originally posted on tumblr, Feb 24th 2026 

Movie-A-Day-Thon #1: The Man Who Laughs (1928) feb 24th

For the occasional Joker enjoyer that I am, I should have watched this long ago! I do have a fondness for older movies, the black and white era stuff, but silent movies tend to bounce me off half of the time. Guess the old ADHD struggles with keeping attention without proper dialogue? Well it happened on this one too, took me a bit to get through it.

Regardless, one of the reasons I so appreciate black and white movies, is the photography of them. The powerful contrasts and composition of shots are really something, and The Man Who Laughs has those shots aplenty! Once I got a taste of them, the rest of the movie followed pretty easy.

Imagine my shock to find out Victor Hugo wrote the original story?! Somehow that completely slipped by me! But in hindsight it does fit, given the whole Comprachicos thing which, wow what a whack to the back of the head that was. I know it comes with the territory watching older stuff, with how debonair they can be with such xenophobia, but it somehow always stuns me. I haven’t checked what the original story looks like though, this series is about movies and the visual storytelling after all.

Conrad Veidt does a phenomenal work with his expressions, and I can see what some critics said that this movie felt like a horror movie even though it is a melodrama at heart. The angst, the theatrical poses, the unnerving music choices at times, they all lend a really unsettling nature to some of the scenes. I don’t think it’s as German Expressionist as like, Dr Caligari or Nosferatu, the sets are more grounded overall, but the energy of it still comes through pretty well.

I also really did appreciate the costuming and set designs? Maybe I’m too fried from CGI sets and other modern paraphernalia, but seeing all those intricate sets and clothes that were absolutely made by hand and with care, healed a little bit of me. It’s the kind of stuff you don’t fully realize how much you miss until you get it back, yknow?

Anyway really dramatic and sweet story, steeped in the trappings of its time, but still overall enjoyable.

Also! The dog named Homo reminded me of Baleia from Vidas Secas, and the doggie actor was really cute! Especially when he killed that guy!