The Man Who Laughs (1928) 1/11

Directed by Paul Leni

Conrad Veidt - Gwynplaine

Mary Philbin - Dea

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo.

As a young boy Gwynplaine, the son of a disfavoured Lord, becomes the victim of revenge against his father -- the King orders the boy have a permanent smile carved onto is face. Abandoned by his captors in the winter snow, he finds a baby girl in the arms of her dead mother. They are taken in by a travelling freak show and Gwynplaine becomes a popular attraction. As they grow up together, Gwynplaine falls in love with Dea, the child he rescued, who is blind, and she with him. Unaware of his true identity, Gwynplaine becomes unwittingly drawn back into the world of politics that had left him so horrifically scarred many years ago...

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• silent
• film
• the
• man
• who
• laughs
• victor
• hugo
• conrad
• veidt
• paul
• leni

[cougarmanification]

vsauce

[TheaterRaven]

I swear, if I see ONE MORE "Look, the father of the Joker!" comment about Gwynplaine . . . Don't get me wrong, I love the Joker and yes, Bob Kane WAS inspired by this film to create him, but for God's sake, Gwynplaine was NOT HIS FATHER. If Dea had a child sired by Gwynplaine who grew up to be the Joker, that would be a horror movie waiting to happen. And I know people don't LITERALLY mean Gwynplaine was his father, but come on, guys, they're two totally different characters. I'm just sayin'. :)

[MaskedMan66]

@EpicF4iLx23 Only if the Joker's over 200 years old; this takes place in the 1800's.

[MaskedMan66]

@TheaterRaven If you ever decide to read comics, stick to Twentieth Century stuff; the current crop of comics is dreadful. As for the Joker, he apparently had the flesh of his face cut off recently...

Ledger was brilliant, except for his very lame "laugh."

That sounds like something Gwynplaine would say!

[MaskedMan66]

@TheaterRaven Frank Miller did; it's called "The Dark Knight Returns." :-)

[MaskedMan66]

@logandh2 Don't display your ignorance.

[TheaterRaven]

@MaskedMan66 Well, I'm not a comic book reader, but I did enjoy "The Dark Knight" very much. Heath Ledger stole the show for me, incredible actor, so sad we lost him so soon.

I'd love to see Gwynplaine comment on the Joker!

"In what odd universe does a Glasgow smile immediately make someone a psychotic killer? And what chemicals contort the face and dye it to instantly look like a clown? God help children everywhere if the Comprachicos got their hands on such a substance!"

[TheaterRaven]

@MaskedMan66 Hahaha, yeah, really. Okay, they need to make a senior citizen edition of Batman! XD

[MaskedMan66]

@TheaterRaven LOL "Oh, except when that cute li'l psychiatrist with the pigtails calls me 'Puddin'.'"

[MaskedMan66]

@TheaterRaven Well, they wanted him to look like the Joker of the comics, and he looked just like Gwynplaine. The only other difference (apart from the hair color) was the mustache-- but of course, nobody was supposed to notice that!

Oh, and don't give DC Comics any ideas; they're really turning out horror comics these days already!

[yonoko465]

@MaskedMan66 YEAH I KNOW ALREADY

[TheaterRaven]

@MaskedMan66 Exactly, although, if you look at Cesar Romero's Joker, it's like they weren't even TRYING to make him look different from Conrad. He bascially looks exactly like Gwynplaine except he has green hair.

I think the only thing that would be worse than the Joker being Gwynplaine and Dea's child is if the Joker somehow slipped into 18th century England and started masquerading as Gwynplaine. Poor, poor Dea!