Laugh, Clown, Laugh

Not only is this the greatest performance I've seen by Chaney, it is one of the great films.

In this, Chaney definitively proves he is one of the greatest actors, perhaps the greatest, in all of film. Although he appears in different make-ups in almost every scene, the make-up is to portray himself as a younger man who slowly grows older as the 25-year span of the film tells the well-known tragic love story more familiarly known as "Pagliacci," the clown who could not laugh.

The film co-stars a radiant 14-year-old Loretta Young, who Chaney supposedly guided to another great performance. Without the director, who was unduly harsh on her, knowing it. When Chaney found out, he made sure he was always with Young whenever the director was. Young's mistreatment ended.

Several times I was near tears because Chaney's performance--watch his eyes, hands and demeanor--is so naturalistic, even though somewhat melodramatic, as all silent performances were.

Almost all of Chaney's films were about unrequieted love, but here he may have reached his apotheosis. I won't know until I see a few more of his non "horror" films, especially, "He Who Gets Slapped."

Don't let what I've said make you think this is some clunky "tear-jerker," It is filled with good laughs, drama, wonder and real pathos. Chaney's final scene is utterly tragic and beautiful.

Even non-Chaney fans will be awed by "Laugh, Clown, Laugh."

"Laugh, Clown, Laugh" is a very sad movie, much like "He Who Gets Slapped", only much more heartrending. There is no horror, and the only special makeup is clown makeup. Lon Chaney finds an abandoned toddler, naming her Simonetta to appease his partner Simon. The movie wastes no time into getting to the main plot, involving a teenaged Simonetta (played by a 15-year old Loretta Young), who the circus coordinator says should look like a woman in order to join Tito's and Simon's act.

Tito (Chaney) has loved Simonetta from the time he finds her as a toddler. When he tells her she needs a rose in her hair, Simonetta goes to the gardens of Count Ravelli (Nils Asther), where they grow. She scrapes her legs over the barbed wire fence, and Count Ravelli sees her and takes her into his house to tend to her. He is a womanizer, and immediately becomes infatuated with her. He verbalizes his love, and says the prophetic "What an alluring woman you could be." Maybe it encourages her, even after she learns to her horror that he is a womanizer, because later that day, she is dressed like a woman and amazes Tito.

Both men are now passionately in love with her, and suffer uncontrollable emotions as a result (the Count's is laughter, and Tito's is crying). Three years later, the two men meet at a neurologist's and decide to cure each other, not yet knowing they are both in love with Simonetta.

After they recover, they learn. Count Ravelli gives Simonetta some pearls, which Loretta and Lon Chaney initially reject--until they read the accompanying note. Then, things get really complicated.

Each performance is excellent throughout. Chaney gives an excellent performance, though his quick transformation from a fatherly love to one that borders on incest. Tito is not the kind of man who is given to that kind of passion, and he doesn't like it, knowing it is wrong. Nils Asther is not dramatic or as convincing as Lon Chaney, but then, who can outshine Chaney? No one. Count Ravelli's transformation is more plausible because Loretta Young makes Simonetta innocent and pure, who by her virtues slowly changes him from a reckless womanizer to a devoted lover. All three deserve praise, and don't be surprised if you want to watch it more than once. It may be sad, but it is also sweet.

Lon Chaney is Tito Beppi, an Italian clown better known to his audiences as "Flik", in this Herbert Brenon directed film. Tito and his partner, Simon (Bernard Siegel), or "Flok", have a traveling two-man circus act. Tito finds an apparently abandoned young girl near a river and decides to adopt her. Simon objects, but Tito butters him up slightly by announcing that he'll name her Simonetta.

We quickly move forward in time, and Simonetta is now a young woman, played by Loretta Young, who was only 14 at the time of shooting. She's now skilled at tightrope walking, so Tito wants to work her into the act. On their promoter's advice, they try to make Simonetta look womanlier. They fix her hair and she heads out to a well-known spot where roses grow to acquire one as a coiffure accoutrement. It happens to be on Count Luigi Ravelli's (Nils Asther) property. The Count sees her and immediately falls in love. Tito has come to realize that he's in love with Simonetta, too, and thus the film is about the dilemmas of a morally and socially complex love triangle.

Like many films from the earlier years of Hollywood, Laugh, Clown, Laugh is an instantiation of a story that had a circuitous route to the silver screen. The script, by Elizabeth Meehan, with titles by Joseph Farnham, was adapted from a 1923 play by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, which was itself a version of an earlier (1919) Italian play--Ridi, Pagliacci--by Fausto Martini, which was very loosely based on Ruggiero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci. Films such as this are handy to keep in mind, by the way, whenever you want to counter someone complaining that only newer films rely so heavily on adapting stories from other media. Not that there is anything wrong with this, despite some saying it shows a "lack of originality" or "paucity of ideas" (fueled by them believing it's a new phenomenon). Laugh, Clown, Laugh has a nicely focused, parable-like script that works well despite the fact that all we have available now is a version of the film with a section missing. In fact, it's so well constructed that I couldn't even detect the missing section--I wasn't aware of it until I listened to the DVD commentary by Lon Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake.

