Open ClassicCINEMA
Back to the collection

OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 495

He Who Gets Slapped

192472 minUnited States
Thriller
Video edition
YouTube
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
71:41
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

YouTube may apply your personal preferences. If needed, select your language under CC / Settings. YouTube controls playback availability, which may vary by region.

Synopsis

A scientist's patron steals his discoveries and humiliates him before an audience that laughs at his protest. Abandoning his former identity, he becomes a circus clown whose act repeats the public humiliation. Affection for a young rider gives him a new purpose, until the man who destroyed his earlier life enters the circus's orbit.

Cast

DirectorsVictor Seastrom

Inspirations

Victor Sjöström adapted Leonid Andreyev's play with Lon Chaney in the central role. The clown's performance turns an intimate betrayal into a ritual for paying spectators, connecting the film's circus imagery to questions about cruelty, spectatorship and the need for affection.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceInternet Archive — catalogue recordDuke Center for the Study of the Public Domain — US term reference

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.

Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

Audience rating

Loading ratings…

Keep exploring

Collection