Changed date for 'The Strong Man' this weekend; classic comedy now showing on Saturday, Feb. 8, plus Boston Globe coverage of 'The Flying Ace'

Harry Langdon in 'The Strong Man' (1926), now showing on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Town Hall Theater in Wilton, N.H.

Alert! This weekend's screening of 'The Strong Man' (1926) at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. has been changed to Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.

Let's get fancy and paste in some JavaScript to create blinking text, like it's 1999 all over again.

'THE STRONG MAN' RESCHEDULED TO SATURDAY, FEB. 8!

Originally scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 9, the screening had to be moved a day earlier. So if you'd like to see what's widely regarded as Harry Langdon's best feature film, come on Saturday, Feb. 8.

More details about the film and the show are in the press release pasted in below. 

Before that, however, I need to thank Boston Globe film critic Odie Henderson for a terrific preview of last Sunday's screening of 'The Flying Ace' at the Somerville Theatre, and also for a follow-up essay published this past Wednesday.

It's rare these days for what's left of local media to devote resources to covering cinema. And it's rarer still for anyone to pay attention to vintage film. 

But Odie, who's been the Globe's film writer and critic for a few years now, took an interest in 'The Flying Ace,' writing about the film both before and after the screening.

Check out his preview, which ran on the front of the Globe's Weekend section:

The results of this kind of attention can be gratifying. Nearly 200 people turned out for the matinee screening, which took place on Sunday, Feb. 2 in the Somerville's main theatre. 

In introducing 'The Flying Ace,' I asked how many people had seen Odie's piece in the Globe? Nearly every hand shot up! (A lot of people also had seen coverage on the website of WBUR, a Boston-area NPR station.)

Odie attended the screening, and wrote a follow-up about the experience that included some kind words about my accompaniment:

"As Rapsis played the final notes of his outstanding, boisterous, and improvised accompaniment, I realized just how well his score complemented the film."

Thanks, Odie! Your work helped this film and our screening reach a lot more people that it otherwise might have.

*    *    *

Harry Langdon finds himself over a barrel in 'The Strong Man' (1926).

MONDAY, JAN. 27, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Frank Capra's very first movie highlights Town Hall Theatre silent film program on Saturday, Feb. 8

Screening features Harry Langdon's classic comedy 'The Strong Man' shown with live music; fun family activity suitable for all ages

WILTON, N.H. — Silent film with live music returns to the Town Hall Theatre in February with the showing of an uproarious comedy starring Harry Langdon.

The screening of 'The Strong Man' on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m., gives families a chance to enjoy a fun activity suitable for all ages. The Town Hall Theatre is located at 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free; donations are accepted, with $10 per person suggested to defray expenses.

Due to scheduling requirements, the screening date differs from the Town Hall Theatre's usual Sunday afternoon silent film time slot.

The screening, the latest in the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.

Directing 'The Strong Man' was young first-timer Frank Capra, who would later go on to create such Hollywood classics as 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (1939) and 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946).

'The Strong Man' tells the story of a World War I soldier (Langdon) who, following his discharge, finds work as assistant to a circus strong man. As the act travels the country, Langdon continually searches for a girl he corresponded with while stationed overseas in the military.

The search leads to a town controlled by Prohibition-era gangsters, which forces Harry to test the limits of his own inner strength even as he looks for his dream girl. Can Harry triumph over the bad guys? And is love more powerful than brute strength?

The feature-length film showcases the unique child-like personality of Langdon, who is largely forgotten today. For a brief time in the 1920s, however, he rivaled Charlie Chaplin as Hollywood's top movie clown.

Langdon's popularity, which grew quickly in the last years of the silent era, fizzled as the movie business abruptly switched to talkies starting in 1929.

'The Strong Man' was selected in 2007 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In recent years, 'The Strong Man' has been recognized as a major achievement of the silent film era—a satisfying and timeless balance of emotion and comedy.

"A little tragedy and a lot of laughs can be seen in 1926's The Strong Man," wrote critic Richard von Busack in 2007. "Director Frank Capra's energy and sturdy plot sense counterpoint Langdon's wonderful strangeness."

