He Who Gets Slapped
Encyclopedia
He Who Gets Slapped is a 1924
film starring Lon Chaney
, Norma Shearer
, and John Gilbert
. It was directed by Victor Sjöström
. The film is based on the Russian play Тот, кто получает пощёчины ("He Who Gets Slapped", transliterated as Tot, kto poluchayet poshchechini) by playwright Leonid Andreyev
, which was published in 1914 and in English, as He Who Gets Slapped, in 1922. The Russian original was made into a Russian movie in 1916.
The film is significant for many reasons, foremost being that it was the first production to start filming in the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
. It was not, however, MGM's first released movie, as the release was postponed until the Christmas season when higher attendance was expected. The film was highly profitable for the fledgling MGM, and was critically hailed upon release. This film was also the first to feature Leo the Lion
as the mascot MGM logo. Leo the Lion
first appeared in the logo for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation in 1917, and the logo passed to MGM when the companies merged.
The film was important in the careers of Chaney, Shearer, Gilbert, and Sjöström. Some sources claim that Béla Lugosi
plays the uncredited role of a clown, although this is based solely on the resemblance of a particular actor to Lugosi.
On the appointed day, Paul travels to the Academy with the baron. He is aghast when the baron, instead of introducing him, takes credit for Paul's work himself. After he recovers from the shock, Paul confronts him in front of everyone, but the baron tells them that Paul is merely his assistant and slaps him. All of the academicians laugh at his humiliation. Paul later seeks comfort from his wife, but she brazenly admits she and the baron are having an affair and calls him a clown. Paul leaves them.
Five years pass by. Paul is now a clown calling himself "HE who gets slapped", the star attraction of a small circus near Paris
. His act consists of him getting slapped every evening by other clowns, and includes a parody of the event in the preceding paragraph.
Another of the performers is Bezano, a daredevil horseback rider. Consuelo, the daughter of the impoverished Count Mancini, applies to join his act. Bezano falls in love with Consuelo, as does Paul. Consuelo and her father, however, are planning to restore the family's fortunes with a marriage to her father's wealthy friend.
One night, during HE's performance, he spots the baron in the audience. The baron goes backstage and begins flirting with Consuelo, which she does not like. The next day, Consuelo receives jewelry from the baron, but she rejects it.
When her father leaves for a meeting with the baron, Bezano takes Consuelo out to the countryside for a romantic meeting, where they declare their love for each other. Meanwhile, Count Mancini convinces the reluctant baron that the only way he can have Consuelo is by marrying her. The baron discards the heartbroken Marie, leaving her with a check.
Later, HE admits to Consuelo he too is in love with her. She thinks he is kidding and laughingly slaps him. They are interrupted by the baron and the count, who inform Consuelo she will marry the baron after the night's performance. When HE tries to interfere, he is locked in an adjoining room, where an angry lion is kept in a cage. He moves the cage so that, when he carefully opens it, only the door to the next room prevents the lion from escaping. HE then reenters the other room through the only other entrance (making sure to lock it behind him) and reveals his identity to the baron. HE threatens the baron, but the count stabs him with a sword.
The baron and count try to leave, but finding the main entrance locked, open the side door, releasing the lion. The animal kills first the count, then the baron. However, the lion tamer shows up and saves HE from the same fate. HE goes on stage and collapses. He assures Consuelo he is happy and that she will be happy, before dying in her arms.
in the Chaney role.
1924 in film
-Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
film starring Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
, Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
, and John Gilbert
John Gilbert (actor)
John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
. It was directed by Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
. The film is based on the Russian play Тот, кто получает пощёчины ("He Who Gets Slapped", transliterated as Tot, kto poluchayet poshchechini) by playwright Leonid Andreyev
Leonid Andreyev
Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer. He is one of the most talented and prolific representatives of the Silver Age period in Russian history...
, which was published in 1914 and in English, as He Who Gets Slapped, in 1922. The Russian original was made into a Russian movie in 1916.
The film is significant for many reasons, foremost being that it was the first production to start filming in the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. It was not, however, MGM's first released movie, as the release was postponed until the Christmas season when higher attendance was expected. The film was highly profitable for the fledgling MGM, and was critically hailed upon release. This film was also the first to feature Leo the Lion
Leo the Lion (MGM)
Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures, featured in the studio's production logo, which was created by the Paramount Studios art director Lionel S. Reiss....
as the mascot MGM logo. Leo the Lion
Leo the Lion
Leo the Lion may refer to:* Leo the Lion , the mascot of Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer* Leo the Lion , an anime series by Osamu Tezuka; the sequel to Kimba the White Lion...
first appeared in the logo for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation in 1917, and the logo passed to MGM when the companies merged.
The film was important in the careers of Chaney, Shearer, Gilbert, and Sjöström. Some sources claim that Béla Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
plays the uncredited role of a clown, although this is based solely on the resemblance of a particular actor to Lugosi.
