Cast:
Harry Langdon (Paul Bergot), Priscilla Bonner (Mary Brown), Gertrude Astor (Lily of Broadway), William V. Mong (Holy Joe), Robert McKim (Mike McDevitt), and Arthur Thalasso (Zandow the Great) Directed by Frank Capra (#102 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, #319 - It's a Wonderful Life, #456 - It Happened One Night, and #1356 - Meet John Doe)
Review:
"If there is any shortcut to fame and fortune in motion pictures, it is as a gag man. Here you may jump to the top overnight, after the short probationary period, which is long enough to show you whether you have the stuff that makes gag men." - Frank Capra
"Comedy is a satire of Tragedy...deliciously comic moments, on the outside, are full of sad significance for those who realize the sinister characterization of the situation.” - Harry Langdon
In 1926, Frank Capra made his feature film debut as a director. But I'm sure when you think about Capra, you think first of those iconic films he did in the sound era such as It's A Wonderful Life (1944). But the story of Capra is one with plenty of interesting turns beyond just being a television staple every year. The son of Roman Catholics who left Italy for America when he was five, Capra studied chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology but found himself having to do quick little jobs to get by during and after college, one of which involved selling books. He entered the film industry because when a film studio opened up in San Francisco, he implied he had "film experience" that got him into the door of directing various little films and getting himself other jobs, and one of those was as slapstick comedy director for the famed Mack Sennett, which he did in two separate stints in 1918 and 1924, with other stints in between including Hal Roach's Our Gang. Sennett, who had his own film stage and studio with Keystone, was once known as "King of Hollywood's Fun Factory", and various people appeared in Sennett productions that ranged from Harold Lloyd to Gloria Swanson (of course, the apparent talents of the actor vs. influence of Sennett is an interesting point to raise). Capra would direct his first film (12 minutes) with the independent Fireside Productions in 1922 with Fultah Fisher's Boarding House, which he also wrote, casted and edited based on the poem "The Ballad of Fisher's Boarding-House" by Rudyard Kipling. And then of course there is Harry Langdon. The Strong Man is one of two films that he made as star and producer with Capra, with the other being Long Pants (1927). In 1925, Langdon had signed a deal with First National Pictures that let his corporation (named after him) have full creative control to produce movies.
Admittedly, Harry Langdon was basically forgotten by me for a long time when it comes to mentioning the big names of the silent comedy era. Remember that his first feature was Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1925), which was a success for the man once referred to as "The Little Elf". But Harry Edwards did not return to direct the next Langdon feature due to going overbudget. Online spelunking reveals several writers, with Arthur Ripley credited for the story while having Hal Conklin and Robert Eddy being labeled as "adaptors" and Reed Heustis for titles to go along with other writers with Tay Garnett, Clarence Hennecke, James Langdon, and Tim Whelan. One thing I can say about Langdon is that breaking into film when one is nearing their forties is quite remarkable. The Iowa native had honed his craft within medicine shows, vaudeville, and stock performances, so he obviously had an in-route to being a film presence that could both differ from the usual expectations that had come from being in league with Mack Sennett for the short films (i.e. Langdon was not a frantic comic) and the comic presences of the time that rivaled him in stature (to put it in perspective, in a film essay for 1949, Langdon was thought to be one of the four kings of silent comedy but the first biography of Langdon did not come out until 1982). All of this makes for saying he was a worthy pantomimist that makes for a useful team with his director in Capra (who knows who came up with a lead character being a Belgian emigrant) that does within careful pacing for a generally sweet feature. It is warmly funny in a way that feels entirely his own within an episodic structure (roughly five of them) with a handful of highlights, whether that involves him asking around just who "Mary Brown" is on every corner to the point where he falls under the situation with a vamp that leads to an amusing chase in a big house. Of course, the sequence involving him trying to help with a cold while on a packed trip that leads to him picking the wrong batch to rub over his chest (cheese!) is likely the most amusing sequence in execution that rewards timing. While Bonner does not have as much screentime as one might think about when it comes to doing a silent comedy with a "love interest", she does fine with the material presented here, with the sequence of the two meeting each other in town and sharing just who they've been since "The War" being a sweet little moment in understanding. By the time the film gets to its climax (for a film that runs at 75 minutes) involving a big coat and a cannon, the movie has shown the talents of its star within clownish rhythm that will please fans of silent comedy in what they see from one of the big names that came across at the right time for it.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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