This is the second time Chaney played a clown, the first being He Who Gets Slapped (1924). We might have expected Chaney to tackle a clown even earlier in his career given his notoriety for transformative makeup designs. He does a fantastic job in the role, as we'd expect. It's especially amazing to watch his ability to turn on a dime as he adjusts his depressive backstage persona (especially in the later sections of the film) to the happy-go-lucky Flik for the benefit of the audience on the other side of the curtain.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh incorporates compelling and even controversial themes, subtexts and direct content. Two scenes are relatively racy for the late 1920s, including one that builds up to a bit of foot fetish material and another containing a kiss with incestual subtexts--it's important to remember that this was an era when some states would not even allow films that showed a woman's bare leg or shoulder. The ending is somewhat nihilistic and surprisingly tragic.

On one level, the film is largely about social and dramatic contrasts. Tito and Simon are successful and popular when they perform, but they are almost gypsy-like, spartan itinerants. Like many comedians, Tito's public persona is joyous and exuberant, but behind the scenes he's not quite so happy. The love triangle involves both a man who is incredibly wealthy and in the upper niches of society and a man who is well liked but not wealthy and who is considered on lower or outside social rungs. There is a fabulous scene where both men head to a "neurologist" (more a psychologist) because one is suffering from mania characterized by uncontrollable laughter and the other is suffering from depression characterized by outbursts of crying--it's a personification of the comedy/tragedy masks. And of course, the film itself appears to be a comedy for much of its length, but ends up as a tragedy.

At the same time, Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a morality play. Tito ends up falling in love with his much younger, functionally adopted daughter. That's controversial material for the era--it's still controversial even now. Like many Chaney films, the climax hinges on the moral quandaries suggested by this love triangle and Chaney's difficult decisions.

While Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a quality film, it wasn't a complete artistic success in my view. I watched it on Turner Classic Movies' "Archives" Lon Chaney Collection disc, which also contains The Ace of Hearts (1921), which I just watched yesterday and preferred. The story here never quite captivated me in the way that Ace of Hearts did. The new score, by H. Scott Salinas, was also good (although maybe a bit too literal to the action at times for my tastes), but didn't match the sublime, sustained beauty of Vivek Maddala's Ace of Hearts score. Laugh, Clown, Laugh is well loved by many Chaney fans, though, and by some accounts, this was one of his favorite roles. Chaney's performance, at least, deserved a 10 even if the film overall wasn't up to the same degree of excellence.

This is such a sad movie; after watching the great "Phantom of the Opera" I became more open to Chaney's movie. This is such a sad heart-wrenching film. Chaney is at his best in this film giving a bittersweet performance becoming both entertaining and tragic. These are characters we can care about and that's what made this movie effective. The fact that Chaney is in love with a younger woman and knows he can never have her is possibly the biggest aspect that tugs on your heart as you watch. The ending is possibly the most heartwrenching. I won't give it away, though. You have to see it for yourself.

*** and a half (out of 4 stars)

"Laugh, Clown Laugh" is another masterpiece from Lon Chaney. Although I didn't like it as much as some of his other work, it is nevertheless considered as one of his best films.

Tito (Chaney) and Simon (Bernard Siegel) are traveling clowns moving from town to town in Italy. One day Tito stumbles upon an abandoned little girl and rescues her. Despite protests from his partner, he names her Simonetta (to appease Simon) and raises her as his own. The grown up Simonetta (Loretta Young) blossoms into a beautiful young lady. Tito and Simon meanwhile, have become successful and now headline the grandest theaters in the land.

One day Simonetta, while out for a walk becomes entangled in a barb wire fence. She is rescued by Count Luigi Ravelli (Nils Aster) and taken to his home. There she learns that he is a womanizer and escapes. Tito suddenly discovers that he is in love with Simonetta when she appears before him in a stylish new dress.

Three Years later, Tito and Luigi meet while being treated by a doctor (Emmett King) for emotional problems. While in the office, Simonetta meets up again with Luigi and after some reservations begin to see each other ultimately becoming engaged. Tito is devastated and becomes distraught. In his sorrow he must continue to make people laugh as the show must go on even though he is being torn apart inside. Finally Simonetta discovers that Tito is also in love with her. Now she must choose.

Chaney returned to the eternal triangle theme time and time again in his films. He usually played the rejected lover and expressed such pathos that one could hardly help but feel pity for him. This film is no exception. The scenes where he must mask his sorrow and continue to play the clown, are classic Chaney.

Loretta Young, who would go on to a successful career spanning many decades was but a sweet sixteen when this film was made. The vast difference between her age and Chaney's made Chaney's character all the more pitiful.