Topic: The Strong Man (1926) - Harry Langdon

[Paul Pain]

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017437/

THE STRONG MAN is an all-time classic.  Watch this one and be amazed by the combined talents of Harry Langdon and Frank Capra.  Words cannot do the justice that viewing this epic film provides.

Like TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP, Langdon's THE STRONG MAN is a series of connected vignettes that tell a complete story: the first part shows Harry as a Belgian soldier in World War I; the second shows his arrival in America; the third is his experience with a vamp; the fourth is the epic scene in the passenger van; and the fifth shows him uprooting corruption in small-town America.

This plot plays perfectly into Langdon's strengths, and you can see throughout the film which parts are made by Langdon's acting talent, Capra's directional talent, and the talent of the writers.  Capra fanboys claim Capra made Langdon; the Chaplin fanboys claim Langdon ripped him off; the Keaton fanboys claim Harry's aloofness is stolen from Buster.  The bad news for these folks is that Harry Langdon was significantly older than those others, and his persona dates back to Vaudeville in the 1900s; that is, Harry's character was actually around first even though he reached the film screen last of all.  Reviewing Harry's films in order like this reveals this consistency of character.

Now, let's see Capra's prowess... His directional eye plays in two ways: first the timing of events and second in the camera angles.  That brawl scene in the souse hall and the build up to it are cinematographic genius.  Langdon drives the scene, but the direction shows us what we see and thus leads us to understand what Langdon is thinking.  This chaos of showing drunken carousing, arrogant insolence, pettiness, greed, and other vices interspersed with Langdon's reactions builds up to the great battle in which Langdon proves to be a "strong man" in a different way.  This is just one example though.

Harry's genius especially shines in the vamp scene and the limburger scene.  Cecil B. DeMille could have directed this, and it still would have been hilarious.  All it takes is Harry simultaneously under-reacting and over-reacting to an emotionally charged situation.  He just has to panic and run around like a chicken with its head cut off to generate laughs.  He also does well with these slow-paced sequences like the limburger scene in which something must slowly work through a series of laughs to generate an explosion, like Harry being thrown off the bus only to roll down the mountain and land... in the bus.

The plot is in some regards a rip-off of Chaplin's EASY STREET, in the vamp scene a ripoff of THE HANSOM CABMAN, but in others unique.  Like Chaplin's epic, an area is brought down by crime and corruption.  Here, however, we have established scenario in which the hero resolves the problem by actually eliminating the problem.  In EASY STREET, a deliberate battle leads to the resolution, while here it's by chance.  The vignettes leading up to it establish our sympathies for Langdon as Paul Bergot and Priscilla Bonner as Mary Brown, whereas EASY STREET just sees a corrupt character step in and sweep up with no real clarity.

Not only these things are true, but also true is that the cast is great.  Everyone is at absolute perfection in this one, and Harry is with solid, if not themselves legendary, figures.  A true masterpiece is delivered to us as a result.

[metaldams]

Just finished watching this to get a fresh viewing and took a ton of notes.  Don’t have time to do a review now, which will come either tonight or tomorrow, but I think this may have been my most enjoyable viewing - and that’s saying something.

[metaldams]

      We’re onto what is probably Harry Langdon’s most famous film, the 1926 Frank Capra directed feature, THE STRONG MAN.  I’ve always enjoyed this film but I think even more so this current viewing.  I really appreciated how well crafted all the comedy scenes are and even the drama works.  This is a seventy five minute film and the first half hour is comedy.  Then we get some eight or nine minute period where it’s straight drama.  If this were an Abbott and Costello or Marx Brothers film, that would be the kiss of death.  But here?  It works fine.  It sets up the story of the town struggles of the Christians versus the hedonists and the intro of Mary Brown.  The whole biblically inspired Walls of Jericho thing would also be incorporated in Capra’s IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, not to mention The Three Stooges ROCKIN’ THRU THE ROCKIES. All of this stuff gets integrated well into the finale, so the well placed bit of drama and story is worth it here.

