Revisiting The Man Who Laughs (1928)

I just got ahold of a copy of this classic film from 1928. It has been forever since I have watched and loved getting the chance to watch it again.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019130/ 

The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American silent romantic drama film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name and stars Mary Philbin as the blind Dea and Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine. The film is known for the grim carnival freak-like grin on the character Gwynplaine's face, which often leads it to be classified as a horror film. Film critic Roger Ebert stated, "The Man Who Laughs is a melodrama, at times even a swashbuckler, but so steeped in Expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film." The Man Who Laughs is a Romantic melodrama, similar to films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). The film was one of the early Universal Pictures productions that made the transition from silent films to sound films, using the Movietone sound system introduced by William Fox. The film was completed in April 1927 but was held for release in April 1928, with sound effects and a music score that included the song, "When Love Comes Stealing," by Walter Hirsch, Lew Pollack, and Ernö Rapée.

Plot

In 1690's England, King James II sentences his political enemy, Lord Clancharlie, to death in an iron maiden. Clancharlie's son, Gwynplaine, is disfigured with a permanent grin by comprachico Dr. Hardquannone, so that he will "laugh forever at his fool of a father". When the comprachicos are exiled, Gwynplaine is deserted. He discovers a blind baby girl, Dea, who has also been abandoned. Together, they are taken in by the mountebank Ursus.Years later, a now-adult Gwynplaine has become The Laughing Man, the freak show star of a traveling carnival. He and Dea have also fallen in love; he remains distant, believing himself unworthy of her affection due to his disfigurement, although she cannot see it. Meanwhile, the jester Barkilphedro, who had been involved in Lord Clancharlie's execution, is now attached to the court of Queen Anne. He discovers records that reveal Gwynplaine's lineage and rightful inheritance. That estate is currently possessed by sexually aggressive vamp Duchess Josiana. Queen Anne grants Gwynplaine his peerage and a seat in the House of Lords, and orders Josiana to marry him in order to restore the proper ownership of the estate. Josiana, interested in the estate and perversely attracted to Gwynplaine's disfigurement, attempts to seduce him. Ultimately, he rejects her advances, renounces his title, and refuses the Queen's order of marriage. He escapes, pursued by guards in a chase punctuated by swordplay. At the docks, he meets back up with Dea and Ursus, and rejoins them as they set sail away from England.

Cast

• Mary Philbin as Dea
• Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine
• Brandon Hurst as Barkilphedro
• Julius Molnar Jr. as Gwynplaine (child)
• Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova as Duchess Josiana
• Cesare Gravina as Ursus
• Stuart Holmes as Lord Dirry-Moir
• Samuel de Grasse as King James II Stuart
• George Siegmann as Dr. Hardquanonne
• Josephine Crowell as Queen Anne Stuart

Veidt plays a dual role as Gwynplaine's father, Lord Clancharlie. Many significant silent-era actors appeared in minor or uncredited roles, including D'Arcy Corrigan, Torben Meyer, Edgar Norton, Nick De Ruiz, Frank Puglia, and Charles Puffy. The animal actor used for the role of Homo, the Wolf was a dog named Zimbo, who had previously appeared in the Fox Film's 1927 Wolf Fangs.

Legacy

The Man Who Laughs had considerable influence on later Universal Monsters films. Pierce continued to provide the makeup for Universal's monsters; comparisons to Gwynplaine's grin was used to advertise The Raven. Hall's set design for The Man Who Laughs helped him develop the blend of Gothic and expressionist features he employed for some of the most important Universal horror films of the 1930s: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, and Bride of Frankenstein. Decades later, the themes and style of The Man Who Laughs were influences on Brian De Palma's 2006 The Black Dahlia, which incorporates some footage from the 1928 film. 

The Joker, nemesis to DC Comics's Batman, owes his appearance to Veidt's portrayal of Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs. Although Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson disagree as their respective roles in the 1940 creation of the Joker, they agree that his exaggerated smile was inspired by a photograph of Veidt from the film. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the character in the 2008 film The Dark Knight (which was released 80 years later) makes this connection more direct by depicting the Joker's smile as the result of disfiguring scarring rather than an expression of his insanity. A 2005 graphic novel exploring the first encounter between Batman and the Joker was also titled Batman: The Man Who Laughs in homage to the 1928 film.