Courtesy photo A poster of the 1926 silent film "The Strong Man," directed by Frank Capra, shows co-stars Harry Langton and Priscilla Bonner. The film will be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis at Wilton Town Hall Theatre Dec. 26. (Courtesy photo)

WILTON – Twenty years before “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Frank Capra directed his first film — the Harry Langdon silent comedy “The Strong Man” — and now, some 95 years after its debut, the film is coming to Wilton’s Town Hall Theatre for a live music-accompanied screening the day after Christmas.

Jeff Rapsis, the noted New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who performs at venues across the region and beyond, will be providing the music for the 1926 film.

He said he and the theater folks “thought it would be fun to revive the first film made by the man responsible for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ one of the all-time holiday classics.”

The special show “gives families a chance to round out the holiday weekend with a fun activity suitable for all ages,” Rapsis added.

The show begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 26 at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton. Admission is free, but a $10 donation per person is suggested.

For more information, call 654-3456 or go to www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.

Directing “The Strong Man” launched a long, notable career for the young Capra, who would 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.”

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

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

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.