The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American silent romantic drama film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1869 novel of the same name, and stars Mary Philbin as the blind Dea and Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine. The film is known for the grim carnival "freak-like" grin on the character Gwynplaine's face, which often leads it to be classified as a horror film. Film critic Roger Ebert stated "The Man Who Laughs is a melodrama, at times even a swashbuckler, but so steeped in expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film."
The Man Who Laughs is a romantic melodrama similar to films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film was one of the earliest Universal Pictures films that made the transition from silent films to sound films using the Movietone sound system introduced by William Fox. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both sound-on-disc and sound-on-film processes. The film was completed in August 1927 but was set for general release as a "sound" film in October 1928 with sound effects and a musical score which included the song "When Love Comes Stealing".
The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
Plot
In late 17th-century England, court jester Barkilphedro informs King James II of the capture of Lord Clancharlie, an exiled nobleman, who has returned for his young son, Gwynplaine. The King tells Lord Clancharlie that a grin was carved upon the boy's face by Hardquanonne, a Comprachico surgeon. Lord Clancharlie is executed in an iron maiden.
Shortly afterward, the King issues a decree banishing all Comprachicos from England. A group of Comprachicos prepares to set sail from England, abandoning young Gwynplaine. The boy struggles through a snowstorm and rescues a baby girl whose mother had frozen to death. They are taken in by Ursus, a kindly philosopher-showman, and his pet wolf, Homo. Ursus realizes that the baby girl, named Dea, is blind.
Years later, Gwynplaine and Dea, now adults and in love, travel the countryside with Ursus, performing plays he has written for them. Gwynplaine's frozen smile has earned him widespread popularity as "The Laughing Man," but he is deeply ashamed of his disfigurement, believing himself unworthy of Dea's affections. Hardquanonne recognizes Gwynplaine at the Southwark Fair and sends a letter to the Duchess Josiana, which is intercepted by Barkilphedro, now an influential agent of the court. The letter claims knowledge of a living heir to the estates of Lord Clancharlie – currently being occupied by the Duchess – and suggests that she pay Hardquanonne for his silence. Barkilphedro shows the letter to Queen Anne, and his men take Hardquanonne to Chatham Prison to be tortured. The Queen sends the Duchess's fiancé, Lord Dirry-Moir, to retrieve her after she shirks her duties at the royal court. Dirry-Moir finds the Duchess shamelessly cavorting with the local men at the Southwark Fair. A brawl breaks out, and she leaves for Kensington Palace.
From a balcony, the Duchess watches Gwynplaine's act at the fair, and she finds herself both sexually aroused and repelled by his disfigurement. A messenger gives him a note arranging a rendezvous at midnight and, while conflicted over his feelings for Dea, he sneaks out of the caravan that night. His departure is heard by a worried and heartbroken Dea, who finds the letter. Gwynplaine is ushered inside the Duchess's estate, where she attempts to seduce him, but is interrupted by the delivery of a pronouncement informing her of Gwynplaine's noble lineage and the Queen's decree that she marry Gwynplaine, thereby legitimizing her occupation of the late Lord Clancharlie's estates, with her engagement to Dirry-Moir already having been annulled. The Duchess begins to laugh, causing Gwynplaine to rush away, devastated at again being made into a mockery.
Gwynplaine returns home and extracts the Duchess's letter clutched in Dea's hands as she sleeps. He tears the note into pieces before breaking down into tears, overcome by guilt. Dea wakes up, relieved to find he has returned. He guides her hands to feel his smile for the first time, and she reassures him that God made her sightless so she could see only the real Gwynplaine. Guards arrive to arrest Gwynplaine, and he is taken to Chatham Prison. When the guards later march out of the prison bearing Hardquanonne's coffin, Ursus mistakenly concludes that Gwynplaine has been executed. Barkilphedro arrives to notify Ursus he has been banished from England and cruelly lies to him that the "laughing mountebank" is dead. Hearing this from the stage, Dea faints in shock.
Gwynplaine is freed from prison and is to be made a peer in the House of Lords. The next day, he is brought to London for his introduction ceremony by Barkilphedro at the same time as Ursus and Dea head for the Thames docks to leave the country. Their vehicle carriage wheels lock and Ursus's pet wolf, Homo, leads Dea to the House of Lords. The peers are outraged that somebody whom they believe to be a clown has joined their ranks. Gwynplaine is presented to Queen Anne, who decrees Gwynplaine will marry the Duchess. Dirry-Moir brings Dea inside the building, but she is tricked into going back outside by Barkilphedro and brought to Ursus. Upset over the peers' mockery, Gwynplaine renounces his peerage and refuses to marry the Duchess. He escapes from the guards and runs through the streets, only to find his show closed. Gwynplaine heads to the docks when he learns that Dea and Ursus were ordered to leave England, managing to elude Barkilphedro's men with the help of the villagers. When he reaches the docks, Gwynplaine's cries are heard by Homo, who leaps off the ship and swims to him. The wolf-dog mauls Barkilphedro who was about to attack Gwynplaine. Gwynplaine and Homo are pulled aboard, where the former is reunited with Ursus and Dea; together, they sail away.
