There's a raging debate among silent movie aficionados whether to include comedic actor Harry Langdon in the pantheon of the three funniest film geniuses in the 1920s, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Langdon was less of a knockabout, slapstick comic and more of an elfin, childlike stoic whose absurd situations he happens to be involved in define him more than his amusing mannerisms.
Langdon developed quite a following during his Mack Sennett Studio days beginning in 1923 when he starred in a number of short films. The height of his career was when he made three feature films, with his acknowledged masterpiece, September 1926's "The Strong Man," serving as the peak of his popularity. Critics claim one reason for its success lies in director Frank Capra's guidance. This was the first of two films the future influential director of Hollywood's Golden Era guided Langdon for First National Pictures.
The script, written by a team of writers including Arthur Ripley, begins with a Red Cross volunteer writing letters of support to Belgian troops, including Langdon, who's on the front lines during World War One. He falls for the female letter composer, and eventually makes his way to the United States partly to search for her. Along the journey, his quest to find the letter writer Mary Brown results in an uproariously knee-slapping encounter with con artist Lily of Broadway (Gertrude Astor). The conniving pretty woman attempts to take off his clothes in her apartment, sending the virginal Langdon into a tizzy (Lily is really trying to recover some stolen money she planted on him without his knowledge.). Eventually Langdon discovers the real Mary Brown, a blind teacher in a corrupt midwestern town. The finale of his one-man battle with the borough's frauds unfolds in a concluding sequence that fits in nicely with the big-three comics' antics seen on the silent screen.
Variety at the time captured Langdon's tenor perfectly, stating, "Langdon has a comic method distinct from other film fun makers. The quality of pathos enters into it more fully than the style of any other comedian with the possible exception of Chaplin." "The Strong Man" was so memorable the American Film Institute listed it as one of 500 nominations for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies Ever Made.
Langdon developed quite a following during his Mack Sennett Studio days beginning in 1923 when he starred in a number of short films. The height of his career was when he made three feature films, with his acknowledged masterpiece, September 1926's "The Strong Man," serving as the peak of his popularity. Critics claim one reason for its success lies in director Frank Capra's guidance. This was the first of two films the future influential director of Hollywood's Golden Era guided Langdon for First National Pictures.
The script, written by a team of writers including Arthur Ripley, begins with a Red Cross volunteer writing letters of support to Belgian troops, including Langdon, who's on the front lines during World War One. He falls for the female letter composer, and eventually makes his way to the United States partly to search for her. Along the journey, his quest to find the letter writer Mary Brown results in an uproariously knee-slapping encounter with con artist Lily of Broadway (Gertrude Astor). The conniving pretty woman attempts to take off his clothes in her apartment, sending the virginal Langdon into a tizzy (Lily is really trying to recover some stolen money she planted on him without his knowledge.). Eventually Langdon discovers the real Mary Brown, a blind teacher in a corrupt midwestern town. The finale of his one-man battle with the borough's frauds unfolds in a concluding sequence that fits in nicely with the big-three comics' antics seen on the silent screen.
Variety at the time captured Langdon's tenor perfectly, stating, "Langdon has a comic method distinct from other film fun makers. The quality of pathos enters into it more fully than the style of any other comedian with the possible exception of Chaplin." "The Strong Man" was so memorable the American Film Institute listed it as one of 500 nominations for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies Ever Made.