The Strong Man

Frank Capra's finest silent film — and a showcase for the strange, disquieting comedy of Harry Langdon, the "fourth genius" of silent comedy alongside Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. Langdon plays a meek Belgian soldier during World War I who receives love letters from an American pen pal and, after the armistice, sails to America to find her. His search leads him to a small town ruled by a corrupt bootlegger and a blind girl who needs his help. Langdon's persona is unlike any other comedian's: a baby-faced man-child whose slow, bewildered reactions to the world suggest someone only half-present in reality. Capra matches him with a film that shifts between slapstick, sentiment, and something genuinely weird and dreamlike. An essential rediscovery for fans of silent comedy.