      However, for all the story, Langdon is the star here.  Langdon being separate and different from the rest of the world - a theme we’ve seen in several films to this point even extends to the battlefield.  You know, the place where men are usually together, even there we find Langdon alone.  He’s using a machine gun, a normal weapon for a soldier in a most unusual way - trying to shoot a tin can.  He’s hopeless at that task.  However, when he finally faces a real soldier, Harry succeeds using the mighty slingshot.  Just give him some hard tack and some onions to fling and Harry can win the war himself.  This is a character who has his own quirks and plays by his own rules, not by choice, but just because he’s different.  The battlefield is no exception.

      The business with Gertrude Astor is classic.  Just trying to get that roll of dollars she put in Langdon’s pocket leads to a very memorable scene.  She becomes so desperate she tries to get innocent and virginal Langdon into her apartment just as an excuse to get his jacket and the roll of bills.  After tricking Langdon into thinking she’s the Mary Brown he’s looking for, Langdon becomes mortified with this frozen look on his face as she smokes a cigarette and bares her ankles!  It’s 1926, folks, but she’s not the innocent Mary Brown he dreamt of.  The whole business of Gertrude pretending to faint so Harry has to take her upstairs - well first off, Harry is hesitant to do it.  Great camera set up to show distance between Harry and the fallen Gertrude.  This distance gives Harry a great chance to do his confused back and forth shuffle, completely appropriate here.  Harry taking Gertrude up the stairs is one of the great silent comedy gags, the topper being the extra layer added with the ladder.  Once in the room, Harry is Mr. Innocent while Gertrude is the aggressor. 

      That little bit of character development with Langdon is important to really make the next gag work.  I’m referring to Harry walking in on the naked model.  We know Harry is this innocent guy and the way the gag is telegraphed, we know he’s going to see this naked woman well before he actually does.  That innocent guy from moments before.  It’s the anticipation that’s so funny, the way the gag is delayed.  Even when in the room, he turns in the opposite direction of the model, needing to turn around to see her nude.  This gives an extra second of delay and when he finally does see her, the payoff is worth it.  He panics, falls backwards, tumbles down the same flight of stairs he carried Gertrude up and runs the Hell out of dodge.  Hysterical scene made perfect because of the gag and character build up.

      The cold scene is another favorite of mine.  Harry looks so pitiful and sad when sick, so fascinating to watch.  I love the slow way he puts the medicine up to his mouth punctuated with the little sneezes.  We also get the Limburger cheese gag accidentally substituting for vapor rub we see in ALL THE WORLD’S A STOOGE.  My favorite part in the scene, though, is the punch.  Harry has a fellow passenger he doesn’t get along with.  Langdon hesitates for a bit to punch the guy in typical Langdon fashion.  Once punched, the other passenger hits Langdon back in a millisecond.  Again, a nice subtle bit of business to show Langdon being different than the rest of the world.

      The Mary Brown relationship is fascinating.  First off, yes, she’s blind, which in and of itself predates CITY LIGHTS by five years.  That said, the relationship with the blind girl is handled differently in both films, so the comparison ends there.  What I find really fascinating is that this is the only female, first few Sennett shorts where Langdon wasn’t fully developed aside, where Langdon seems really comfortable.  I love the way he pantomimes his past story to her, which if you think about is is ridiculous because she’s blind.  More so for our benefit, yet he looks really comfortable with her telling his story.  It’s quite touching.

       The finale is another fine silent comedy scene.  The bit with Langdon walking over a crowd of people’s heads as they’re covered with a giant sheet is iconic in my brain.  I love the deception he has to display being the strong man - similar to Chaplin having to deceive an audience he’s a high wire person in THE CIRCUS.  Like the little dance he does when he runs out of ideas.  The cannon stuff is great and causes quite a spectacle.

      So yes, overall THE STRONG MAN is a really funny story with a lot of heart. An absolute must see for silent comedy fans.  I’m really looking forward to all of your opinions on the next few features!  Should be interesting.

