The Strong Man | 1926 | Comedy

Title: The Strong Man | 1926 | Comedy Director: Frank Capra. Studio: Harry Langdon Corporation. Starring: Harry Langdon, Priscilla Bonner, Gertrude Astor, William V. Mong, Robert McKim, Arthur Thalasso. Release Date: September 19, 1926. Runtime: 75 minutes. Format: Silent, black-and-white, standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1, 7 reels. Country: United States. Language: Silent with English intertitles. Genres: Comedy. --- Chapters: 00:00:00 War letters and capture 00:12:00 Emigration and vaudeville strongman act 00:28:00 Gold Tooth entanglement 00:43:00 Arrival in Cloverdale; meeting Mary 00:58:00 Palace Music Hall chaos 01:10:00 Order restored and new beginnings --- Summary: A gentle Belgian veteran, Paul Bergot, comes to America after World War I to find Mary Brown, the pen pal whose letters sustained him at the front. Traveling as assistant to “Zandow the Great,” a vaudeville strongman, Paul’s search leads from big-city scrapes to the small town of Cloverdale, where Mary lives. There, Paul confronts local corruption surrounding a rowdy music hall run by bootlegger Mike McDevitt. Mistaken identities and slapstick escalate into a riotous set-piece performance, after which Paul and Mary look toward a modest life together. Themes include innocence amid urban bustle, immigrant optimism, and small-town reform. --- Background: The Strong Man was Capra’s feature directorial debut, produced by the Harry Langdon Corporation and distributed by First National Pictures. Shot in Hollywood from early May to mid August 1926, it first opened in New York the week of September 5 before general release on September 19. Working title was “The Yes Man,” and the finished film ran seven reels. --- Trivia: The film’s working title was The Yes Man before First National adopted The Strong Man for release. Kansas state censors required cuts, including a lap-sitting scene in reel 3 and “promiscuous kissing” in reel 7. For the New York engagement, First National reportedly installed a forty-foot neon sign depicting Langdon lifting a barbell. “Zandow the Great” drew on the real-life strongman Eugene Sandow’s vaudeville act. In 2007 the Library of Congress added The Strong Man to the National Film Registry for its cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: September 19, 1926. Original Studio / Distributor: Harry Langdon Corporation / First National Pictures. Copyright Status: Public Domain . Renewal: Unknown --- Hashtags: TheStrongMan FrankCapra HarryLangdon SilentFilm 1926 PublicDomain NationalFilmRegistry ClassicComedy Source page: https: //commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Strong_Man_(1926).webm Direct media URL: https: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/The_Strong_Man_%281926%29.webm