, it looks like a toy. The steam is clearly fake, and the sound is… well, it’s sound design from the early 30s. It’s part of the charm, honestly. You just have to lean into it.
The women in the cast, like Iris Nicholson and Judith Barrett, are mostly there to look pretty and react to Harry’s blunders. They do it well enough. Nobody is trying to steal the show from Kennedy, which is probably a smart move. He's the main attraction for this kind of short.
It's not going to change your life. It won't win any awards. But if you’ve got a spare twenty minutes and you want to see Edgar Kennedy do his thing, The Head Guy is a perfectly fine diversion. A nice little peek into a bygone era of movie-making.
IMDb 6.3
1925
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