The Man Who Laughs

This is one gorgeous movie.

I saw it a few years ago, and I wonder why it took me so long. It's a late-era silent (1928) with the incomparable Conrad Veidt as the title character. It seems that Gwynplaine (Veidt) is the son of a man who pissed off the King of England in a very serious way; the father is sentenced to the Iron Maiden, while the son is given to a band of gypsies who excel in plastic surgery.

The gypsies carve a permanent smile in his face before abandoning him, alone and friendless. Finding a blind baby still clutched in her dead mother's arms, he takes the baby and eventually finds a home with a traveling show. Gwynplaine, as an adult, becomes a part of the show and is known, of course, as "The Man Who Laughs".

This is such an atmospheric film, with many touches of the German Expressionists (and one of Expressionism's best-known actors), matched by a fascinating, bizarre story. Veidt is always excellent, and even Mary Philbin gives a good performance as the blind Dea, the woman he loves but feels he doesn't deserve.

The film is dark, the story is consistently interesting, and everything just works. An interesting footnote is that Veidt's appearance - hair slicked back, face constantly smiling - provided the inspiration for the comic-book character of the Joker, nemesis of Batman, though Gwynplaine is a highly sympathetic, tragic character. Veidt had to wear wire hooks to hold his mouth in place, which prevented him from speaking. (There is some talk that Lon Chaney was originally cast in this role, which makes perfect sense, given his talent for strikingly original makeup.)

One of the things that interests me about this movie is the fact that it does have a soundtrack, though you don't hear the actors speaking their lines. Some of the sound is synched; some is a musical score. One romantic scene has a woman's beautiful voice singing. It's a far cry from the primitive sound that was, even then, taking over the film business.

Best of all, the film is available on DVD!