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Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin, Olga Baclanova, Josephine Crowell, George Siegmann ... see more see more... , Brandon Hurst , Sam De Grasse , Stuart Holmes , Cesare Gravina , Nick De Ruiz , Edgar Norton , Torben Meyer , Julius Molnar Jr. , Carmen Costello , Charles Puffy , Frank Puglia , Lon Poff , Jack Goodrich , Allan Cavan

Released with sound effects and a music score that included the song "When Love Comes Smiling" by Walter Hirsch, Lew Pollack and Erno Rapee, Paul Leni's near masterpiece remains one of the silent era'... read more read more...s last great romantic melodramas. Based on Victor Hugo's 1869 novel L'Homme qui Rit, The Man Who Laughs starred German import Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, a carnival freak doomed to live life wearing a perpetual grin carved on his face by Dr Hardquannone (George Siegman because his father, Lord Clancharlie (Allan Cavan), had offended England's King James II (Sam De Grasse). Taken in as a child by Ursus, a mountebank (Cesare Gravina), Gwynplaine grows up alongside the beautiful but blind Dea (Mary Philbin). They fall in love but Gwynplaine refuses to marry her because his hideous face makes him feel unworthy. Queen Anne (Josephine Crowell), meanwhile, has ascended the throne and when she learns from her predecessor's evil jester Barkilphedro (Brandon Hurst) that the recalcitrant Duchess Josiana (Olga Baclanova) is in possession of Lord Clancharlie's estates, she decrees that the royal femme fatale must marry Gwynplaine, the rightful heir. Josiana, who has caught Gwynplaine's act incognito and arranged a rendezvous, is at the same time sexually attracted to and repelled by the "Laughing Man," but Gwynplaine, who realizes that the duchess' attraction has legitimized his right to love Dea, renounces his title and follows his heart to the new World. Although Kirk Douglas was long interested in producing a remake, The Man Who Laughs was instead filmed again as L'Uomo che Ride by Italian director Sergio Corbucci in 1966. Corbucci, however, changed the setting from Queen Anne to the infamous sixteenth century Italian court of the Borgias. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

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85% liked it

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6 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: Paul Leni

Release Date: November 4, 1928

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DVD Release Date: September 30, 2003

Stats: 183 reviews

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Veidt and Baclanova Conrad Veidt The Man Who Laughs Cesare Gravina, Mary Philbin and Conrad Veidt Baclanova and Hurst Veidt and Baclanova Veidt and Baclanova The Man Who Laughs Baclanova and Hurst Veidt and Philbin Just a happy man... Veidt and Baclanova
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Flixster Reviews (183)

  • ajv2688
    January 6, 2011
    ajv2688
    A great classic movie, I really liked it, it's beautiful. I can tell that many films have been inspired by this story, and it's great to finally see the inspiration. I highly recommend seeing this movie.
  • MissMorganLeee
    November 22, 2010
    MissMorganLeee
    spectacular movie!! Its not so much a horror movie as it is a romance. I ador Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin. They are both great!!
  • matertenebraum
    March 1, 2010
    matertenebraum
    In 1690, in England, the nobleman Lord Clancharlie returns from his exile to see his young son. The peer is captured by the cruel King James II and before being killed, he is informed that his beloved son had been sold to the gypsies Comanchicos that carved a permanent grin on hi... read mores face. The Cormanchicos abandon the boy in the cold snowing winter, and while looking for shelter, he finds a baby hold in the arms of her dead mother. He brings the baby with him and they are welcomed by the philosopher Ursus (Cesare Gravina), who finds that the baby is blind and raises them. Years later, Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt) becomes a successful clown, and together with the blind Dea (Mary Philbin), they present plays for common people. Gwynplaine and Dea are in love for each other, but he refuses to marry her because of his ridiculous appearance. When the evil jester Barkilphedro (Brandon Hurst) discloses the origin of Gwynplaine, he plots a means to be rewarded by the Queen, jeopardizing the love of Gwynplaine and Dea.

