The Strong Man

A timid Belgian soldier at the front in the First World War exchanges letters with an American girl he has never seen and attaches himself to her through a photograph. When the war ends he goes to America; his job there is assistant to a stage strongman. Meanwhile he looks for the girl. In the end he finds her, just as the strongman cannot go on and he has to take his place. This was Frank Capra's first feature as a director. In the lead is Harry Langdon, the most talked about silent comedian after Chaplin and Keaton. Langdon's persona is slow, bewildered and childlike; the comedy is built on waiting rather than speed. The film was taken into the National Film Registry. Capra and Langdon parted ways not long afterwards.