{{short description|1926 film by Frank Capra}} {{other uses|Strongman (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = The Strong Man | image = The Strong Man (1926 lobby card - jumbo).jpg | alt = | caption = Jumbo lobby card | director = Frank Capra | producer = Harry Langdon | writer = Arthur Ripley (story)<br>Hal Conklin (adaptation)<br>Robert Eddy (adaptation)<br>Reed Heustis (titles) | starring = Harry Langdon<br/>Priscilla Bonner | music = Carl Davis (1985)<br/>(orchestration: Kevin Townend) | cinematography = Glenn Kershner<br/>Elgin Lessley | editing = Harold Young<br/>Arthur Ripley | studio = Harry Langdon Corporation | distributor = First National Pictures | released = {{film date|1926|9|19|United States}} | runtime = 75 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent<br/>English intertitles | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Strong Man''''' is a 1926 American silent comedy film starring Harry Langdon, who produced the film. It was directed by Frank Capra in his feature debut.
Along with ''Tramp, Tramp, Tramp'', ''The Strong Man'' is Langdon's best-known feature film. Capra would also direct Langdon's next feature, ''Long Pants'' (1927), which would be their final collaboration.
==Plot== thumb|200px|Full film Paul Bergot is a Belgian emigrant to the United States who has fallen in love with Mary Brown, a blind woman. They met as pen-pals when he was fighting in Europe during World War I. Mary even sent Paul a photo of herself.
Paul searches for Mary Brown by asking every woman he meets if she is Mary Brown. By accident he rescues her town from crooks and bootleggers.
==Cast== *Harry Langdon as Paul Bergot *Priscilla Bonner as Mary Brown *Gertrude Astor as Lily of Broadway *William V. Mong as Holy Joe *Robert McKim as Mike McDevitt *Arthur Thalasso as Zandow the Great
==Reception== {{multiple image|left | header = Lobby cards | direction = vertical | image1 = The Strong Man (1926 lobby card - 1).jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = The Strong Man (1926 lobby card - 2).jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = }}
===Critical response=== The staff at ''Variety'' magazine liked the film and wrote, "A whale of a comedy production that has a wealth of slapstick, a rough-and-tumble finish and in the earlier passages bits of pantomimic comedy that are notable. Harry 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. His gift of legitimate comedy here has a splendid vehicle."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117795285.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0|work=Variety|title=''The Strong Man''|date=1926|access-date=February 18, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112011354/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117795285?refcatid=31|archive-date=2012-11-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>
More recently, critic Maria Schneider reviewed Langdon's work and wrote, "Not surprisingly, Langdon was most often cast as an oblivious innocent adrift in a corrupt world, a formula that made him terrifically popular in the mid-1920s. Of the three features Kino has released, ''The Strong Man'' (1926) is the best...Crisply timed and almost perfectly paced, it is also notable as Frank Capra's directorial debut."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/long-pants-1798195625|last=Schneider|first=Maria|website=The A.V. Club|title=Long Pants|date=March 29, 2002|access-date=November 29, 2023}}</ref>
Critic Richard von Busack wrote, "A little tragedy and a lot of laughs can be seen in 1926's ''The Strong Man''... Later, on the crowded bus out west, Langdon demonstrates a sterling silent comedy bit: the one about the goof who mistakes a jar of stenchy Limburger cheese for Vicks' VapoRub. With exquisite deadpan, Langdon keeps the incident from being too sad; he deftly, repeatedly, sucker-punches a bully who protests against the smell. Director Frank Capra's energy and sturdy plot sense counterpoint Langdon's wonderful strangeness."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.metroactive.com/metro/11.28.07/movies-silentfest-0748.html|last=von Busack|first=Richard|work=MetroActive|title=Silence Is Golden|date=November 28, 2007|access-date=February 18, 2008}}</ref>
Reviewing Langdon's career and movies, silent film critic and author Dan Navarro wrote, "When Harry Langdon's ''Tramp, Tramp, Tramp'' premiered in March 1926, it was greeted by moviegoers as a worthy challenger to the great films of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. Langdon was hailed as 'the fourth comedy genius.' That heady feeling was reinforced when, in September 1926, Langdon appeared in an even better picture, Frank Capra's ''The Strong Man''...[the film] was Frank Capra's first directorial effort, and his genius shines through."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.billyates.com/navarro/reviews/strongman.shtml|last=Navarro|first=Dan|title=The Strong Man (1926)|website=Dan Navarro's Silent Film Guides|date=2006|access-date=February 18, 2008|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721073003/http://www.billyates.com/navarro/reviews/strongman.shtml|archive-date=July 21, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Awards=== In 2007, ''The Strong Man'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."<ref>{{cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Librarian of Congress Announces National Film Registry Selections for 2007|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-07-254/librarian-of-congress-announces-2007-film-registry/2007-12-27/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref>
==Censorship== Before ''The Strong Man'' could be exhibited in Kansas, the Kansas Board of Review required the elimination of two scenes, one of a girl sitting in a man's lap in reel 3, and the other of "promiscuous kissing" in reel 7.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kansas Board of Review Movie Index - Kansas Historical Society|url=https://www.kansashistory.gov/statearchives/archives_board_of_reviews/search/film:strong%20man/company:/star:/elimination:/begyr:/endyr:/submit:SEARCH|access-date=2025-12-08|website=www.kansashistory.gov}}</ref>
==See also== *List of United States comedy films
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons category|The Strong Man (film)|The Strong Man}} {{wikisource}} *{{YouTube|id=-NUp8t0RBLs|title=''The Strong Man'' (1926)}} *[https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/strong_man.pdf ''The Strong Man'' essay] by Bill Schelly at National Film Registry *{{AFI film|id=1039|title=The Strong Man}} *{{IMDb title|id=0017437|title=The Strong Man}} *{{Tcmdb title|id=501193|title=The Strong Man}} *[http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue09/reviews/langdon/ Harry Langdon] article at ''Images Journal'' by Gary Johnson *[https://www.google.com/books/edition/America_s_Film_Legacy/deq3xI8OmCkC''The Strong Man'' essay by Daniel Eagan in ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry''], A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 119-120
{{Frank Capra}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong Man, The}} Category:1926 films Category:1926 American films Category:1926 comedy films Category:1926 directorial debut films Category:1926 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent comedy films Category:American silent feature films Category:Articles containing video clips Category:English-language comedy films Category:Films about blind people in the United States Category:Films directed by Frank Capra Category:First National Pictures films Category:Surviving American silent films Category:United States National Film Registry films