Cast Main Mary Philbin as Dea: A delicate, beautiful, blind young woman whom Gwynplaine rescues from the freezing arms of her dead mother when they are both children. Because of her blindness, she is completely unaware of Gwynplaine's mutilated face and loves him purely for his gentle soul. Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine: A noble-born heir who is sold to the Comprachicos as a young boy and surgically disfigured to wear a permanent, grotesque grin by order of King James II. He grows up to become a famous, tragic traveling clown known as "The Laughing Man" who is deeply ashamed of his appearance, despite the pure love he shares with Dea. Veidt also portrays Lord Clancharlie, Gwynplaine's father Julius Molnar Jr. as young Gwynplaine Olga Baclanova as Duchess Josiana, A wealthy, decadent aristocrat and the sister of Queen Anne. She becomes erotically fascinated by Gwynplaine's disfigurement and attempts to seduce him, treating him as an amusing freak to alleviate her boredom. Brandon Hurst as Barkilphedro: A scheming and malicious court jester whose machinations drive much of the plot. He discovers Gwynplaine's true aristocratic lineage and uses this information to manipulate the royal court for his own cruel amusement. Cesare Gravina as Ursus: A cynical but kind-hearted mountebank and philosopher who takes in the orphaned Gwynplaine and Dea, raising them as his own children and building a successful traveling theatrical troupe around their talents. Stuart Holmes as Lord Dirry-Moir: An eccentric aristocratic nobleman and the betrothed of Duchess Josiana. He frequently visits the traveling shows and inadvertently becomes entangled in the court's schemes surrounding Gwynplaine's restoration to the peerage. Sam De Grasse as King James II: The tyrannical, cruel King of England who executes Gwynplaine's rebellious father and orders the young boy's horrific disfigurement as a twisted, lingering punishment. George Siegmann as Dr. Hardquanonne: The sinister Comprachico surgeon responsible for carving the permanent smile onto Gwynplaine's face. His later recognition of the adult Gwynplaine sets off the chain of events that exposes the clown's true identity. Josephine Crowell as Queen Anne: The reigning monarch of England during Gwynplaine's adulthood, who attempts to use his restored nobility as a pawn to humiliate her sister, Josiana, by ordering them to marry. Charles Puffy as the Innkeeper: A jovial, heavyset proprietor of the Southwark inn where Ursus's traveling theatrical troupe lodges. He provides a touch of comic relief while dealing with the massive, rowdy crowds of patrons who flock to his establishment to see the famous "Laughing Man" perform. Zimbo the Dog as Homo the Wolf: Ursus's fiercely loyal wolfdog, who travels with the theatrical troupe and acts as a protector for Gwynplaine, Dea, and Ursus.
Uncredited Tom Amandares as Shouting Man Carmen Castillo as Dea's Mother Carrie Daumery as Lady-in-Waiting Nick De Ruiz as Wapentake Louise Emmons as the Gypsy Hag John George as a Dwarf Frank Puglia & Jack A. Goodrich as Clowns Alexander P. Linton as a Sideshow: Sword Swallower George Marion as Man at Chatham Prison Torben Meyer as the Spy Joe Murphy as Hardquanonne's Messenger Edgar Norton as Lord High Chancellor Lon Poff as Townsman
Unknown roles Henry A. Barrows, Richard Bartlett, Les Bates, Charles Brinley, Allan Cavan, D'Arcy Corrigan, Howard Davies, J.C. Fowler, Charles Hancock, Lila LaPon, Broderick O'Farrell, Henry Roquemore, Templar Saxe, Allan Sears, Scott Seaton, Louis Stern, Al Stewart and Anton Vaverka.
Theme song The film featured a theme song entitled "When Love Comes Stealing", composed by Ernö Rapée with lyrics by Walter Hirsch and Lew Pollack.
The song had been originally recorded acoustically by tenor Lewis James on 4 March 1924 as Victor 19326-A. The song achieved a resurgence of popularity in early 1928, due to the popularity of film theme songs with the public. Because of the success of Rapée and Pollack's theme songs "Charmaine" and "Diane" for the films What Price Glory? and 7th Heaven. Several electrical recordings of "When Love Comes Stealing" appeared between February and October on Edison, Victor, Columbia, and Brunswick, including versions by Bob Haring (Regent Club Orchestra), Nathaniel Shilkret (The Troubadours), Joe Green (Dixie Marimba Players) and other orchestras (e.g., Jack Stillman, Herman Kenin, Jimmy McHugh). Vocal records also appeared, including those by tenors James Melton and Harold Scrappy Lambert.
Production
Following the success of Universal Pictures's 1923 adaptation of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, the company was eager to release another film starring Lon Chaney. A treatment adapting The Phantom of the Opera was prepared, but rejected by the Universal executives. In its place, Chaney was offered the lead in a film version of Hugo's The Man Who Laughs, to be produced under its French title (L'Homme Qui Rit) out of perceived similarity to Les Misérables. The Man Who Laughs, published in 1869, had been subject to significant criticism in both England and France, and was one of Hugo's least successful novels, but it had been filmed twice before. Pathé had produced L'Homme qui rit in France in 1908, and the Austrian film company Olympic-Film released a low-budget German version in 1921 as Das grinsende Gesicht.