Silent Film Sources - Reviews

Adapted from Leonid Andreyev's Play as produced by The Theatre Guild, Inc. Translated by Gregory Zillboorg. 

Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation. Released through Metro-Goldwyn Distributing Corporation. Controlled by LOEW'S Incorporated. 

Adapted for the screen by Carey Wilson and Victor Seastrom.  

Directed by Victor Seastrom. 

Setting by Cedric Gibbons. Costumes by Sophie Wachner. Photography by Milton Moore. Film Editor, Hugh Wynn. 

Passed by the National Board of Review 

Opening title:  In the grim comedy of life, it has been wisely said that the last laugh is the best-- 

Chaney plays an impoverished scientist, and he and his wife are supported by a wealthy baron. His benefactor presents Chaney's work at "the Academy" as his own. When Chaney protests, the members laugh at him- "they laughed- laughed as if I were a clown." The Baron and later his wife laugh in his face and reinforce the betrayal with a slap on the face. 

Emotionally devastated, Chaney becomes a circus clown, headlining an act where he is repeatedly slapped. Chaney was a master of disguises, and nothing is more grotesque than a clown. His makeup allows full facial expression, so Chaney's acting skill is not restricted. Chaney wasn't known for slapstick comedy, so he is not a clown who does funny things. Being slapped is reactive, so he is completely passive. In the circus the rejection- a manifestation of self-degradation- is part of the act, and he is the star and center of attention. 

While I haven't read the original play, I expect there is a coarsening of the narrative. There is no subtlety in the film that is not made obvious. Certainly, in the adaptation any psychological underpinnings are now on the surface. Chaney does a good job with what psychological element remains with his self-humiliation and continually reliving his moment of betrayal (the slap). 

Director Victor Seastrom was recruited to MGM based on his success in Sweden. He Who Gets Slapped is not a compromise between commerce and art- it is 100% commerce, by a filmmaker with an artist's sensibilities. Seastrom's influence can be seen in the staging and artful lighting, resulting in a look that is more European than most studio pictures. There are several brilliant visuals that are clever and serve the plot. In one transition sequence, a clown spins a globe, then miniature clowns climb down to a rim (as if a globe were on a stand). The rim then becomes a circus ring. 

Seastrom deftly builds suspense and irony in a sequence that uses crosscutting and precise in-camera dissolves. John Gilbert is a daredevil bareback rider, and he soon falls for a new performer, Norma Shearer, from an impoverished aristocratic family. Young lovers John Gilbert and Norma Shearer are on an idyllic picnic, while Shearer's sleazy father, played by Tully Marshall, negotiates the price of her marriage to the baron (!). 

Like many backstage stories, the circus setting allows the characters to be repressed backstage and demonstrate their real feelings when acting in front of an audience. Early in the film Chaney has Shearer sew a cloth heart on his costume while he stares at her in admiration. Later in the circus ring, we see that each performance has Lon Chaney's heart ripped out (of his costume). 

He Who Gets Slapped is released on laserdisc by Image Entertainment as part of "The Lon Chaney Collection." It opens with the seal for the Kansas Censorship Board- "Kansas Grows the Best Wheat in the World"- and the quality is fine, but not outstanding, and is not tinted. The score of stock music was prepared in the early 1970s for television syndication. Unlike a custom score, the music isn't timed to match specific scenes, so it frequently cuts off at a scene change. The addition of sound effects of laughter and applause is not objectionable. (Review © 1998 David Pierce)