THE MAN WHO LAUGHS

Paul Leni’s THE MAN WHO LAUGHS is a hauntingly beautiful fusion of Hollywood spectacle and German Expressionist artistry, adapted from a classic Victor Hugo novel. Conrad Veidt delivers one of silent cinema’s unforgettable performances as Gwynplaine, a man mutilated in childhood into an image that would inspire Batman’s arch-nemesis, the Joker. Yet behind his grotesque smile lies a soul racked with loneliness and longing, his only solace found in the love of the blind Dea (Mary Philbin). Director Paul Leni was brought to Universal after his visionary work in Germany on such pictures as WAXWORKS (1924). His direction infuses the film with stylized shadows, breathtaking compositions, and sequences of staggering visual power, from a snow-lashed deportation ship to the political intrigues of the House of Lords. Part romance, part social critique, and part gothic melodrama, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS stands as a triumph of silent-era artistry and an emotionally devastating tale of love, cruelty, and resilience. And just wait until you meet the domesticated wolf whose name is Homo!