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It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Practically ALL horror movies from the silent era are brilliant masterpieces, but obviously you have to be in a certain type of mood in order to truly appreciate them. You can't just pop a silent horror into the DVD-player after a busy and stressful day, as these are films that you literally have to absorb with all your senses. Whether it's a German expressionist classic ("Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens", "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari"…) or one of the earliest Universal classics ("The Phantom of the Opera", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"…), silent horror movies are sophisticated and emotionally exhausting, but oh so worthwhile! "The Man Who Laughs" is a Universal production, albeit with the collaboration of German expressionist talent. The famous production company hired the visionary director Paul Leni ("Waxworks") and charismatic protagonist Conrad Veidt ("The Hands of Orlac") in order to peer with the previous success films, but unfortunately the invention of sound in films and the very first movies with audible dialogs were in 1928 the main reasons why "The Man who Laughs" sadly never received the fame and recognition it fully deserved. Almost 90 years later now, the film luckily does get considered as an immortal classic. "The Man who Laughs" is a brilliant movie, but not exactly from start to finish. I have to say, the first 15-20 minutes are downright mesmerizing and most definitely belong in my personal list of greatest movie-moments in history. I could probably write five full pages about the magical first quarter, so unbelievably fantastic it is! The opening sequences are simultaneously endearing, shocking, horrifying and tragic. James II, King of England in the year 1690, and his diabolical jester Barkilphedro capture nemesis Lord Clancharlie and condemn him to death in the iron maiden. Right before dying, Lord Clancharlie also finds out that his young son Gwynplaine got sold to the cruel Comprachico gypsies. They surgically carve a permanent grin in the faces of their victims to sell them as clowns or jesters. Later, when the Comprachicos are exiled from England, they abandon the poor and reluctantly smiling boy in the cold England. He rescues a baby girl from the arms of her dead mother and finds shelter under the wings of the wise philosopher Ursus. This description only covers the first fifteen minutes of the film, but – as stated clear already – they are stupendous! The visually striking first scene inside the flamboyant bedroom of King James, Gwynplaine's heartbreaking journey through the snow and underneath dangling corpses on the gallows and, most of all, the perplexing moment when the young boy saves the blind baby Dea that would later become his muse. The footage where the Gwynplaine's savior Ursus screams: "Stop laughing! Stop laughing, I said!" and the poor lad replies with "I'm not laughing" truly brought tears to my eyes. Most unfortunately, however, the remaining hour and a half aren't nearly as brilliant, captivating and emotional as the first fifteen. Gwynplaine and Dea grow up but remain with Urses and they make a living as traveling circus artists. Gwynplaine becomes famous across the nation as "the laughing man". He gets recognized as the lost son of Lord Clancharlie and becomes noticed by the eccentric Duchess Josiana. Far too much time is spent on the forced romance/game of seduction between Gwynplaine and Josiana, illustrated through a couple of scenes that were very erotic and ahead of their time, even though it's abundantly clear that his craving to be with his beloved Dea will overrule everything. The film too often gets a little bit tedious and repetitive, but plenty of things remain worth seeing, like the continuously stellar acting performances from the ensemble cast, too many to mention visual highlights captured by Paul Leni's gifted art-director's eye and a genuinely uncanny atmosphere every time that diabolical jester Barkilphedro in on screen. All footage with the sensual actress Olga Baclanova (later the anti-heroine in "Freaks") literally burst with eroticism, whereas actress Mary Philbin embodies the pure and wide-eyed innocence. Conrad Veidt

This takes place in 17th century England. A young noble mans son Gwynplaine (played as an adult by Conrad Veidt) is kidnapped by a political enemy. He then has a surgeon carve a monstrous grin on the boys face. Years later he's part of a freak show and in love with a beautiful blind girl (Mary Philbin). However his political personage becomes known and causes trouble.This is usually advertised as a horror film due to Veidt's hideous grin but it's not. It's a slow-moving and frankly boring historical drama. Universal spend a lot of money on this and it shows. The sets and costumes are very elaborate and it IS well-directed by Paul Leni. Also Veidt is great in his role. He had to convey all his emotions through his eyes and pulls it off. However I was bored silly and had my finger of the fast forward button more than once. Also Mary Philbin was terrible as the blind girl. Boring and uninvolving.

I had been familiar with the image of Veidt grinning for years and had always presumed this film to be a horror/dark thriller picture.In actuality it's a sweeping costume epic but with an extraordinarily unusual central story.Written down the story would seem melodramatic, even corny ,yet the strangeness of it's performances,the bizarre beauty of it's imagery combine to make a truly unforgettable experience.My expectations of a creaking story with perhaps some interesting scenes were replaced by an awe struck entertainment.Afterwards i was surprised how well a reasonably complicated story was told without dialogue and a minimum of title cards,Paul Leni had developed a truly sophisticated visual story telling technique.Watching you realise how the advent of sound actually restricted the development of film in the following decade.Around three quarters of the way through the film looses its footing somewhat and becomes a little unfocused but rallies in time for a rousing climax. A film of stunning imagery and great performances.

Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), son of Lord Clancharlie, has a permanent smile carved on his face by the King, in revenge for Gwynplaine's father's treachery.You cannot go wrong with the dark prince of the German screen, Conrad Veidt, and here joined by Mary Philbin. Apparently Lon Chaney was originally cast as Gwynplaine, but at the last minute, he withdrew. Veidt does a fine Chaney impersonation here with the wild prosthetics.The Chaney connection is clear, with the face being in the style of "Phantom of the Opera", and preceding (by a great many years) "Mr. Sardonicus". It has been said that Gwynplaine's fixed grin and disturbing clown-like appearance was a key inspiration for comic book talents Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson in creating Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker. The source for this is unclear to me, though.