{"id":23642,"date":"2012-02-02T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T00:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=23642"},"modified":"2020-12-27T19:42:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T02:42:46","slug":"strong-man-the-1926","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=23642","title":{"rendered":"Strong Man, The (1926)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Once there was a plain little girl who dared to love a brave, handsome soldier. But when he wrote that he was coming to America, she stopped writing and hid &#8212; for she had never told him she was blind.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Poster-216x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"216\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Poster-216x300.jpg 216w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Poster-92x128.jpg 92w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 216px) 100vw, 216px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter the end of World War I, a Belgian soldier (Harry Langdon) captured by a German enemy (Arthur Thalasso) is brought to America to perform as a sidekick in Thalasso&#8217;s strong man circus act. Once there, he seeks out a beautiful woman (Priscilla Bonner) who was once his penpal, not realizing she&#8217;s kept away from him because she&#8217;s blind.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blindness<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Frank Capra Films<<\/li>\n<li>Harry Langdon Films<\/li>\n<li>Immigrants and Immigration<\/li>\n<li>Morality Police<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAlthough he&#8217;s less well-known than Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, baby-faced Harry Langdon is considered one of the key players from the silent comedy era. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/person\/108371%7C66916\/Harry-Langdon\/#biography\">TCM<\/a> provides the following overview of his screen persona: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;His childlike face covered by traditional pantomime white make-up, he wore a tightly buttoned jacket as though he were a boy who had outgrown it. Juvenile in appearance, he played the bewildered, clumsy, wide-eyed simpleton out of step with the behavior of normal adults, eerily baffled by erotic situations and naively trusting in the world&#8217;s goodness.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>The Strong Man<\/em> (also notable as Frank Capra&#8217;s feature-length directorial debut) is cited by many as Langdon&#8217;s best film, and it is indeed an enjoyable affair. The most amusing sequence occurs just after Langdon&#8217;s character has arrived in America, as he&#8217;s looking for his long-lost penpal (&#8220;Mary Brown&#8221;) and meets up with a con-artist (Gertrude Astor) who has slipped a wad of money into his pants to elude the police. Astor tells the naive Langdon she&#8217;s &#8220;Little Mary&#8221;, and the two head off (in wonderfully forthright pre-Code manner) to her apartment. Their perfectly timed slapstick interactions together &#8212; as Astor does whatever it takes to try to slip the cash out of Langdon&#8217;s pants, and Langdon misinterprets her actions as lustful pursuit &#8212; are simply classic. <\/p>\n<p>The remainder of the storyline is a tad schmaltzy (Capra&#8217;s &#8220;touch&#8221; is already evident), as Langdon romances the impossibly sweet Brown, and learns that Brown&#8217;s preacher-father (William V. Mong) is leading a gang of righteous townsfolk in a crusade against the evil bootleggers who have taken over their performing hall. But throughout this narrative, Langdon is given plenty of opportunities to show off his slapstick genius; fans won&#8217;t be disappointed in the slightest, and those just discovering his work will be glad for this fine introduction. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Harry Langdon at his inimitable best<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Langdon.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Langdon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23645\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Langdon.png 480w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Langdon-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Langdon-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The entire hilarious sequence with Astor<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Stairs.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Stairs.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-23644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Stairs.png 480w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Stairs-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Strong-Man-Stairs-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for its historical relevance as Langdon&#8217;s best film. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0017437\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=9C06E6DF1F3AEE3ABC4F53DFBF66838D639EDE\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.tvguide.com\/the-strong-man\/review\/132982\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-strong-man\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Once there was a plain little girl who dared to love a brave, handsome soldier. But when he wrote that he was coming to America, she stopped writing and hid &#8212; for she had never told him she was blind.&#8221; Synopsis: After the end of World War I, a Belgian soldier (Harry Langdon) captured by a German enemy (Arthur Thalasso) is brought to America to perform as a sidekick in Thalasso&#8217;s strong man circus act. Once there, he seeks out&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=23642\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23642"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60098,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions\/60098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}