He Who Gets Slapped

After my mixed response to THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923), I decided to augment my current Silent-film schedule with a mini-Lon Chaney marathon. Others I intend to watch in the coming days are THE MONSTER (1925), THE BLACK BIRD (1926), MR. WU (1927) and WHERE EAST IS EAST (1929). All of these I have recorded off Cable TV, and so far all have received a single viewing.

So, let's start with HE WHO GETS SLAPPED and THE UNKNOWN which, incidentally, have many things in common. They are both set in a circus and involve love triangles which end in tragedy. However, the style adopted by the two films' directors, Victor Sjostrom and Tod Browning respectively, is completely different – and this goes for the characters Chaney plays, too.

I had been instantly impressed by HE WHO GETS SLAPPED, and a second viewing only consolidates my high opinion of it. The film - MGM's very first production, incidentally – was considered highbrow material at the time, not only because it was helmed by a foreigner but also due to the unusually intricate nature of the plot (complete with a healthy dose of symbolism) and a clear emphasis on composition and lighting throughout (one amazing shot has Chaney alone in the circus arena when the lights are being turned off for the night, with the screen entirely black except for Chaney's painted face!).

Chaney is superb as the humiliated scientist-turned-clown (drawing an interesting parallel to Emil Jannings in two Expressionist masterworks, Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH [1924] and Von Sternberg's THE BLUE ANGEL [1930]). His whole life's work is stolen from him and he decides to go into self-willed exile (an influence perhaps on Chaney's future characterization as Erik, the 'Phantom' of the Paris Opera House?) at a circus. Chaney's reaction shots in this film are nothing short of sensational. The sheer masochism in evidence here (a distinctly un-American touch) must not have gone down well with the studio, to say nothing of the gruesome ending when he finally wreaks his revenge. I cannot say for sure, but most of what Chaney was to accomplish in his famed collaboration with Tod Browning, on films like THE UNHOLY THREE (1925) and THE UNKNOWN, is already evident in this film - except that the actor here is less given to uncanny make-up design (which might have overshadowed his acting abilities at times), while the handling is altogether more sophisticated and artful!

Only the middle section drags a bit, as it stresses the budding relationship between Norma Shearer and John Gilbert (though this is contrasted with her father's scheming with a lecherous Baron who, incidentally, turns out to be Chaney's deadly enemy!), but the rest is riveting stuff – this film deserves to be better known, and I long for the day Warners gets to release a Box Set of Lon Chaney classics on DVD!!

I saw this film for the first time on TCM and I have to tell you, no movie has hooked me in like this for the longest time! I furthered my appreciation for Lon Chaney, the first TRUE film actor their was in my opinion. This was the first film made by MGM and it was the best choice they could have made.

The film concerns a scientist/inventor played by Chaney whose discoveries are claimed by someone else, a baron. He is publicly humiliated but sees an oppurtunity and becomes a circus clown as a result of it. He falls in love with one of the bareback riders at the circus but, as is common with a lot of his films, the girl loves someone else. One night, the baron who ruined his life comes to the circus and he see's his opportunity for revenge. The overall theme and/or message of this movie is "he who gets the last laugh, laughs last!"

The film is marveously done from begining to end. Chaney is brilliant as always but his performance is subtle at saddening and vicious at times, you actually root for him!

Bravo!

Stepping into the role created on Broadway by Richard Bennett, Lon Chaney stars in this film as a once famous scientist who chose the life of a circus clown out of shame.

At least now I know where the business with James Stewart in The Greatest Show on Earth came from. But whereas Stewart was guilty of a mercy killing, Chaney leaves because he's found that his wife's been two timing him with a titled nobleman.

Years later Chaney is a famous attraction at the circus in Paris and he's falling big time for young Norma Shearer who is a bareback rider and also a member of the nobility who has fallen on hard times. She can't see Chaney no way, no how. She's got her eyes on trapeze artist John Gilbert.

But wouldn't you know it, Marc McDermott that self same cad who took Chaney's wife from him has designs on Shearer. And her dad Tully Marshall who's a lecherous old reprobate himself wants to get back in the chips himself so he's quite willing to pawn off Shearer to the old rake.

Naturally of course Chaney has his plans for the whole lot of them and it's settled in a gruesome manner for the silent screen. The film is highly melodramatic and would be considered camp today, but for the subtle performance of Chaney. For the silent screen, with a minimum of histrionics, Chaney does get you to feel a lot of empathy for the character.

It's one of that fine collection of characters Chaney created when the screen didn't speak and should be seen.

80 years is a loooooong time. I can't believe MGM's really been around that long. But when it came to making this picture, they were off to a great start. Getting Lon Chaney from Universal was a very wise choice (it'd be hard to see someone else in the part he played), the supporting cast which included Norma Shearer (future Best Actress Oscar winner), John Gilbert (future star of "The Big Parade" (1925) and "Queen Christina" (1933)), as well as notable character actors Tully Marshall and Ford Sterling, it is nothing short of splendid. Lon Chaney's deep, gripping facial expressions, especially in his scenes with rival Baron Regnard (played by Marc McDermott) are the most expressive I've ever seen on film. TCM aired a print with a synchronized music & effects track (which sounds as if it was recorded maybe in the 1960's or 1970's) on Oct. 30th, 2003, and I was so enthralled with how it looked that I taped it and now have it in my collection. If you ever happen to come accross this movie, watch it! You will not be dissapointed. Because MGM means great movies, doesn't it?

Bravo to Turner Classic Movies for making available, once again, the cinematic art of one of the best actors ever, Lon Chaney. As Andreyev's disappointed scientist turned circus clown, Paul Beaumont, Chaney makes the most of every scene he's in, and never disappoints. We feel the agony of his hopeless love for the lovely bareback rider Consuelo, as well as the seething anger toward the man who ruined his life, the despicable Baron Renard. It's a far better performance, in my opinion, than his similar role four years later in "Laugh, Clown, Laugh," much more understated and, therefore, much more involving.

But that's not to take away from the other performances, by any means. Norma Shearer, in her first major role as Consuelo, is suitably attractive and gives a good performance, but to see her at her best is to see such '30's classics as "A Free Soul" and especially "Marie Antoinette." There, she was a mature actress; here, she was a promising newcomer. John Gilbert already shows that he had the goods to become one of the top leading men of the '20's, managing to convey virility even in multicolored tights. And Marc McDermott and old veteran Tully Marshall make two of the best silent villains ever as the aforementioned Baron and as Consuelo's father, an impoverished nobleman ready to force his daughter into marrying the Baron just to improve his fortunes, respectively. You're genuinely glad, at an almost visceral level, when they wind up getting what they deserve in the end.

I don't know who composed the music score used in the print seen on TCM, but it's excellent and really compliments the action.

Victor Seastrom's moody direction is perfect, especially his use of a globe-spinning clown to serve as sort of a Greek chorus at various points in the film.

In short, this is a true silent classic, silent film making at its' best, and well worth seeing.