Gwynplaine, son of Lord Clancharlie, has a permanent smile carved on his face by the King, in revenge for Gwynplaine's father's treachery...
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Der Mann, der lacht (Germany) [de] El hombre que ríe (Spain) [es] Gülen adam (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr] L'homme qui rit (France) [fr] L'uomo che ride (Italy) [it] Nauruihminen (Finland) [fi] O Homem Que Ri (Brazil) [pt] more
Gwynplaine's fixed grin and disturbing clown-like appearance was a key inspiration for comic book talents 'Bob Kane (I)' and Jerry Robinson in creating Batman's greatest enemy, The Joker.
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Goofs:
Anachronisms: The opening titles set the film in 17th century England (1690 in the novel it is based on). Lord Clancharlie is sentenced to death in an Iron-Maiden, but this instrument of torture was not invented until 1793.
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Quotes:
Gwynplaine:
[Via subtitles, to the House of Lords] A king made me a clown! A queen made me a Peer! But first, God made me a man!
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This was our first Conrad Veidt experience. The Man Who Laughs is a
spellbinding piece of visual art. Veidt's acting is sensational. I knew
the plot of the story and wondered how he would portray feelings of
sadness
and regret with a permanent smile carved on his face. After viewing the
tape, we were amazed how the emotions exuded from the TV screen. This is
our second Mary Philbin experience and both of us prefer her acting in
this
movie to her role in The Phantom of the Opera.
We have viewed silents on the TV screen as well as the big screen. We
discovered that there is more of the "larger than life" emotions projected
and felt by the audience through the larger screenings that is somewhat
missed on the 27" TV screen. Not so with this performance. My wife and I
were both moved to watch it from the beginning...one more
time.
This was our first Conrad Veidt experience. The Man Who Laughs is a spellbinding piece of visual art. Veidt's acting is sensational. I knew the plot of the story and wondered how he would portray feelings of sadness and regret with a permanent smile carved on his face. After viewing the tape, we were amazed how the emotions exuded from the TV screen. This is our second Mary Philbin experience and both of us prefer her acting in this movie to her role in The Phantom of the Opera.
We have viewed silents on the TV screen as well as the big screen. We discovered that there is more of the "larger than life" emotions projected and felt by the audience through the larger screenings that is somewhat missed on the 27" TV screen. Not so with this performance. My wife and I were both moved to watch it from the beginning...one more time.