Considered the very first MGM production (which featured the well known lion amidst its emblem), this is not a horror story despite the presence of Lon Chaney (who starred in a number of successful Grand Guignol-themed films), but something of a love story, even if Chaney loves from afar and goes to extreme lengths to protect the object of his affection. He plays Paul Beaumont, a failed scientist who has been slapped -- literally -- by the science community, his wife Maria (Ruth King), and her sponsor/lover, the Baron Regnard (Mark McDermott). Defeated, he has retreated to the underbelly of society: the world of the circus freaks. As the clown HE, Beaumont is the man with the main attraction, a routine in which he gets slapped hundreds of times by other clowns -- a repetition of his humiliation inciting uproarious laughter from the audience. The only thing which lights him up is the ingénue Consuelo (Norma Shearer in an early role) whom he loves in silence. She in turn loves Bezano (John Gilberrt), but is about to be forced into marriage to the Baron. Here is when HE concocts a terrible revenge to protect Consuelo.
A classic romantic setup with eerie undertones, HE WHO GETS SLAPPED is an excellent film which makes us feel pity for this mistreated man, portrayed by Lon Chaney like no one could. The quintessential wronged man, he plays the crying clown to the extreme, and while we know and accept he will not get the girl -- Chaney rarely did -- the element of pathos is there. His performance in this movie is one of the most moving of all cinema history, and it takes a special type of talent to embrace the grotesque and delve so deep into human pain. Even the inter-cuts in which HE spins a massive globe have a frenetic tragic quality about them: he is effectively spinning the law of fate.
As a footnote, this was not Norma Shearer's first performance (her first recorded appearance dates from 1920 as an extra) but it is the first she did for MGM, playing an ingénue although she was 24 years old at the time. As the object of the love Consuelo ignores, she is apt but pales in comparison to her co-star. Chaney is the life, the soul, the very reason of this story's existence.
A classic romantic setup with eerie undertones, HE WHO GETS SLAPPED is an excellent film which makes us feel pity for this mistreated man, portrayed by Lon Chaney like no one could. The quintessential wronged man, he plays the crying clown to the extreme, and while we know and accept he will not get the girl -- Chaney rarely did -- the element of pathos is there. His performance in this movie is one of the most moving of all cinema history, and it takes a special type of talent to embrace the grotesque and delve so deep into human pain. Even the inter-cuts in which HE spins a massive globe have a frenetic tragic quality about them: he is effectively spinning the law of fate.
As a footnote, this was not Norma Shearer's first performance (her first recorded appearance dates from 1920 as an extra) but it is the first she did for MGM, playing an ingénue although she was 24 years old at the time. As the object of the love Consuelo ignores, she is apt but pales in comparison to her co-star. Chaney is the life, the soul, the very reason of this story's existence.