Movie Review: The Man Who Laughs

The Man Who Laughs

Universal Pictures, USA, 1928.

Based on novel "The Man Who Laughs" by Victor Hugo.

In the 17th Century England rebellious Lord Clancharlie (Conrad Veidt) refuses to kiss King James II's (Sam De Grasse) hand. Barkilphedro the Jester (Brandon Hurst) suggests selling the son Gwynplaine to Comprachicos surgeons who carve a permanent grin on his face. Then Clancharlie is executed with the Iron Lady.

Barkilphedro the Jester

The boy (Julius Molnar) stranded from the ship of exiled gypsies wanders through nightmarish landscape of hanged corpses. He finds an orphaned and blind baby girl. Philosopher Ursus (Cesare Gravina) gives shelter to them. Ursus has also a tame wolf named Homo. Years go by and Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt) becomes a famous entertainer and clown. Dea (Mary Philbin, who also appeared in "The Phantom of the Opera") grows up to be a beautiful girl. Gwynplaine and Dea are in love but Gwynlaine is afraid. Would Dea still want to marry him if she could see his grotesque face?

Nightmarish landscape

Young Gwynplaine

The fair

Dr. Hardquanonne (George Siegmann) who mutilated Gwynplaine's face sees him in a sideshow. Duchess Josiana (Olga Baclanova, later appeared in "Freaks") inherited the estates of Lord Clancharlie. Hardquanonne blackmails Josiana with information about Clancharlie's son. King has died and Queen Anne (Josephine Crowell) reigns. Barkilphedro intercepts the blackmail letter and tells about the heir to Queen Anne.

Gwynplaine and Dea

Hardquanones messenger (Joe Murphy)

Barkilphedro and Queen Anne

Frivolous Josiana wants to see the famous Laughing Man. Josiana becomes fascinated and invites Gwynplaine to visit. As Josiana has seen his face and may be able to love him, Gwynplaine figures out that it is okay to marry Dea! But Gwynplaine must know it for sure so he goes to see Josiana. Getting away from the lusty seductress becomes difficult as Queen sends a letter and orders that Josiana must marry Gwynplaine. What will happen to Dea then?

Gwynplaine is thoughtful

Josiana

Yikes! thinks Gwynplaine

"The Man Who Laughs" is a silent film with orchestral score, some songs and even some shouts. Being a late era silent movie, the camera work quality is the highest level of the era. Camera moves freely and the style looks like German silent Expressionist movies. The invention of sound cinema was actually step backwards in cinematography as the sound equipment made the camera stationary again. The light and dark are used well.

Dea and Ursus

Ship with creepy lighting

Although it was a success when released, it hasn't gained similar reputation as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" or "The Phantom of the Opera" or Universal's monster films. One reason may be that the original novel is not one of Victor Hugo's best known. Sadly the movie almost faded into obscurity but seems to have surfaced again in the recent years. The movie has a surprising legacy: Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson and Bob Kane created Batman's archenemy The Joker based on the looks of Gwynplaine. Frankly, I would probably not know about this film if I hadn't seen the poster somewhere in the Internet. But as Gwynplaine is the sympathetic hero of the story, maybe The Joker inherited his evil character from Barkilphedro. Also Universal's monster movies seem to have been influenced by this film, the final scenes have a bit similar mood as in "Frankenstein" (1931). With sideshow theme it also has a link to "Freaks."

Except for the gloomy beginning Paul Leni's movie is not horror but romantic drama with palace intrigue and adventure. The story is not without some humour either. Conrad Veidt's acting is excellent with his eyes showing the pain of a man who is condemned to smile forever. All the performances are good. Mary Philbin's character is sweet and Olga Baclanova's party girl is fun to watch.

Paul Leni's career as film director was short, he died in 1929. Although he was a talent on par with F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, most of his films are unknown to audiences except most hardcore silent film enthusiasts. In fact all of Paul Leni's films are quite difficult to find on DVD. "The Man Who Laughs" is probably the easiest to get, this DVD was published by Spanish Tribanda Pictures with English captions. There is also French DVD by Films sans Frontières and American Region 1 DVD by Kino Video.

Part of The 2016 Movie Watching Challenge (#20. Movie you chose purely because of the cover picture or poster)

Rating: Very good

Starring: Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt, Julius Molnar, Olga Baclanova, Brandon Hurst, Cesare Gravina, Stuart Holmes, Sam De Grasse, George Siegmann, Josephine Crowell, Charles Puffy, Zimbo the Dog, Delmo Fritz, Deno Fritz, Henry A. Barrows, Richard Bartlett, Les Bates, Charles Brinley, Carmen Castillo, Allan Cavan, D'Arcy Corrigan, Carrie Daumery, Howard Davies, Nick De Ruiz, Louise Emmons, J.C. Fowler, John George, Jack A. Goodrich, Charles Hancock, Lila LaPon, Torben Meyer, Joe Murphy, Edgar Norton, Broderick O'Farrell, Lon Poff, Frank Puglia, Henry Roquemore, Templar Saxe, Allan Sears, Scott Seaton, Louis Stern, Al Stewart, Anton Vaverka

Director: Paul Leni