The film was written by Victor Seastrom and Carey Wilson, based on the Russian play He Who Gets Slapped (Тот, кто получает пощёчины; Tot, kto polučájet poščóčiny) by playwright Leonid Andreyev, which was completed by Andreyev in August 1915, two months before its world premiere at the Moscow Art Theatre on October 27, 1915.

Coincidentally, a real lion plays a key plot point in the Chaney film's plotline.

[12] Paul Beaumont (Lon Chaney) is a scientist who labored for years alone to prove his radical theories on the origin of mankind.

One day, Beaumont announces to his beloved wife Marie and the Baron that he has proved all his theories and is ready to present them before the Academy of the Sciences.

Beaumont later seeks comfort from his wife, but Marie brazenly admits that she and the Baron are having an affair and calls him a clown.

His act consists of his getting slapped every evening by other clowns, and includes HE pretending to present in front of the Academy of the Sciences.

The Baron and the Count try to leave but, finding the main entrance locked, open the side door, releasing the lion.

(In the original Russian play, by contrast, HE poisons Consuelo and then himself, the Baron commits suicide afterward, and the Count survives.)

[13] The score was later broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in February 2008 with linking narration by actor Samuel West to relay to listeners the plot of the film.

The rumor originated from the discovery of a still from the film found in Lugosi's scrapbook posthumously, showing an unidentified clown speaking to Lon Chaney in one scene.

[20] Hans J. Wollstein from Allmovie gave the film a positive review, praising Chaney's and McDermott's performances.

Throughout its length there is not an instant of ennui, not a second one wants to lose...Never in his efforts before the camera has Mr. Chaney delivered such a marvelous performance as he does as this character.

He is restrained in his acting, never overdoing the sentimental situations, and is guarded in his make-up...For dramatic value and a faultless adaptation of the play, this is the finest production we have yet seen."

---The New York Times "While this picture may not quite live up to the claim made of "the perfect motion picture," it is nevertheless a mighty fine screen entertainment, capably acted, almost flawlessly directed and photographed...Lon Chaney as "He" stands out as possibly the greatest character actor of the screen.

Both as the scientist and later as the circus clown, he is shown to be abundantly equipped with those essential gifts which make for compelling characterization before the camera....(With all the film's) fineness, I am inclined to think that Mr. Lon Chaney is the real triumph" ---New York World