[Umbrella Sam]

Really great job covering this one, guys, so much to the point that my review is probably mostly just going to be agreeing with your assessments. I’m not going to share my blog review because, much like with TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP, I feel it doesn’t really accurately reflect my views on the film anymore, given how much more I enjoy Langdon and the film now. Again, if I was still doing rankings, this would be a 10.

One point Paul pointed out that I really like is the comparison to EASY STREET. The idea of Harry inadvertently saving a town and earning their respect simply by just being Harry is perfect for him. It’s the same concept used in SOLDIER MAN, and was also later used to great effect in THE FIGHTING PARSON. There’s just such a mythical quality to Harry’s character, some sort of magic he just happens to possess. I don’t normally like to quote Capra in the context of Langdon given what he did to his reputation, but I think his idea of the world looking out for Harry is correct, and a really good way to look at it. Such a fantastic setup, and they definitely handle the execution better than EASY STREET, where it basically just feels like the same town pretending to be less corrupt. When I see the shot at the end with the kids roaming the streets in THE STRONG MAN, I truly believe that town is happy again, something I don’t entirely get in EASY STREET. I also agree with metaldams on the plot structure; if they had started with the plot and then done the Harry comedy sequences, I don’t think it would have worked as well. However, handling it the way they did, it actually does feel like it has a proper story flow; we’re being introduced to the town Harry is going to save, and we can infer that’s what will probably happen. If they had done it the opposite way, I would have assumed it was the wrong movie.

Another thing I agree on is Priscilla Bonner’s performance. In TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP, Joan Crawford’s character kind of just falls for Harry suddenly and the relationship is never really developed. I get why they did that, and I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing given how well that movie works, but Priscilla brings an extra dimension not really present even in the silent shorts. For one thing, her character already has a history with Harry, so them meeting and falling right away for each other does make sense. And there’s just something about the way she smiles and laughs at him that just seems right; it really feels like they’re actually meant for each other, which is not something I can really say for some of the other silent comedy features of that period. Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd could write good romances, but outside of maybe Lloyd and Mildred Davis, I just don’t feel quite as convinced that the relationships in the context of the story are as meaningful as the one between Langdon and Bonner here.

All that, and I haven’t even talked about the comedy. As expected, it’s fantastic. The bits with Gertrude Astor, which I pointed out in my initial review as standouts, are still great. I did note that I found it odd that Langdon had a photo of Mary and couldn’t really differentiate between the two, and, yeah, it still is a bit odd. But, again, it is a pretty bad quality photo and, given how I consider Langdon almost like a character from a different world, I think I could let that slide. After all, Astor even stops him before he can have a chance to review the photo, so they clearly tried to account for that. The stair bit is great, Langdon’s horrified reactions as he realizes who Gertrude Astor truly is are fantastic…just a solid set of scenes right there.

In my original review, I pointed out that I didn’t like the bus scene, but now I can safely say I do. Sure, it is him annoying random people, but…hey, I wouldn’t want to sympathize with a guy who threatens to beat up a sick man. Once again, just some fantastic, slow reactions from Langdon as he’s starting to regain his smell thanks to the smelly cheese.

The climax may very well be one of my favorite climaxes in any film. Metaldams compares “the strong man” act to THE CIRCUS; I actually much prefer this to the high wire act in THE CIRCUS. There’s so much more variety to it, whereas the Chaplin one kind of feels a bit drawn out at times. I absolutely love that little “ta-da” thing Langdon does with his hands every now and then when he just doesn’t know what to do. And then it descends into this fantastic bar fight, with Langdon swinging around in the air, taking out the bad guys. I just noticed this too, but him firing the cannon near the end is a nice complement to the beginning when he’s failing to hit the can with the machine gun; now he’s on a much larger scale and much more successful, a rare sign of growth for his character.

