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The Supernatural and the OccultFilm 18 of 20
The Man Who Laughs
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Paul Leni, Universal, 1928, from Hugo. Conrad Veidt is Gwynplaine, a nobleman’s child carved into a permanent grin and raised among show people; Mary Philbin is the blind Dea. Jack Pierce worked the makeup in the same Room 5 Chaney had used. The court wants the face back when the title proves useful. Leni, after The Cat and the Canary, plays England as a German set. Veidt’s mouth is a wire and greasepaint that he has to act through. Batman's Joker was drawn from Veidt's grin. The laugh is someone else’s idea.
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The Supernatural and the Occult
A face carved into a grin, and an actor who has to work through it. Veidt's mouth is wire and greasepaint, and the eyes above it are the performance. Leni plays England as a German set. Hugo's cruelty on a Universal lot, and the eyes doing what the mouth cannot.
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