The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American synchronized sound romantic drama film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni.

The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1869 novel of the same name, and stars Mary Philbin as the blind Dea and Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine.

[1] In late 17th-century England, court jester Barkilphedro informs King James II of the capture of Lord Clancharlie, an exiled nobleman, who has returned for his young son, Gwynplaine.

Gwynplaine's frozen smile has earned him widespread popularity as "The Laughing Man," but he is deeply ashamed of his disfigurement, believing himself unworthy of Dea's affections.

Gwynplaine heads to the docks when he learns that Dea and Ursus were ordered to leave England, managing to elude Barkilphedro's men with the help of the villagers.

Many significant silent-era actors appeared in minor or uncredited roles, including D'Arcy Corrigan,[2] Torben Meyer, Edgar Norton, Nick De Ruiz, Frank Puglia, and Charles Puffy.

The film featured a theme song entitled "When Love Comes Stealing", composed by Ernö Rapée with lyrics by Walter Hirsch and Lew Pollack.

Following the success of Universal Pictures's 1923 adaptation of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, the company was eager to release another film starring Lon Chaney.

In its place, Chaney was offered the lead in a film version of Hugo's The Man Who Laughs, to be produced under its French title (L'Homme Qui Rit) out of perceived similarity to Les Misérables.

Pathé had produced L'Homme qui rit in France in 1908, and the Austrian film company Olympic-Film released a low-budget German version in 1921 as Das grinsende Gesicht.

Chaney's contract was amended, releasing him from The Man Who Laughs, but permitting him to name the replacement film, ultimately resulting in the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera.

Technologically superior to the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system used by The Jazz Singer, Movietone enabled image and sound to be recorded simultaneously in the same (photographic) medium, ensuring their precise and automatic synchronization.

[22] The Man Who Laughs was released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 4, 2019, sourced from a new 4K restoration, and features the original score performed by The Berklee College of Music Silent Film Orchestra.

"[26] The New York Times gave the film a slightly positive review, calling it "gruesome but interesting, and one of the few samples of pictorial work in which there is no handsome leading man.

Roger Ebert placed The Man Who Laughs on his Great Movies list, giving it four out of four stars and declaring the film to be "one of the final treasures of German silent Expressionism," commending Leni's "mastery of visual style.

"[28] Kevin Thomas from the Los Angeles Times gave the film a glowing review, describing it as "precisely the kind of all-stops-out romantic adventure that needs the silent rather than sound medium for maximum impact," and calling Leni "its perfect director, for his bravura Expressionist style lifts this tempestuous tale above the level of tear-jerker to genuinely stirring experience.

Henderson noted the film's "obsessive dualism," citing its "fascination with bric-a-brac and its tendency towards spare, minimalist compositions" as "evidence of a stylistic schism.

"[30] Time Out's Bob Baker called the film "a riot of Expressionist detail in Leni's forceful handling" anchored by Veidt's "sensitive rendering" of Gwynplaine.

"[31] Comparing the film to Leni's directorial effort from the previous year, The Cat and the Canary, the Chicago Reader's J. R. Jones found that The Man Who Laughs better demonstrates the director's "considerable dramatic and pictorial talents," with the love between Gwynplaine and Dea yielding "a sincere and extravagant sense of romance.

"[32] Writing for Little White Lies, Anton Bitel describes the film as never reaching the same horror as Leni's other features, Waxworks and The Cat and the Canary, despite its sometimes grisly subject matter, likening it to "a sentimental romance and a political satire, with just a smidgin of rooftop swashbuckling thrown in near the end."

He praised Veidt's ability to portray a full emotional range without being able to move "one of the face's most expressive parts," and called the theatricality and transgression of social norms within the film "carnivalesque," embodied most completely by Gwynplaine, "a man who is his mask".

The site's critical consensus reads, "A meeting of brilliant creative minds, The Man Who Laughs serves as a stellar showcase for the talents of director Paul Leni and star Conrad Veidt.

[37] Decades later, the themes and style of The Man Who Laughs were influences on Brian De Palma's 2006 The Black Dahlia, which incorporates some footage from the 1928 film.

Although Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson disagreed as to their respective roles in the 1940 creation of the Joker, they agreed that his exaggerated smile was influenced by a photograph of Veidt from the film.

[42] Horror-film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon described the 1961 film Mr. Sardonicus, also featuring a character with a horrifying grin, as "The Man Who Laughs ... remade, after a fashion".

[43] However, its director, William Castle, has stated the film is an adaptation of "Sardonicus", an unrelated short story by Ray Russell originally appearing in Playboy.