He Who Gets Slapped

Paul Beaumont, a brilliant French researcher, is on the verge of a great scientific discovery on the origins of mankind and presents his work to the prestigious scientific academy. However, Baron Regnard, a disloyal colleague, takes credit for the work and turns Beaumont into a laughing stock. If that was not enough, Regnard also seduces Beaumont's faithless wife, totally crushing him. Unable to bear his humiliation, Beaumont adopts a new identity, that of "He Who Gets Slapped." a circus clown whose successful act consists of being slapped and debased by fellow clowns in a stylized act that amounts to ritualized humiliation. "He" becomes enamored with the troupe's ingenue, the big top's bareback horse rider, who shows kindness to "He" when she sews the cloth heart back onto his costume after each performance. Although Consuelo is in love with fellow performer Bezano, her corrupt, greedy father, the fallen aristocrat Count Mancini, literally sells her to the lascivious Baron Regnard, who has arrived back on the scene. "He" takes the opportunity to foil the villainous baron and count, allow Consuelo to marry her true love, and attain revenge for his earlier humiliation.