He Who Gets Slapped

Based on a play from Russian author Leonid Andreyev, 'He Who Gets Slapped' has some very dark themes - humiliation, adultery, betrayal, exploitation, and sadistic glee at someone else's expense. Lon Chaney stars as a scientist who early on suffers in two ways: his discoveries are stolen by his benefactor (Marc McDermott), and then his wife (Ruth King) tells him she's leaving him for the same scoundrel. Humiliated in public and private by being slapped and laughed at, he retreats from his life and takes up a career as a clown. His act? Being slapped and abused by 60 other clowns, much to the merriment of the audience. (Of course!)

It's a kind of ridiculous plot device to get him into this position, and then for his benefactor to cross paths with him five years later, but if you can suspend disbelief, you'll probably enjoy the film for its performances. You see some of the worst of human behavior shown in unflinching ways, and Chaney is the perfect guy for the part. He's fantastic, and to see him dressed up as a pathetic, bitter clown is something else. The film also includes Norma Shearer early in her career (just 22 years old); she plays a new performer to the circus. She begins having romantic feelings for her fellow horseman (John Gilbert), and there is a lovely scene of them out on a picnic, the charm of which helps lighten the tone of the movie. Shearer is so pretty that she also attracts Chaney (who we feel sorry for), and McDermott (who we hiss at). Love and self-sacrifice are the best of human behavior, and provide a counterbalance to the rest of the film.

Another aspect I found interesting was that it reminded me of a couple of Chaney's later films in the 1920's that I had seen before, both directed by Tod Browning. 'The Unknown' (1927) also takes place in a circus, and in one of its best scenes, features Chaney's horror and angst to being laughed at. 'Where East is East' (1929) also features 'murder by using a wild animal', though in that film, it was a gorilla, and here, it's a lion. It's interesting that these themes were recycled, and perhaps a testament to the power of their darkness.

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!!

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?

A celebrated circus clown, HE Who Gets Slapped, plots the punishment of two evil aristocrats.

Lon Chaney, the Silent Screen's master chameleon, adds another portrait to his gallery of pathetic grotesques. This time he plays a scientist who becomes a clown after his former life is destroyed by his adulterous wife and a faithless friend. A young woman provides him with someone to secretly adore, until her wicked father threatens to ruin her happiness. Chaney's face is an absolute wonder to watch as it registers pain, anguish, distress and unrequited passion, underlining the modern reassessment of him as one of cinema's greatest actors. Uninhibited in his circus costume & makeup, he provides no doubt but that he, under different circumstances, could have become a marvelous big top clown.

This was the first release of the new film company merger Metro-Goldwyn, thus making Chaney their first star, and was an important rung up the ladder for the two performers playing the young lovers. Norma Shearer & John Gilbert would soon be major movie celebrities--here they give good account of themselves as the circus' daredevil & bareback riders, and as Chaney's truest friends (both unaware of his love for Miss Shearer). In a film full of circus excitement, the director has given the young couple a moment of unexpected beauty: whilst on a picnic their innocent affections are noticed by a passing peasant, who gives the call of the cuckoo as the perfect grace note to their bucolic joy.

Marc McDermott as a brutal Baron and Tully Marshall as a dissolute Count make villains well worthy of the harshest retribution. Comic Ford Sterling plays one of Chaney's fellow clowns.

The Studio gave this silent film fine production values, while director Victor Sjöström added little embellishments of cinematic flair, dealing with scenes of mysterious clown figures representing fate, which enhance the film.