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2 articles from 2008

20 July 2008 12:06 PM, PDT | From TwitchFilm.net | See recent Twitch news

Along with the lineage that can be traced from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) back to Paul Leni’s The Man Who Laughs (1928) is the latter’s indelible imprint upon Brian DePalma’s 2006 neo-noir The Black Dahlia, based on James Ellroy’s novel, where mutilation reclaims its destructive thrust as an expressive mask of life’s inequitable if not inevitable horrors.

To synopsize briefly, in The Man Who Laughs—the filmic adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1869 novel—Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), the son of a noble father who has displeased King James II, is turned over to a surgeon, Dr. Hardquannone (George Siegman), associated with a band of ostracized and feared gypsies, the Comprachicos (literally “child-buyers"), for proper punishment: a facial mutilation which leaves him with a permanent and ghastly rictus grin. As a title card states, the King condemns him “to laugh forever at his fool of a father.

Michael Guillen

18 July 2008 2:25 PM, PDT | From TwitchFilm.net | See recent Twitch news

In an assured and brilliant stroke of timely programming, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival ("Sfsff") included Paul Leni‘s 1928 “silent” classic The Man Who Laughs as their Centerpiece presentation, acknowledging the direct influence the film’s protagonist Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt) had upon the creation and development of Bob Kane‘s Batman archnemesis The Joker (masterfully appropriated by Heath Ledger in a consummate swan song performance for Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight).

Television producer and director Frank Buxton, a member of the Sfsff Board of Directors for the last 12-13 years, emceed The Man Who Laughs. He recalled back to the festival’s first year when “about four people” were in the audience, whereas now he enthused proudly that the festival was “packed to the rafters.” He introduced Mike Mashon from the Library of Congress who detailed the preservation of the print of The Man Who Laughs provided the festival.

Michael Guillen

2 articles from 2008