"The Strong Man" *** 1\2 (out of ****)
Boy did I have a debate with myself about whether or not to include this film in my "Masterpiece Film Series". It is just about time for another entry. But the "Masterpiece Film Series" is suppose to be a collection of films which I admire most. Films which have inspired me. It is not a national consensus on which films are considered classics. Look at my last entry, Istvan Szabo's "Szerelmesfilm (Love Film)". It is not a popular film, perhaps best known to film historians and those who study Hungarian cinema. But it is a movie which has meant a lot to me. I'm able to relate to many aspects of the film. It is meaningful to me. Other titles in the series such as "The Round-Up (Szegenylegenyek)" by Miklos Jancso and Zoltan Fabri's "Korhinta" are further examples of lesser known titles I've included. Of course I have also written about favorites like "The Godfather", "Casablanca", "Citizen Kane" and "Singin' in the Rain", films which surely rank among the greatest films American cinema has to offer. But "The Strong Man" doesn't inspire me. It is a good film but not one I immediately demand you see right away, though you should see it eventually.
"The Strong Man" (1926) was directed by Frank Capra. It was his second film as a director. When we think of Frank Capra, titles such as "It's A Wonderful Life", "It Happened One Night", "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town" and "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" pop into our heads. What some readers may not know is Capra started off as a gag writer working for comedy producers Hal Roach and Mack Sennett. With Roach he wrote a Will Rogers comedy, "Jubilo, Jr." and with Sennett he worked with the star of "The Strong Man", Harry Langdon.
It is said, by Capra himself, that the two men did not get along. In Capra's autobiography, which many have refuted as reliable, Capra insist that Langdon didn't understand his character. He wanted to add character traits which didn't belong. It has been suggested Langdon wanted his character, the man-child, to be more like Chaplin. Though there are examples that Langdon also wanted to add dark humor, watch "Long Pants", also directed by Capra and "The Chaser". These elements don't belong in a Langdon movie. If the Langdon character was an innocent man-child, having murder on his mind (he wants to kill his bride-to-be on their wedding day in "Long Pants") doesn't gel with the character. Langdon must have thought the contradiction was funny but it becomes unsettling at best.
Capra worked with Langdon on some of his two reelers as a writer. Their work together includes "All Night Long", "Boobs in the Wood", "Plain Clothes", "Saturday Afternoon", "Soldier Man" and "Fiddlesticks", all of which can be seen on the Facets DVD collection called "Lost & Found: The Harry Langdon Collection". By the time Capra started writing for Langdon his character had been established. This, Langdon devotees, suggest is reason enough to refute Capra's claims that he helped mold the character. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the shorts Capra worked on. "All Night Long" and "Saturday Afternoon" may be the best of the pack.
In "The Strong Man", considered to be Langdon's best film, he plays a Belgian soldier during World War 1, Paul Bergot. He has been corresponding with an American girl, Mary Brown (Priscilla Bonner, who also appeared in "Long Pants" and with Clara Bow in "It"). In one of her letters she writes to Paul of her love for him. This inspires Langdon as he dreams one day of meeting her, but first, he has to make it through the war.
The WW1 set-up is similar to the 3 reeler Langon and Capra also worked on "The Soldier Man" (1926). In that short Langdon plays a soldier who doesn't realize the war is over and still guards the trenches. But in "The Strong Man" events are taken a bit further, Paul is taken prisoner by, what I suppose is a German soldier (Arthur Thalasso), after trying to fight him off with a slingshot full of graham crackers and onions. But when the war ends, the two become friends and they both travel to America. The German soldier goes by the name "Zandow the Great" he is a travelling strong man and Paul is his assistant. While in America, Paul hopes to meet Mary Brown.
Many people simply do not like the Langdon character. Several viewers complain that the character is either creepy, a grown man who acts like a child, or that he doesn't do anything. He merely stands there with a blank expression on his face. I disagree with these remarks. In "The Strong Man" we get a typical Langdon moment.
As Paul searches for Mary, he has a photo of her, he goes up to random women who resemble the photo and asks them if they are Mary Brown. One woman takes great offense to Paul approaching her and starts to verbally assault him. A crowd of women gather. As the woman walks away the crowd remains. Paul just stands there with an embarrassed expression on his face. He waves hello to the ladies trying to brush the incident aside. It doesn't work. Like a child he is helpless. He doesn't know what the correct response is after such an incident. Does he merely walk away and pretend nothing happen or does he worry about saving face and explain to the crowd what transpired?
