Scott Lord on Silent Film

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Scott Lord Silent Film: Lon Chaney in He Who Gets Slapped (Victor Seastr...

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Bo Florin points out that a famikar image in "He Who Gets Slapped" (seven reels), directed by Victor Sjostrom is referred to in the cutting continuity script as the "Symbolic Clown", the isolated character dressed in white recurrently appearing spinning his ball. Florin looks at the function of this image within the narrative as bookending sequences with a direct adress to the audience. Albeit while blogging David Bordwell notes that the film was a great success, mostly due to the emerging talent of Lon Chaney, he does in fact give the film only a brief mention when looking at Scandinavia's Golden Age of Silent Film Drawing to a Close, which can very much be attributed to Victor Sjostrom and Mauritz Stiller both coming to America. Victor Sjostrom Victor Sjostrom Lon Chaney Lon Chaney

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