The Man Who Laughs
About The Man Who Laughs
In the late seventeenth century, King James II has Lord Clancharlie killed in an iron maiden and has a grin carved into his son Gwynplaine's face. Comprachicos abandon the boy in a snowstorm. He saves a blind baby, Dea, and the showman Ursus takes them in, with the wolf Homo. Grown, Gwynplaine is famous as the Laughing Man and ashamed of the mouth Dea cannot see. The surgeon Hardquanonne recognizes him. Queen Anne orders him to marry Duchess Josiana so her hold on the Clancharlie estates will be legal. He refuses the peerage, reaches the ship that is deporting Ursus and Dea, and sails with them after Homo pulls him aboard.
Cast & crew
More about The Man Who Laughs
Paul Leni directed. J. Grubb Alexander, Walter Anthony, and Charles E. Whittaker adapted Victor Hugo's 1869 novel. Carl Laemmle produced. Gilbert Warrenton photographed it. Edward L. Cahn edited. It premiered in New York on 27 April 1928 and went into general release on 4 November 1928, with a Movietone score and sound effects and no spoken dialogue. The score includes the song When Love Comes Stealing. The film runs 110 minutes.
Themes
Reviews
Roger Ebert called it a melodrama, at times a swashbuckler, so steeped in expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film.
Look
Gilbert Warrenton photographed the fair, the palace, and the snowstorm.
Music
The 1928 release carries a synchronized score and effects, including the song When Love Comes Stealing. There is no spoken dialogue. William Axt is also credited.
Preservation
The film entered the U.S. public domain in 2024. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Conrad Veidt plays Gwynplaine and also Lord Clancharlie. Mary Philbin plays Dea. Olga Baclanova plays Josiana. Brandon Hurst plays Barkilphedro. Cesare Gravina plays Ursus.
- Julius Molnar plays the boy. George Siegmann plays Hardquanonne. Josephine Crowell plays Queen Anne.
- Roger Ebert wrote that it is a melodrama, at times a swashbuckler, steeped in expressionist gloom so that it plays like a horror film.
- It entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
- A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- Gwynplaine puts Dea's hands on his mouth, and she tells him she was made blind so she would see only him.
- Homo swims from the deportation ship and mauls Barkilphedro on the dock.
Influenced by
- Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Man Who Laughs)
