L'uomo che ride

This silent horror gem doesn't get many viewings. Conrad Viedt, in his best film role plays an unfortunate memeber of royality whose mouth is carved in a horrific grin. He winds up in a circus sideshow, where gawkers marvel at his eternal grin. However, Viedt does such a wonderful performance here, especially with the fact he has the limitation of expressing inner anquish with eye movements. After the sideshow episode, he falls in love with a blind girl, (Mary Philbin, recently menaced by "The Phantom Of The Opera") who can't see his grostesque mouth. Paul Leni, who died of blood poisioning in 1931, keeps the pace of the film active. The late Bob Kane, creator of "Batman" claims Viedt's character was the inspiration for The Joker.

This was our first Conrad Veidt experience. The Man Who Laughs is a spellbinding piece of visual art. Veidt's acting is sensational. I knew the plot of the story and wondered how he would portray feelings of sadness and regret with a permanent smile carved on his face. After viewing the tape, we were amazed how the emotions exuded from the TV screen. This is our second Mary Philbin experience and both of us prefer her acting in this movie to her role in The Phantom of the Opera.

We have viewed silents on the TV screen as well as the big screen. We discovered that there is more of the "larger than life" emotions projected and felt by the audience through the larger screenings that is somewhat missed on the 27" TV screen. Not so with this performance. My wife and I were both moved to watch it from the beginning...one more time.

Seriously, I was expecting a horror or creepy mystery film like "Caligari". And in the beginning, it feels strange and weird like a nightmare. The scene in the snow with the corpses hanging from from the gallows is pure apocalyptic nightmare fuel.

But from the moment we see Conrad Veidt in full make-up and smiling himself into the hearts of two women, it becomes something else entirely. It's funny, a bit sad but alltogether a pretty simple love story.

Not a bad film for sure! What Veidt did to his face is scarier than all of the scenes together. I just expected something else.

A young boy is terribly disfigured by roving gypsies by the order of King James II of England as a punishment to one of his disobeying nobles. The gypsies carve a permanent smile in the young boy's face and then leave him for dead as they leave for their homeland. The young boy wanders aimlessly for shelter amidst the cold coastline filled with snow, ruins, and swinging bodies from the hangman's noose in the background. Here he finds an infant..alive..clutched in the frozen hands of a woman whose husband was hanged. This was the beginning of The Man Who Laughs...and it was so powerfully filmed that a race of emotions filled me as I watched awe-struck, yet horrified. Paul Leni directed this great film based on the novel by Victor Hugo. Conrad Veidt plays the grown Gwynplaine who travels around the English countryside with his adopted parent Ursus the Philosopher and the young Dea, the girl whose life he saved as a baby. Dea has turned into a blooming young woman, yet blind from her birth. Dea is played very nicely by Mary Philbin, who played in The Phantom of the Opera(1925) in the female lead. The way Leni has the characters interact is very effective. We can feel the tension in Veidt's character as he submits to the growing pains of love. We feel his sorrow as he cries through smiles. The rest of the film involves a royal plot by the queen and her henchman/jester(by the way, Brandon Hurst does a phenomenal job as this cruel heartless jester) to reinstate some royal property to Gwynplaine so he can be married to a duchess that the queen does not like. The story is pretty good and one can see where it is going early on, but the way Leni creates suspense and pathos overpowers any negative defects. The acting all around is very strong. This is a powerful film on many levels. It is an emotional rollercoaster ride through love, hate, despair, joy, and much more. I laughed; I cried. The best part though was that the film has a marvelous message about perceptions. Here we have this character Gwynplaine that smiles outwardly and makes people laugh, but he is full of despair. He cries on the inside. People should not always be taken at face value. By the way, Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, credits this film and the character of Gywnplaine for his creation of the Joker. I can see how. Watch this and the silent version of The Bat in the same evening and you will see what stirred a young Bob Kane's imagination.

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