Plot
Paul Beaumont is a scientist who labored for years alone to prove his radical theories on the origin of mankind. Baron Regnard becomes his patron, enabling him to do research while living in his mansion. One day, Beaumont announces to his beloved wife Marie and the baron that he has proved all his theories and is ready to present them before the Academy of the Sciences. He leaves the arrangements to the baron. However, after Beaumont goes to sleep, Marie steals his key, opens the safe containing his papers, and gives them to the baron. It is clear that Marie and the baron are lovers.On the appointed day, Paul travels to the Academy with the baron. He is aghast when the baron, instead of introducing him, takes credit for Paul's work himself. After he recovers from the shock, Paul confronts him in front of everyone, but the baron tells them that Paul is merely his assistant and slaps him. All of the academicians laugh at his humiliation. Paul later seeks comfort from his wife, but she brazenly admits she and the baron are having an affair and calls him a clown. Paul leaves them.
Five years pass by. Paul is now a clown calling himself "HE who gets slapped", the star attraction of a small circus near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. His act consists of him getting slapped every evening by other clowns, and includes a parody of the event in the preceding paragraph.
Another of the performers is Bezano, a daredevil horseback rider. Consuelo, the daughter of the impoverished Count Mancini, applies to join his act. Bezano falls in love with Consuelo, as does Paul. Consuelo and her father, however, are planning to restore the family's fortunes with a marriage to her father's wealthy friend.
One night, during HE's performance, he spots the baron in the audience. The baron goes backstage and begins flirting with Consuelo, which she does not like. The next day, Consuelo receives jewelry from the baron, but she rejects it.
When her father leaves for a meeting with the baron, Bezano takes Consuelo out to the countryside for a romantic meeting, where they declare their love for each other. Meanwhile, Count Mancini convinces the reluctant baron that the only way he can have Consuelo is by marrying her. The baron discards the heartbroken Marie, leaving her with a check.
Later, HE admits to Consuelo he too is in love with her. She thinks he is kidding and laughingly slaps him. They are interrupted by the baron and the count, who inform Consuelo she will marry the baron after the night's performance. When HE tries to interfere, he is locked in an adjoining room, where an angry lion is kept in a cage. He moves the cage so that, when he carefully opens it, only the door to the next room prevents the lion from escaping. HE then reenters the other room through the only other entrance (making sure to lock it behind him) and reveals his identity to the baron. HE threatens the baron, but the count stabs him with a sword.
The baron and count try to leave, but finding the main entrance locked, open the side door, releasing the lion. The animal kills first the count, then the baron. However, the lion tamer shows up and saves HE from the same fate. HE goes on stage and collapses. He assures Consuelo he is happy and that she will be happy, before dying in her arms.
Differences from the play
The Andreyev play on which the film is based ends with Consuelo unknowingly taking poison from a wine glass, which Paul Beaumont finishes off. Yet in the film only Paul dies. MGM was always averse to unhappy endings in their films, even at this early date. Prior to the filming of the movie, the play had been performed on Broadway with actor Richard BennettRichard Bennett (actor)
Richard Bennett was an American actor who became a stage and silent screen matinee idol over the early decades of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
in the Chaney role.
Cast
- Lon ChaneyLon Chaney, Sr.Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
as Paul Beaumont, aka HE - Norma ShearerNorma ShearerEdith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
as Consuelo - John GilbertJohn Gilbert (actor)John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
as Bezano - Tully MarshallTully MarshallWilliam Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...
as Count Mancini - Marc McDermottMarc McDermottMarcus McDermott was an Australian-born American actor who starred on Broadway and in over 180 American films from 1909 until his death.-Early life and career:...
as Baron Regnard - Ford SterlingFord SterlingFord Sterling was an American comedian and actor best known for his work with Keystone Studios. One of the 'Big 4' he was the original chief of the Keystone Cops.-Biography:...
as Tricaud - Harvey ClarkHarvey Clark (actor)Harvey Clark was an American actor on stage and screen. He appeared in 198 films between 1915 and 1938.He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and died in Hollywood, California, from a heart attack....
as Briquet - Paulette DuvalPaulette DuvalPaulette Duval was a French dancer and actress of the silent film era and early sound motion pictures. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1900 and raised in France. She was considered one of the most beautiful women in Paris in the early twentieth century...
as Zinida - Ruth King as Maria Beaumont
- Clyde CookClyde Cook (actor)Clyde Cook was an Australian born actor whose career spanned the silent film era, talkies and television.He was known as the "Rubber Comedian" because of his ability to bend himself into almost any position...
as A Clown - Brandon HurstBrandon HurstBrandon Hurst was an English stage and film actor. He studied linguistics in his youth and began playing in theatre in 1880s. He was nearly fifty years old when he acted in his first film Via Wireless as Edward Pnickney in year 1915 and continued acting in the 129 other films until his death 1947...
as A Clown - George DavisGeorge Davis (actor)George Davis was a Dutch-born American actor. He appeared in 261 films between 1916 and 1963.He was born in Amsterdam, and died in Los Angeles, California from cancer.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
as A Clown - Edward ArnoldEdward Arnold (actor)Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...
as Extra (uncredited) - Holly Bane as Child in circus audience (uncredited)
- Bartine BurkettBartine BurkettBartine Burkett was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1916 and 1983, a number of TV series episodes and TV commercials.She was born in Robeline, Louisiana and died in Burbank, California....
as Bareback Rider (uncredited) - Carrie DaumeryCarrie DaumeryCarrie Daumery was a Dutch-born American film actress. She appeared in 63 films between 1908 and 1937.She was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands and died in Los Angeles, California...
as Extra (uncredited) - Béla LugosiBéla LugosiBéla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
as Clown Extra (uncredited) - Erik Stocklassa as Ringmaster (uncredited)