O Homem que Ri

A really pointless remake of a beautiful original. Even given the changes to Gwymphaine this could still have been worthwhile. But this is one of those typically unfocused co-productions (bad dubbing, second rate acting, ott music) that plagued cinema screens in the 60's, and now thanks to TCM UK it too frequently turns up on Satelite here. First time I saw the title in the schedules I got excited and then I saw the year.

Don't waste your time on this one.

To my own personal regret, I haven't yet seen the 1928 classic on which this French/Italian version is based. The basic premise is truly intriguing and you can derive from this film that the original has got to be a fantastic film. The pivot character is a young man called Angelo (Jean Sorel from Lucio Fulci's "Lizard in a Woman's Skin") who got kidnapped as a boy by gypsies in order to turn him into an acrobat and sell him to a circus. His face was horribly mutilated on purpose (he appears to have a constant grin) to increase his "value" as a circus-freak even more. The story is set in 16th century Spain (or is it Italy?) and Angelo is torn between civil wars and an unanswered love. I hope to see the original soon, because I understand that this setting is different and a lot more confusing. This version is overlong and quickly becomes boring. Moreover, the screenplay makes a ridiculous twist near the end, when we're supposed to believe that surgeons in the 16th century were flawlessly capable of performing complex plastic surgery. The make-up effects are admirable, the body count is enormous and Sorel's acting is well above average. Even though a remake, "The Man Who Laughs" is a movie with great potential and it's a shame the execution is so darn poorly.

Jean Sorel stars as the disfigured Gwynplainte (here renamed Angelo, just because) and as some random guy with the same (undisfigured) face in this sort of remake of the classic movie starring COnrad Veidt. It's still about the cruelty of the Borgias, if that means anything.

It looks like director-cowriter Sergio Corbucci decided to turn the Victor Hugo story into one of pure body horror. Kudos to art director Alessandro Dell'Orco, and to cinematographer Enzio Barboni for the beautiful glass shots, but this is just another swords-and-sandal movie with some pretension. With Lisa Gastoni, Edmond Purdom, and Ferdinando Poggi.

They did not credit Victor Hugo , which was a wise move ; like he did in "the hunchback of Notre Dame ", the writer depicted a human being considered a monster .The movie is one thousand light years from the novel.

There are some similarities though : both disfigured Angelo (Gwynplaine in the book) and blind Dea were adopted by a travelling performer ;and a high-born lady ,a duchess,falls for the ugly man (here represented by Lucrezia Borgia , but the noble was a virgin in the book!).

The rest was written from start to finish by the screenwriters; it does not take place in queen Anne 's reign but under the Borgias' and it is a pretty entertaining swashbuckler , which sometimes recalls "the prisoner of Zenda" ; Jean Sorel plays a double rôle , the "laughing man " and Borgia's enemy, a virtuous noble who fights against his tyranny : French Sorel's good looks went against him in his native country (there was no room for two Alain Delon) and he often worked in Italy ;to play an ugly figure was certainly an act of self-renewal for this rather inexpressive but handsome actor.

With its sudden new developments ,and its hilarious implausibilities ( the reconstructive surgery was far ahead of its time ,at Borgia 's time,if one is to believe the screenwriters; a psychological shock ,and voila, she can see) , the movie is enjoyable ,if you do not take it seriously ,of course. Never a dull moment.

This is a new version of famous German classic of 1928 starring Conrad Veidt. The theme is basically the same: a boy, kidnapped by gypsies, has his face deformed to be always smiling and thus become a circus attraction. Sold to company of traveling artists, he knows a blind girl, for who falls in love.

But a great difference exists between both movies: Of England of the king James II, the history was transferred to Italy of the 16º century, in the times of Caesar and Lucretia Borgia. Angelo - the man that always laughs - is a monster, horrendous, much uglier than the character that Veidt interprets in the original film and he will become a killer to service of Borgia.

Besides, the history is very exaggerating and a scene is difficult to believe: the plastic surgery that transforms Angelo in a perfect copy of the Duke is absurd even in the patterns of the year 2000, imagine in the 16º century!

A movie without interest, with a good proposal but very badly developed.