El hombre que ríe

A lord refuses to kiss the hand of King James II, so is doubly punished: he perishes in the "Iron Lady" [onscreen in a memorably handled sequence] while his son is sent to a surgeon who [offscreen] carves a grin on his face "so he can forever laugh at his father". Sheltered by a kindly playwright ["like Shakespeare, only much better!"], the boy grows up to join his troupe of itinerant players as the star attraction: "The Man Who Laughs". His fortunes lead him to a blind girl, an ambitious duchess, and Queen Anne, who reinstates him to the nobility, but with further complications.

Conrad Veidt, in a career stretching from CALIGARI to CASABLANCA, always found the emotional authenticity in bizarre roles. Here, in the familiar 19th century figure of the suffering clown, his performance is transfixing: whether tremulous as the girl's hand explores his face, or mortified by the laughter of the House of Lords, Veidt's face makes the role more than a simple martyr: he is man struggling with unjust destiny ["A king made me a clown, a queen made me a lord, but first God made me a man!"].

Big-hearted and unashamedly dramatic, this is clearly the work of Victor Hugo, rags to riches in scope, offering consolation in love. The spirit of the French Revolution is very much in the air in this world of cruel privilege and class antagonism, full of secret doors, dungeons, and volatile mobs. While not as richly populated as Les Miserables and Hunchback, this adaptation still has spectacular set-pieces and elaborate settings.

Considerably less revolutionary is the conventional portrayal of women: virgin and vamp are the only alternatives. The former is the blind girl played by Mary Philbin [who had earlier unmasked Lon Chaney's Phantom]. With blond ringlets arranged to make her face heart-shaped, she edges close to simpering yet rises to genuinely moving moments. The vamp is Olga Baclanova [who became the blonde tormentor in Tod Browning's FREAKS], here writhing around in a black negligee and looking startlingly like Madonna.

Today, the films of Paul Leni are hard to track down, but worth the effort. Starting as an art director, Leni developed his visual command in Berlin; this Germanic style stands out in some beautifully designed compositions, such as a dynamic night sequence: a ship, full of gypsies being deported, heaves through a furious snowstorm. Yet Leni always works at the heart of the human values in the story, sustaining intense moments for all his actors. While some scenes are staged in darkness to rival a film noir, Leni also floods Veidt and Philbin with light, often focusing on one nuance per shot, an old-fashioned but effective strategy.

Filmed on the cusp of the sound revolution, this semi-silent has added sound effects and rather vague non-stop music but no spoken dialogue.

In jolly old England, Julius Molnar Jr. (as young Gwynplaine) has a permanent grin surgically carved on his face "so he might laugh forever at his fool of a father" who refused to kiss the hand of his King. The disfigured lad rescues a blind baby, and they are adopted by fatherly Cesare Gravina (as Ursus). The children grow into Conrad Veidt (as Gwynplaine) and Mary Philbin (as Dea). The trio support themselves as a traveling freak show, featuring Mr. Veidt's "The Laughing Man" grin, which has become ever more grotesque with age. Still blind, but movie-star-beautiful as an adult, Ms. Philbin falls for her good-natured rescuer; she thinks God took her eyes so that she could see the good in "Gwynplaine". Veidt cares for Philbin, but is distracted by the possible love of a sighted woman, the seductive Olga Baclanova (as Duchess Josiana).

Paul Leni's "The Man Who Laughs" makes up for a story that goes to the dogs (quite literally!) by being too beautifully produced to dismiss. Additionally, Veidt's performance is electrifying. Especially representative of his work in this film is Veidt's "seduction" scene, with Ms. Baclanova; and, she is surely the film's "Best Supporting Actress". Everyone, from Philbin to extras and bit players, is very good. Interestingly, Veidt was eligible for an Academy Award, but was not nominated. Then, neither was Lon Chaney, for "Laugh, Clown, Laugh". They had no sense of humor, obviously.

******** The Man Who Laughs (4/27/28) Paul Leni ~ Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin, Olga Baclanova, Brandon Hurst

I always think that Paul Leni's "The Man Who Laughs" was another silent horror piece with a lot of good ideas and thrilling scenes. Well... i was not wrong, except in the "horror" thing, and I lack to think of the beauty that could give me. Actually, "The Man Who Laughs" is one of the best silent films (With "Broken Blossoms" and "Metropolis") that i have ever seen ever. As too one of the most beautiful films that i have ever seen too.

