The New Pictures

The Man Who Laughs violates the three classic lunacies of cinema: 1) never follow closely the story of a great literary master; 2) always have at least one character who looks like the man in the Arrow collar advertisements; 3) never be thoroughly morbid. Hence, The Man Who Laughs is a truly great, a devastatingly beautiful film. It was made by Universal Pictures Corp. from the story by Victor Hugo, directed by Paul Leni (the German who did the sets for Variety), acted chiefly by Conrad Veidt (another German importation). The tale goes back to early medievalism in England where political irregularity was punished in a most horrible manner. Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), whose noble father had displeased King James II, was turned over to a gypsy band for proper punishment: a facial mutilation which leaves him with a perpetual and ghastly grin. In a travelling circus, Gwynplaine finds employment as a clown; he winces and tears muddy his eyes when thousands crowd around him and go into hysterical laughter. One girl, Dea (Mary Philbin), loves him and does not laugh at him; she is blind. Another old girl, Duchess Josiana, lusts for him because of his strange disfiguration. Queen Anne hates the duchess and tries to humiliate her by restoring Gwynplaine to his place in the peerage. There follows a superb scene: Gwynplaine appears in the House of Lords, first infuriating the members, then causing them to slap their gouty limbs in merriment. Disgusted, Gwynplaine returns to the lovely, blind Dea. They are blessed by their foster-father, a philosopher who calls himself "Dog" and his dog "Man"--a Hugonian touch, if ever there was one.

Glorious Betsy. Costumes are all right. So is the Vitaphone when it does not lisp. But the little locks on the nape of the neck of Dolores Costello are the hearts of the lettuce of this film, wherein Betsy, belle of Baltimore, wins Jerome, young brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, away from all the princesses of Europe.

Across to Singapore. Two seagoing sons of Jeremiah Shore of Paradise Cove, Mass., take a voyage to Singapore. One of them, ugly Mark (Ernest Torrence), becomes marooned with drink and Chinawomen, forgets his fiancee (Joan Crawford). The other son, handsome Joel (Ramon Novarro), is brought home in chains by the villainous members of the crew, who tell his father that he deserted Brother Mark. That is a lie. To vindicate himself, Brother Joel again sails to Singapore to fetch Brother Mark with the aid of Brother Mark's fiancee. After much skullduggery on land and sea, Brother Mark is killed while embracing the cause of Brother Joel. That is the signal for Ramon Novarro and Joan Crawford to give each other a buss over the dead body of ugly Ernest Torrence.