He Who Gets Slapped (Full Screen) (Silent)

Slap him once, slap him 100 times - the Big Top crowd roars. The clown known to delighted throngs as HE has made a comedic art of getting batted around. Life has battered him even more. Behind the mask, HE hides the torment of once being a brilliant scientist whose research and wife were stolen by a colleague. And behind the mask, when the time comes, HE realizes his revenge. Lon Chaney wears one of the most renowned of his "1000 Faces" in an acclaimed silent that helped make major stars of Norma Shearer and John Gilbert. Victor Seastrom directs, guiding scenes ranging from light-hearted circus vignettes to dark pathos. This first-ever film solely created by MGM also marks the studio's first use of Leo the Lion.

This compelling and exceptionally well-executed silent drama, from new MGM studio executives Irving Thalburg and producer Louis B. Mayer is based on a highly-regarded Russian play and features the studio's biggest stars, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert and Norma Shearer. Directed by noted Swedish filmmmaker Victor Sjostrom, it is the story of a scientific genius who is humiliated by his philandering wife and a major career set-back. To express his pain, bitterness and anger he becomes a circus clown who seems to enjoy the frequently cruel slapstick antics of his new colleagues. While in the circus, he finds a chance at renewal when he falls for a lovely bareback rider. But will he at last find happiness' Or will tragedy continue to be his closest companion'

Infidelity | Poverty | Revenge | Rivalry | Scientists | Silent | Vengeance

Genre:

• Silent Film

Product Series:

• Warner Archive Collection