A trade ad promoting the release of Harry Langdon's 'The Strong Man' (1926).

'The Strong Man' will be accompanied by live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who performs at venues across the region and beyond.

"These films were created to be shown on the big screen as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they still come to life in the way their makers intended them to.

"The silent film screenings at the Town Hall Theatre are a great chance for people to experience films that first caused people to first fall in love with the movies," he said.

Frank Capra's 'The Strong Man' will be screened with live music on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. 

Admission is free; donations are accepted, with $10 per person suggested to defray expenses. For more information, call the theater at (603) 654-3456.

 

Harry Langdon encounters the mysteries of the opposite sex in 'The Strong Man' (1926).
 

'Steamboat Bill Jr.' on Aug. 7: Ain't no secret!

Really looking forward to this weekend's screening of Buster Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' (1928) on Sunday, Aug. 7 at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square in Somerville, Mass. It's one of the great silent comedy features, and we're showing it in 35mm along with two Keaton shorts, also in 35mm: 'The High Sign' (1921) and 'Cops' (1922). Admission is $12 adults, $8 students/seniors.

One thing that's been on my mind as I prepare music for this show is that we hope to pull enough of an audience for the monthly series of silent films there to continue, and in the past few days we've lucked out with some good press, both mainstream and in what I fondly think of as the "film nerd" blogosphere. (I include this effort in that category.)

First, yesterday (Thursday, Aug. 4) I was the subject of an interview posted on "From Out of the Past," a highly regarded blog about vintage cinema that's maintained by a very knowledgeable film buff in the Boston area. She did a great job and I very much appreciated the questions as well as the chance to explain a little about what I try to do. Here's a direct link to the interview.

Then, this morning I found that our screening was included in this weekend's picks by Boston Globe movie critic Ty Burr, as posted on www.boston.com. I'm especially thrilled that he described me using the word "estimable," which I've never been called before. I can't wait to go home and look it up. :) In meantime, you can check out the estimable Ty Burr's post.

Finally, Boston radio station WBUR-FM 90.9 (one of the city's two public radio stations) this afternoon broadcast an 11-minute piece about me and film music as part of their "Radio Boston" program. The segment turned out wonderfully, I thought, and I was amazed at how they could edit me into coherence without any seams showing. The whole interview, in the form of a Web page and link to the sound file, is here.

For me, the unexpected thrill about this (besides how easy it was to park in downtown Boston) was that the interview was conducted mid-day this past Wednesday, and it so happens that's exactly the time that National Public Radio's weekly 'Car Talk' program is taped in the same studios. So, when heading down to the parking garage to get some more of my gear, who should I run into in the elevator but Tom Magliozzi, one of the two Click and Clack brothers!

Tom (he's on the left) was heading to the same garage where I was parked, so we had a nice chat. (He's kind of looking like the Commander in the old "Schweppes" ads lately.) At the time, I didn't have have the presence of mind to link cars and silent film, but then he didn't want to talk shop and was probably more interested in getting away from this lunatic anyway and going on his way. Then, going up, the doors opened to find his younger brother Ray standing there waiting to go down, and so I got to speak to him as well. When I mentioned I'm a silent film accompanist, his response was "Hey, silent films are coming back!" Nice! I'll take all the encouragement I can get.

Even if I didn't recognize the brothers by sight, all doubt would have been removed when either one of them opened their mouths. In fact, it was hearing Tom's unmistakable cackle down the hall that made me first realize he was, well, down the hall. I already knew what they looked like, so it wasn't a case of "Hey, you look different than I imagined you on the radio." But the one thing that struck me was how small they both appeared in person compared to what I would have expected. Really -- they were both shorter than me, and I'm 5-foot-8, and that made them seem tiny.

So I guess radio magnifies size. Either that, or enjoying their program over the years had me expecting larger-than-life characters. Maybe there is a silent film connection, in that this is related to what Gloria Swanson's character said in 'Sunset Boulevard' when told she used to be big. "I am big," she replied. "It's the pictures that got small."