Anything But Silent: the Strong Man (1926) With Live Musical Accompaniment November 25, 2008

Harry Langdon plays a dim-witted Belgian who survives World War I and comes to America as the valet for a circus strong man, but Harry's real purpose is to find the dedicated pen pal (Mary Brown) whose letters lifted his spirits during the war. His hard-luck persona always had a melancholy air as he ambled through life, blissfully ignorant of the pitfalls of modernity. For over two decades Ben Model has served as resident silent film accompanist for The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Ben composes and improvises all his own scores and performs in a style that both evokes the silent era and reflects a contemporary (and younger) audience's appreciation of music and film scoring.