Finally, one thing I’ll compare to is something I remember metaldams talking about in one of our previous Langdon discussions (don’t remember which one). He mentioned that he could hear Langdon’s distinctive voice in certain scenes despite it being a silent film. I feel the same way. That part where he’s yelling at the baggage man for the benefit of Zandow…I can totally hear his actual voice in my head and think of it as fitting. Which leads me to a possible, controversial point I’m about to make: of all the major silent comedians, I think Langdon is the only one whose silent output could have very well been made with sound, and they would have played just as well. Even at Columbia, despite not all of the shorts being perfect, his voice did fit with the established personality he had come up with.

So, yeah, a fantastic movie, one I’ve grown to appreciate more over the years. I was all ready to make an argument for why this film should be included in the National Film Registry until I happily discovered that it actually is in the National Film Registry. A very solid effort, one I look forward to revisiting again and again in the future.

[Paul Pain]

HomokMarcos,

I wholeheartedly agree that Langdon's silent films would have been just as good as sound films.  I, too, can hear his voice during these pantomimes, and Langdon and Lloyd especially tend to have characters whose lips are speaking words appropriate to what we see.

[HomokHarcos]

I read a biography of Langdon, and what surprised me is that this movie was a pretty big hit, both commercially and financially. Variety even named it one of the best movies of the year. Harry was a big star at this point.

The story is a feel good one, and the theme of having the underdog triumph at the end is an argument I've heard for why this should be considered Frank Capra's artistic achievement. While there's no doubt for me that he may have had a role in that, I think Harry should certainly receive some of the credit as his performance is fantastic as usual.

My favorite comic piece is when Gertrude Astor is trying to pickpocket him. Harry is of course confused and scared by this. I think Harry had my favorite vamps of any silent comedian, and are always very memorable. I agree with Umbrella Sam about Priscilla Bonner's relationship with Harry. I think it actually works better than Chaplin in City Lights.

[metaldams]

I read a biography of Langdon, and what surprised me is that this movie was a pretty big hit, both commercially and financially. Variety even named it one of the best movies of the year. Harry was a big star at this point.

The story is a feel good one, and the theme of having the underdog triumph at the end is an argument I've heard for why this should be considered Frank Capra's artistic achievement. While there's no doubt for me that he may have had a role in that, I think Harry should certainly receive some of the credit as his performance is fantastic as usual.

My favorite comic piece is when Gertrude Astor is trying to pickpocket him. Harry is of course confused and scared by this. I think Harry had my favorite vamps of any silent comedian, and are always very memorable. I agree with Umbrella Sam about Priscilla Bonner's relationship with Harry. I think it actually works better than Chaplin in City Lights.

Some people obsess over the commercial fortunes of Langdon as far as judging his work, more so than other comedians.  As a counter, who here judges SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK over THE GENERAL?  But yes, THE STRONG MAN is definitely the commercial peak.

[Umbrella Sam]

I read a biography of Langdon, and what surprised me is that this movie was a pretty big hit, both commercially and financially. Variety even named it one of the best movies of the year. Harry was a big star at this point.

The story is a feel good one, and the theme of having the underdog triumph at the end is an argument I've heard for why this should be considered Frank Capra's artistic achievement. While there's no doubt for me that he may have had a role in that, I think Harry should certainly receive some of the credit as his performance is fantastic as usual.

My favorite comic piece is when Gertrude Astor is trying to pickpocket him. Harry is of course confused and scared by this. I think Harry had my favorite vamps of any silent comedian, and are always very memorable. I agree with Umbrella Sam about Priscilla Bonner's relationship with Harry. I think it actually works better than Chaplin in City Lights.

What really surprised me reading more about Langdon was the fact that TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP was a box office failure. For the longest time, I was under the impression that the first three First Nationals were box office hits and only the last three bombed. I guess we should be grateful that THE STRONG MAN got made at all and First National didn’t cut ties immediately after TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

I have never read you guys as more erudite and on point as you are here.  All of you.  Seriously, this has been a pleasure to read, and I've never seen the movie.  This is next level stuff, congratulations and thank you very much.

[metaldams]

I have never read you guys as more erudite and on point as you are here.  All of you.  Seriously, this has been a pleasure to read, and I've never seen the movie.  This is next level stuff, congratulations and thank you very much.

Thanks Big Chief, appreciate that.