"The Man Who Laughs", based on Victor Hugo's novel, told us the story of Gwynplaine (Great performance of Conrad Veidt, who too appeared as Cesare in famous "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", participate in the first gay themed film in history "Diffrent from the Others" and "Casabalanca") a man that, when he was little, was operated by an evil man and now, his face always have a long smile. When he was little, he finds a death mother with a newly born one, a beautiful girl, but she is blind. Then he finds help, home and food with Ursus. Years later, he grown up, as the lovely girl, now a beautiful woman named Dea. With Ursus (Now, he is old) go with a fair. For their side there is the evil Barkilpehdro, who was the responsible of our dear main character's sad circumstances. This evil character do it for one thing, power... Gwynplaine doesn't know that he could be a powerful man. Now, back with Gwynplaine, we find a big saddest by him, he don't want to be a clown. And Dea is the only person who see the real Gwynplane. Then we find the story of a beautiful but evil and rebel duchess (Perfomed perfectly by Olga Baclanova, who appeared too in "Freaks"),she has as pupil: the evil Barkilphedro. So, what do you think that happen if all this characters find them in a fair? Just watch it out, and be prepared, because is a thrilling experience.

In my personal opinion, "The Man Who Laughs" is an important piece of the history of cinema, maybe , of their time too. First of all, the love story is so tender, so beautiful... that i don't think yet that exist such movie!!! Then, the stages, all the scenario is perfect, makes us to feel what it wants. Is here too another personal opinion, i think that "The Man Who Laughs" it was early to their time, Paul Leni (Director of "The Cat and the Cannary" and "Waxworks"). Its just that the movie present topics that in that time was very difficult to show, or was too (talkin about film technique) novel, or in other word: new. For example, there is a scene when a man watch through the bolt of a door to the duchess taking a bath, yes it doesn't show her nude, but certainly, what they show it was much for this time, i think. In film technique i can give a lot of examples, for example, mix of sounds in a lot of scenes, camera moves... etc... i can put a lot of examples. In few words, "The Man Who Laughs" is a real masterpiece, a real must see. This is a beautiful film, and i loved it. Try to see it if you have not see it yet. If you love excellent films, if you love silent films, if you love beautiful films, if you love thrilling films, if you love touching films... you must see "The Man Who Laughs"

*Sorry for the mistakes, well... if there any.

Like most artistic "isms," expressionism is somewhat difficult to define; in general, however, it refers to a style in which the artist is much less interested in capturing external realities than in portraying emotional and psychological states; consequently, expressionism is often fantastic in a visual sense--and when it combined with the darker edges of Germanic folklore it gave rise to a series of classic and near-classic silent films, including THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, NOSFERATU, THE GOLEM, and WAXWORKS.

Over time, the style began to creep into American film. This was most particularly true of films made at Universal Studios, which had major successes with such Gothic-inflected films as THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, both of which starred Lon Chaney. Drawn from a minor work by Victor Hugo, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS was first intended as a Chaney vehicle; by the time it began production, however, Chaney had decamped to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer--and Universal assigned Conrad Veidt to the starring role under director Paul Leni. Both men had been deeply involved in the German expressionist movement, and the resulting film was a melodrama so deeply steeped in the grotesque that it came to be regarded as a horror film.

THE MAN WHO LAUGHS concerns a child named Gwynplaine who is caught up in royal intrigue and is deliberately disfigured, his mouth cut into a ghastly, inflexible grin. Abandoned, he rescues an blind infant girl; both are taken in by the kindly Ursus (Cesare Gravina.) Years later, and entirely unaware of his aristocratic origin, Gwynplaine (Veidt) and the beautiful blind maiden Dea (Mary Philbin) are popular carnival actors, appearing in a play written by Ursus--but although he loves Dea, Gwynplaine is deeply humiliated by his eternal grin and feels he can never marry. Ironically, it is not until he is once more caught up in a royal powerplay and recognized as a peer that he realizes the depth of Dea's love.

In some ways the plot is simplistic and occasionally too much so, but the look of the thing is relentlessly fascinating. Director Leni endows his world with grotesque faces, vulgar sexuality, and deliberately twisted visuals--particularly so in the first half of the film, which is greatly famous for the sequence in which the abandoned child stumbles through a snow storm beneath gallows bearing rotting corpses to find the infant Dea. Veidt's hideous grin, an early creation by make up genius Jack Pierce, is remarkably effective; the performances are memorable, and although the second half of the film is excessively predictable the whole thing goes off with a bang.

Although it was hardly a failure, in 1928 THE MAN WHO LAUGHS proved too gruesome for many audiences, and the rise of sound films drove it into a too-rapid obscurity. Even so, it would cast a very long shadow: it is an important link in the chain between German expressionism and the great Hollywood horror classics of the early 1930s. The Kino DVD presents a reasonable but far from flawless transfer of the film, along with several bonus features, most significantly a "making of" documentary that details the film's stylistic importance. Recommended for fans of classic horror.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I saw this last night at the New Orleans Film Fest and was blown away. The film has been restored and was shown with a live octet to boot. The story was complex yet easy to understand and the acting was great. I was amazed at some of the camera work and film editing for such an early period in film history. It is too bad Leni died so young because he was headed for greatness.