The Man Who Laughs

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.