The Man Who Laughs (1928) rarely seen film from the early years of Universal Pictures. Its very rare to find a silent film that still holds up today and I dare say this is one of them. It's one of the last films directed by famed German Expressionist director Paul Leni and stars German actor Conrad Veidt, which you would know from the role of Cesare in the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), and silent era star Mary Philbin, who previously played Christine in the Universal adaption of The Phantom of the Opera (1925). I actually wouldn't consider this film a horror movie as much as a very melancholy drama about being different. This film also offers an interesting view or critique of Monarchy.
The story of The Man Who Laughs is very captivating, as you would expect from a Victor Hugo story, and from what I understand this film is actually fairly accurate to the novel. In this age where every story is told out of order, I was amazed at how the film started with the origin of the character, something that actually worked really well considering the character's troubled past. This really makes you grow attached to him from the very beginning.
To me it's really cool that the story still holds up today, it's really just a melancholy look at what it feels like to be different or strange. It's interesting to me, that in this film which is often considered a horror story, the only characters who would be close to considered monsters are the regular people (okay and maybe the the jester too haha). It's also interesting to me that the character wasn't born that way, it was acted upon him from an early age. Though this was probably just trying to be as accurate to the novel as possible, this automatically puts you closer to him than the Phantom character the similar story in The Phantom of the Opera and makes the ending really feel justified and good.
I have a problem with the way the character of the Duchess was handled. I actually liked her acting a lot (actually more than the star Mary Philbin) and in pretty much every scene she's in she has such a seductive and scandalous part, so much so that it's really amazing this was made so long ago! But I guess I was just unclear of her intentions most of the film. I don't know when she first meets The Laughing Man if she just feels sorry for him or she actually falls in love on the spot? Also her character kind of drops out of the story at a certain point and I just thought it could have been done better, I'll have to see what happens with her in the novel sometime.
I love the direction of this film. It has such a modern style of cinematography which I think really helps this film not feel as old as it actually is. I would even say the film is so clear that it probably would work without title cards, for the most part. It was made in the height of the silent era and is probably a shinning example of those films, right before things started getting strange and clumsy with the addition of sound. It's actually a shame that the Director died so young, I feel like this film is proof his career could have continued well into the sound era.
This film is actually unique because it was completed in 1927, talkies were possible and they actually considered making it an early sound film. But because of the prosthetics in the lead Conrad Veidt's mouth (complete with painful hooks used to widen his smile) made it very difficult for him to speak, instead they waited a year to release it and added a limited soundtrack with music and a few sound effects. Actually I want to mention the sound effects cause they're used very sparingly, for the most part only to emphasize important things but there's these crowd scenes where they use the voices of people to sound like they're speaking. Their voices are all distorted and out of sync with their mouths but it adds a really cool effect, and very interesting to watch. I also found out this added soundtrack was apparently the only reason the new owners of Universal saved the film, in the 40s they went through burning almost their entire silent catalogue just to make space! Unbelievable!
And the most importantly the thing to see this film for is the German actor Conrad Veidt. He plays the lead Gwynplaine, A.K.A. The Laughing Man. Veidt brings so much mood and emotion to this character, even when he could barely move the lower half of his face, that its really a sight to see. I also found out during my research, that not only was Veidt the somnambulist Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari but he played the Nazi Major Strasser in Casablanca (1942) and would go on to have a full career into the forties after this film. I think I need to add him to my list of favorite actors now and make a point to see even more of his work!
Couple more interesting little tidbits to add: this was the first "monster" make up that Universal hired the now-famous Jack Pierce to do who would go on to create the famous looks of Universal's Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy and The Wolfman. Also the makeup of The Laughing Man in this film is what inspired Bob Kane and Bill Finger to create Batman's greatest foe, The Joker! Crazy!
The Man Who Laughs (1928) is a rarely seen classic that amazingly still holds up today! I highly recommend people see this great piece of film history. 4/5 stars.
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