The Man Who Laughs

“THE BREAKING HEART BEHIND THE LAUGHING FACE.”

In 1690, a nobleman who will not kiss the hand of King James is executed, and his young son is surgically cut into a permanent grin. The boy grows up as Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), a carnival performer, and he loves Dea (Mary Philbin), a blind girl who has never seen his face. Paul Leni shoots it in Expressionist shadow, and Veidt stands under the lamplight with that fixed smile and his hands hanging empty.