In the hands of another comedian they may have gone for a wild gesture. Perhaps do a double-take and run away. If it was Chaplin, he may have done a small balletic dance and scattered off. But while most people feel Langdon is doing nothing he is actually creating tension. Surely others must have, at one time in their life, been placed in a situation where you didn't know how to respond. What do you do? Most likely you just stood there and hoped everyone would forget what just happened.
As the plot goes on a crook (Gertrude Astor) is being tailed by a policeman for some stolen money. Without Paul realizing it, she sticks the money in his pocket before the cop grabs her. Now the trick is to get the money out of Paul's pocket. She was one of the women in the crowd and knows Paul is looking for Mary Brown, she pretends to be Mary. After several attempts to get the money out of his pocket she suggest they go to her apartment. She becomes fed up trying to be subtle and starts to attack Paul, going for his jacket. This scene reminds me of a moment in the Laurel & Hardy comedy "Way Out West" where the boys mistakenly give a deed to a gold mine to the wrong woman (whose name also happens to be Mary). Once they realize what they have done they try to get it back, and they do briefly. Laurel sticks it down his shirt but that doesn't stop the woman from trying to get it out causing Laurel to go into fits of laughter as it tickles him.
"The Strong Man" soon moves on to another situation. We now find ourselves in a small town which was once peaceful but gangsters, headed by Mike Devitt (Robert McKim) have taken over the town bringing risque nightclub acts and liquor to the town. Some of the citizens gather behind the preacher Joe Brown (William V. Mong) and his daughter Mary. It just so happens Mike has booked Zandow for his club.
We learn Mary is the girl that wrote to Paul but stopped writing to him when she found out he was coming to America. There was something Mary never told Paul about herself. She is blind. I'm willing to bet a shiny new nickle Chaplin saw this movie and saw the possibilities of such a situation and used it for his masterpiece "City Lights". "The Strong Man" doesn't go into all the dramatic possibilities the situation could provoke. It keeps things as a comedy. No room for pathos here.
As the film goes on it now becomes a matter of will the town turn around and go back to its old ways. Will the preacher or someone else force out the gangsters.
Harry Langdon appeared in, I believe eight movies. Seven of them were silent and he directed four of them. I have not seen all eight. One of his comedies "Heart Trouble" (1928) is considered lost. His sole talking feature film, which he directed "Wise Guys" (1936) is out of print and extremely rare. I have seen six of his movies; "His First Flame", "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp", "Long Pants", "Three's A Crowd", "The Chaser" and of course this film. The problem I see with these movies is many times Langdon strays away from the plot for a comedic sequence which adds nothing to the plot. In small doses I could handle this. But Langdon keeps these gags running way past their expiration date. We see this in "The Chaser" and "Long Pants" as well. Here the situation involves Paul travelling to the town in the back of a wagon with other passengers. He has a cold and is starting to annoy the others. This goes on for over five minutes. What this does is break the flow of the picture. As I say in small doses this would be fine. Chaplin does this in "The Gold Rush" as well. Lots of silent comedians did this. I understand. But Langdon does it so often and for such a long length of time.
There is another thing I find distracting about the movie. And this just very well may be the oddest complaint I've ever written. The film has been put on DVD by Kino with a new musical score by Eric Beheim and the Palace Hall Music Orchestra. The score is so beautiful at times I paid more attention to it than to Harry. Songs include old time standards such as "Mary" (used as the film's theme song), "Sheik of Araby", "Aint We Got Fun" and "Second Hand Rose". Because this is a movie blog I don't get the chance to discuss my love of music. Besides enjoying the films of this era I'm also a big fan of the music too, people like Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman and Bix Beiderbecke.
"The Strong Man" is probably Langdon's best film. As I said Capra and Langdon would work together again on "Long Pants", which would be their final film before Harry fired him. Whatever their creative differences were things gel together nicely here. The film has its flaws but it is probably the most pure pleasure I've had watching a Langdon movie. It is a shame he is forgotten now, he has earned the nickname, "the forgotten clown". As I said in my review for his "Three's A Crowd" while he is no Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd he doesn't deserve to be dismissed by audiences.
I'd also like to say something about Kino. I've been paying a lot of attention to them recently. I have become very impressed with their catalogue. I never gave them much thought before but they put out a good line. "The Strong Man" is beautifully restored, no scratches or anything
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