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Frank Capra, First National, 1926, his first feature as credited director. Harry Langdon, the baby-faced comic Sennett had not quite known what to do with, plays a Belgian soldier who comes to America as assistant to a strong man, looking for a pen pal (Priscilla Bonner). A frontier town, a crooked saloon, a weak-eyed girl in the church. Langdon's style is delay: he lets a gag hang until it becomes uneasy. Capra keeps the camera still enough for that delay to register. The climax puts the strong man's cannon in a revival tent.
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Langdon's method is delay. A gag is set up and then left hanging until it turns uneasy, and Capra, on his first feature, keeps the camera still enough to let it. The seduction scene, Langdon fending off a woman who wants what is in his coat, is the demonstration. The cannon in the revival tent is the payoff.
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Further reading
- EssayThe Strong Man - San Francisco Silent Film Festival (opens in a new tab)
- EssayBeyond the Law of the Father: The Alien Resistance of Harry Langdon — Lorenzo Tremarelli (opens in a new tab)
- EssayFilm essay for The Strong Man — Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board (opens in a new tab)
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