    The Man Who Laughs" is a magnificent classic based on the famous Victor Hugo's novel. The performances of Conrad Veidt and Brandon Hurst are amazing and there are many touching and heartbreaking scenes. My eyes became wet when the artists act like the audience cheering for Gwynplaine to spare Dea from the truth. The appearance of the character Gwynplaine inspired Bob Kane in the creation of "The Joker", one of Batman's greatest enemies. Another point that I would like to highlight is the resemblance of Madonna, in the beginning of her career, with the Russian actress Olga Baclanova, who performs daring scenes including of nude with her amoral character of Duchess Josiana. I have never read Victor Hugo's novel, but it seems that the conclusion in the original story is less optimistic than in this movie, but anyway I loved this film. My vote is ten.
  • rubystevens
    October 26, 2009
    rubystevens
    the original silent film based on victor hugo's novel that inspired sardonicus and of course the joker from batman. conrad veidt in the lead role is much more sympathetic than those characters and it's as much a love story as gothic horror, like hunchback of notre dame and phant... read moreom of the opera. german expressionist director paul leni gives it alot of style and veidt is fantastic, wearing a prostethic mouthpiece that didn't even allow him to speak
  • kiriyamakazou
    March 29, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    Despite that garish poster that makes this look like a horror, this is actually a romance. It's a sweet piece of silent cinema that uses it's visuals to full affect. Veidt is fantastic. Having to grin all the time must have made it difficult to convey emotions other than happines... read mores. Somehow Veidt manages it. It's all in the eyes and forehead. The Man Who Laughs is a classic weirdo in love movie. Gwynplaine is a victim and is exploited by those around him. Refreshingly, he doesn't go mental and start murdering everybody like so many other films of it's type. The make up was astonishing as was the recreation of the period. The dog called Homo was pretty funny...teehee. Only real negative distraction was that everybody found Gwynplaine funny looking, but I thought he was scary looking. Go figure.
  • mjgildea
    October 22, 2007
    mjgildea
    While The Man Who Laughs certainly had some great imagery and set a decent atmosphere, the drawn out story and overextended shots bored the ass off of me. You've seen the story dozens of times before even though this is one of the earliest of incantations. If the obvious Joker in... read morefluence wasn't there I wouldn't have bothered. Although by 20s standards I'm sure it's great, it's just that so many better versions have come along since.
  • itbegins2005
    January 13, 2008
    itbegins2005
    From looking at the poster, one begins to form an idea of the shape of Paul Leni's adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, The Man Who Laughs. The portrayal of the giant, leering face of the title character, for one thing, creates a creepy image for the film, thanks to the choice of... read more under-lighting actor Conrad Veidt's face for the painting. This effect is magnified by the judicious placement of hanging corpses in the background and the depiction of the main character standing ominously over a sleeping damsel, his cloak giving him more than a passing resemblance to Dracula. To see this poster possessing no knowledge of the film's plot, one could only assume that this is, by far, one of the creepiest, most horrific films of the silent era, featuring one of its most effective monsters. What a shock it is, then, when you watch the film and discover a rich, emotional melodrama on par with the Hunchback of Notre Dame or the Phantom of the Opera, and featuring a character far more sympathetic than either of them. The Man Who Laughs is the story of Gwynplaine, the heir of a Duke who spoke out against King James during the 17th Century. In retaliation for the Duke's defiance, James had Gwynplaine sold off to a nomadic band of child traffickers, who surgically mutilated the boy's mouth into a permanent grin and later abandoned him to eliminate evidence of their misdeeds. The boy wandered into the care of a gypsy philosopher and playwright, who raised him to adulthood and made him the featured act of a traveling repertory theater. His life as a famous clown is made bearable only by his relationship with Dea, the blind girl he grew up with who loves him for who he is, but soon his identity is discovered and he is forced back into the aristocracy against his will. Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine is, without a doubt, the most visually striking character to come out of the silent era (whose likeness was reportedly the primary inspiration for the creation of the Joker)- the prosthesis that kept his mouth fixed into a grin must have hurt like a bitch! But despite his outwardly menacing appearance, Veidt conveys a world of longing and suffering with the use of his eyes, making us feel the lifetime's worth of ridicule and self-loathing that he must have felt, and when he finally reaches his boiling point, we cheer as he rebels against the corrupt aristocracy that tries to use him for their own ends. It's an effective criticism of the system of rule of the time period, run by a shallow and thoughtless class that see people only as a means for the manipulation of power, and one that is furthered by the two-dimensional portrayals of all of the members of the hierarchy (of course, the acting is far from subtle due to the fact that it's a silent film, but it's even farther from subtle with characters such as the queen, King James, the duchess, and especially Barkilphedro). Mary Philbin as Dea, on the other hand, is a surprisingly touching performance, bringing quite a bit of genuine emotion to a part that essentially only required her to stand around and pretend to be blind (which she does okay). Cesare Gravina is kind of hokey as Ursus, the gypsy playwright with wild hair and disturbing pop-eyes, but even he musters some considerable pathos during the film, especially when he believes that Gwynplaine has died and can't bring himself to tell Dea. The production values are pretty good for a silent film, and the camera is a lot more active that in certain other silent films (Nosferatu comes to mind...). What makes the Man Who Laughs a great movie, though, is the genuine, heartfelt love story that drives it, a beauty and the beast tale that, unlike the stories of the Hunchback or the Phantom, actually ends well for our heroes... maybe because this time, we have a hero that truly earns the right to call himself a man, and not a monster.
  • Lemure
    January 7, 2012
    Lemure
    Yes, I confess I only watched this out of curiousity as a Batman fan to see where the inspiration for the Joker came from.
    I accept that it has nothing to do with Batman, but it still left me cold and uninterested. There's a good story in there somewhere, and for once it's a fil... read morem that could do with a remake.
  • Doctor0Quinzel
    September 19, 2007
    Doctor0Quinzel
    This was a really neat movie. I really got caught up in the movie, it was pretty exciting.
  • kenscheck
    May 2, 2012
    kenscheck
    This horror film from the end Universal's silent period is like the bridge between German Expressionism (the director and lead coming from that period of filmmaking in Germany) and Universal's great age of Monster Movies, which quite frankly drew a lot of inspiration from the Ger... read moreman Expressionist films of the silent era. This is really the last Universal Monster film in the silent period, and it features another tragic "monster" based on a French story (like "Hunchback of Notre Dame" this comes from a story by Victor Hugo). Conrad Veidt is great as the Laughing Man, and the story is quite well written and executed, with some great style to boot. Definitely a solid entry from the end of the silent era of filmmaking.

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert
April 9, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

One of the final treasures of German silent Expressionism. Full Review

Jake Euker
February 7, 2004
Jake Euker, Filmcritic.com

Poised between the great German horror that preceded it and the great Universal horror that followed, it is, for genre fans, an inviting and necessary stop. Full Review

Mark R. Leeper
November 6, 2003
Mark R. Leeper, rec.arts.movies.reviews

While this is a flawed film, it boasts some of the most impressive acting of the silent era. It certainly has sharpened my interest in Veidt. Full Review

John Beifuss
October 22, 2003
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

An expressionistic masterpiece of spooky, fairy tale Poe-meets-Perrault imagery...

Eric Henderson
September 29, 2003
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

The film's fascination with bric-a-brac and its tendency towards spare, minimalist compositions is evidence of a stylistic schism. Full Review

March 25, 2006
New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

J. Hoberman
November 6, 2003
J. Hoberman, Village Voice

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
November 5, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Jeffrey M. Anderson
August 19, 2006
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Click to read the article Full Review

Derek Adams
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams, Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

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