He Who Gets Slapped (1924): Flicker Alley

Co-director of South West Silents James Harrison explores the new release by Flicker Alley of a Lon Chaney classic. Plus a chance to win a copy!

He Who Gets Slapped is an oddity in the silent film canon. It's an incredibly well directed film by Swedish born Victor Sjöström and has a strong cast in the shape of a 24-year-old John Gilbert, Ford Sterling, Norma Shearer and of course the great Lon Chaney.

In fact, it is one of the great films of the later part of the silent era. But does it feel like it was a product of Hollywood? The budget is most certainly there and the money definitely is Hollywood, even the crew behind; cinematography by Milton Moore, set design by Cedric Gibbons, costumes by Sophie Wachner all very much the cream of MGM's film machine. But there is a layer of 'another Hollywood' here.

Based on a 1914 by Russian born Leonid Andreyev, He Who Gets Slapped was the second Hollywood film by Sjöström. Sjöström, a director who had excelled himself in his native Sweden with classic European silents such as Terje Vigen (1917), Berg-Ejvind och Hans Hustru (1918), Mästerman (1920) and of course Körkarlen (1921/ The Phantom Carriage).

Maybe it is that Scandinavian edge of storytelling that Sjöström has brought to the table which makes He Who Gets Slapped a unique piece of viewing. There are underlying hint of menace here which is unique for Hollywood at this point; even more so seeing that the film is from MGM.

And yet, the film isn’t quite perfect. The epilogue which establishes why Paul Beaumont (Lon Chaney) turns inwards and becomes ‘HE’ does feel, at certain points, overly long. Of course, it is an integral part of the story; but the reason does feel over emphasised. Or maybe its just because we want to see Lon Chaney as soon as possible as ‘HE’.

That is all we want overall isn’t it? We just want Lon Chaney to be Lon Chaney. We want to see Chaney don the makeup and become the apparent ‘monsters’ which we always want want to see from him in the films he stars in. But is ‘monsters’ the right word? On a number of occasions, Chaney’s character isn’t really the monster, it’s the people who are around his characters which are the monsters… but what is ‘HE’?

‘HE’ is a pathetic individual, a ghost of his former self.

As the story continues Chaney’s character falls behind the makeup of a clown, a clown which continuously laughs, but we know now, given what has just happened before, that all of this is just a mask. The laughing clown is crying, for all the wrong reasons. Chaney’s ‘He’ character is eating away at himself. Something’s got to give. And when it does, it really does.

As for John Gilbert (playing Bezano); he is just astonishing in the film. So much in fact he almost steals the show from Chaney. You can barely take his eyes off Gilbert as he either jumps off a horse or tries to flirt with Norma Shearer’s (Consuelo); he's almost flirting with us through to be honest.

Director Victor Sjöström would continue to work in Hollywood for several more years, leaving Hollywood with the completion of A Lady to Love in 1930. But before he left, he directed both The Scarlet Letter (1926) and The Wind (1928), both of which starred Lillian Gish (in two impeccable roles) and both are real masterpieces; and both are in urgent need of decent home releases.

He Who Gets Slapped is a film about loss and vengeance. It is one of the last great Hollywood films of the silent era; but it hardly hits the mark for those Top Ten Silent Film lists. Hopefully, with the release of the beautiful set thanks to Flicker Alley, it just might.

Thanks to the Flicker Alley Team we have a brand Blu-ray new copy of He Who Gets Slapped up for grabs! Just send us your answer to the question below via our contact page by mid-night on Sunday 19th October to be in with a chance. Good Luck!

Question: Lon Chaney starred alongside Joan Crawford in which 1927 film directed by Tod Browning?