Catalogue · No. 25 · Under the Big Top
He Who Gets Slapped
Victor Sjöström · 1924 · United States · 72 min
Synopsis
After suffering public humiliation and personal betrayal, a scientist abandons his former life and joins a circus as a clown whose act revolves around repeated abuse before an audience. Beneath theatrical spectacle and laughter, emotional wounds deepen as he becomes attached to a young performer threatened by exploitation and coercion.
Critique
Directed by Victor Sjöström, the film merges psychological anguish with stylized circus imagery to explore humiliation as both performance and existential condition. Lon Chaney delivers one of his most restrained and affecting portrayals, balancing grotesque appearance with profound vulnerability. The atmosphere of melancholy and emotional fatalism anticipates later developments in psychological melodrama and tragic character study.
Technical sheet
- Director
- Victor Sjöström
- Year
- 1924
- Country
- United States
- Running time
- 72 min
- Genre
- Drama, Thriller, Romance
- Written by
- Leonid Andreyev, Carey Wilson, Victor Sjöström
- Cinematography
- Milton Moore
- Cast
- Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King, Marc McDermott, Ford Sterling
- Production
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Music
- Newly composed original score
Licensing
Screening availability
- Theatrical screenings
- Non-theatrical screenings
- Festivals and cinematheques
- Educational screenings
- Television broadcasting
- Digital platforms and streaming
- Promotional and editorial use
- Licensing of graphic and visual materials
Available formats
- DCP
- DCP with subtitles
- Apple ProRes
- MP4 Screening File
- MP4 Rehearsal Copy for Musicians (silent films)
- Blu-ray
- High-resolution archival masters
Promotional materials
- Posters
- Press stills
- Promotional assets
- Screening support materials
Available subtitles
- English
- Spanish
- French
- Portuguese
- Italian
- German
