Film Review - The Man Who Laughs (1928)

The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 silent drama and the penultimate film by German director Paul Leni,his second film made in America after 1927’s The Cat and the Canary. He would die 12 months after the release of The Man Who Laughs at just 44.

Based on Victor Hugo‘s 1869 novel it stars Conrad Veidt ( The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari 1920) as Gwynplaine, the son of an executed lord, who as a child, has his face disfigured into a permanent grin as a reminder of his “fool of a father“.

Exiled, Gwynplaine is left alone, abandoned in the snow where he finds Dea, played by Mary Philbin (Phantom of the Opera 1925) a baby girl, who he discovers is blind. Soon they are both taken in by Ursus ( Cesare Gravina) who runs a travelling carnival.

Years and the now adult Gwynplaine is part of the carnivals freakshow as ‘the Laughing Man’ and he and Dea have fallen in love, although he doesn’t let himself get too close to her because of his disfigurement, thinking she would reject him. Soon people begin to find out about his lineage and the estate he was supposed to inherit from his father, which is now lived in by the Duchess Josiana, played by Olga Baklanova (freaks 1932) After one of his performances she invites him to her room, though after Gwynplaine rejects her advances he rushes back to Dea, and finally lets her touch his face in a truly amazing and emotional scene.

Later he is arrested, given his Peerage and is ordered to marry Josiana while Dea and Ursus are banished from the country. Gwynplaine out of his love for Dea renounces his titles, refuses the proposal and manages to escape leading to a fantastic ending where he is trying to find Dea at the docks before she leaves, and while he is still bein pursued by the queens guards.

Conrad Veidt playing Gwynplaine is absolutely remarkable in the role with only really his eyes to act with he really pulls it off perfectly, including one scene where he has to show that he is upset even though he has the forced smile. It is this forced smile that influenced The Joker of the Batman series. This is also one of Mary Philbin best roles too, especially in the scene mentioned before when Dea finally touches him.

The Man Who Laughs is one of the easiest 5/5’s i have given, at just under 2 hours is flies by and is one of the easier silent films to follow, the original score on the disc just adds so much to it too, it uses effects in the score and songs rather like Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans released a year earlier. I loved this film and it will get multiple, multiple watches. I would recommend this to anyone who loves film and specially the silent era or someone looking to get into the era.

★★★★★

Horror, Mystery, Silent Movie | USA, 1928 | TBA | BLU-RAY | 17th August 2020 (UK) | Eureka Entertainment | BUY |Dir.Paul Leni | Mary Philbin, Conrad Veidt, Julius Molnar

SPECIAL FEATURES

LIMITED EDITION O CARD (2000 UNITS)
1080p presentation on Blu-ray from Universal’s 4K restoration
Uncompressed LPCM 2.0 (stereo) score by the Berklee School of Music
Uncompressed LPCM 2.0 (mono) 1928 movietone score
A brand new interview with author and horror expert Kim Newman
A brand new video essay by David Cairns and Fiona Watson
Paul Leni and “The Man Who Laughs” – featurette on the production of the film
Rare stills gallery
A collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Travis Crawford, and Richard Combs