THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (Masters of Cinema) Blu-ray [2020]

*2 and a half out of 5*The Criterion Challenge9. A silent filmA late 20’s cult favourite silent film. Set in the 18th century, The Man Who Laughs follows Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt). Disfigured by a king as a child, he again becomes the pawn of royalty and star of the freak show of a travelling carnival.There is no doubt that the film is most known for inspiring the appearance of one of (if not) pop culture’s most iconic villains: the Joker. As well as the similarities between it and 2019’s Joker and getting a fantastic re-release by Eureka. The film boasts immersive sets and costumes, an impressive lead performance and a very fitting orchestral score. However it also features a largely dull, plodding, weak romance plot and largely uninteresting characters.A lot of people seem to immediately assume that The Man Who Laughs is a horror film. This is understandable as the marketing and memorable images are largely centred on the haunting pained grin of the protagonist and morbid shadow heavy iconography. Outside of a couple of shots and scenes, this is no horror film. It’s actually a melodramatic romance, which unfortunately failed to hold my attention and investment.The carnival centric sequences are the most engaging and atmospheric set pieces of the film. When the royal, heritage drama comes into play and weak romance take centre stage the film loses its quirky mystique and becomes like a typical period melodrama. At just under 2 hours I feel the film is simply too long for its material and the restrictions of the silent era don’t help with the engagement of the characters and dialogue.Visually the film is superb. The era is caught perfectly. From the riotous atmosphere of the carnival, the gargantuan and wealthy castles, and the garish prosthesis effects to achieve Gwynplaine’s now iconic grin. The shadows and lighting craft some impressive shots and there is some creative editing for the time.Conrad Veidt gives a brilliant lead performance. Perfectly capturing the tragedy, sorrow and pain of the protagonist and utilising his eyes and body language to convey emotions. Unfortunately the rest of the cast of characters aren’t particularly interesting or memorable. Olga Baclanova is probably the most notable though as the giggling, manipulative and strong presenced Duchess.The Man Who Laughs is a film I appreciate but didn’t enjoy. The visual style, impressive technical elements for the era and central performance are all strong. It’s simply the shuffling story pacing, the narrative itself, no real tangible thrills in the brief horror moments and lack of character substance and emotional investment all work to let it down for me personally. The Eureka blu-ray art is fantastic though as is the restoration.

Conrad Veidt excellent as always. Good picture quality for a film nearly a 100 years old. Historical romance drama about a disfigured man.

This is - as you'd expect from the Masters of Cinema series - a brilliantly restored film. It's possible to sit back and enjoy this without once being distracted by jerky edits or similar drops in quality. Instead, you get to focus on the film itself, and find a visually stunning and emotionally moving piece of cinema. You don't have to be a film buff to enjoy this, it's genuinely engaging in its own right.

This movie is absolutely fantastic. My Hubbie and I were glued to the TV which is unusual for him with really old films. The performances were fantastic too - Conrad Veidt was so expressive and he could only convey his emotions through his eyes! I really bought into the plight of Gwynplaine and cared about what became of him. I was greatly moved by this movie, it is definitely a classic. A must for anyone's collection.

really enjoyed this movie,it holds up surprising well for an 90 year old film with very moving performances from both conrad veit in the title role and mary philbin who is probably best remembered by silent film fans as christine from the lon chaney phantom.recomended.

A great dramatic film.I don't know anything about the history of this film.. I'm a casual Prime Streaming viewer who's exhaused the B&W horror/monster flicks available and stumbled upon this cracker. I was interested to see in the credits that Victor Hugo wrote the original novel.Although the speech is displayed as text in a silent movie format, there's a fantastic soundtrack with loads of incidental and background sounds. Very strong characterisation and not TOO overplayed. Obviously, Gwynplaine the protagonist was well played but I thought The Queen was a standout as well. Of course, Homo is the REAL star!A really dramatic and quite thrilling film towards the end. A remarkable production.Best thing I've seen on Prime for a while.

I will say nothing about this truly great film itself - you can read that elsewhere. This release by Master of Cinema is truly gorgeous and a print that defies belief that this film is coming up for almost 100 years old. A beautiful and informative booklet make this my favourite release from MoC for quite some time. Simply sublime.

All I can say about this is EXCELLENT !! simple as that.