On the day I pre-ordered the new Flicker Alley dual format
release of the new 4k restoration of this film and The Final Warning, Paul Leni’s last two films, I went to see this screening
in one of the capital’s most elegant venues. This highly-influential take on Victor
Hugo’s featured accompaniment from the magnificent Meg Morley trio who provided
richly-textured improvisations that brought out the best in this odd and very
amusing film. Meg is classically-trained and a gifted jazz player and it’s
fascinating to watch her silent sensibilities filtered through this genre and in
also group setting.
Meg leads the group with striking confidence, especially as
they were playing “sight unseen” – no preview, no rehearsal - this was an unfolding
surprise for both them and us and it was full of warm, delightful chords as
well as dynamic progressions. Meg also took a cushioned mallet – it could have
been a duster - to the Club’s Steinway strings, before resuming the emphatic motifs
with swing and silent swagger. But somebody stop me before I make like Jack Kerouac;
I dug it OK?
The 1901 Arts Club is a compact long rectangle and the compact
acoustics perfectly projected Meg’s piano, Richard Sadler’s bass and Emiliano
Caroselli’s drums. The story is set in seventeenth century England but the
music works absolutely by dipping into the jazz sensibilities of the late twenties
as well as more modern textures. Most importantly and, as you’d expect from a Kennington
Bioscope Alumnus, Meg allows the narrative to breath and the actors to shine,
or, in the case of Olga Baklanova, positively burn… and, in the case of
Herr Veidt, dazzle.
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| Olga smokes... |
Original reviewers noted the Russian actresses astonishing
Albedo but it’s hard not to give credit to the laughing man himself, Conrad
Veidt who is acting with a huge prosthetic grin and still managing to convey
more emotions with his eyes than most with a full face. The film was adapted
from Victor Hugo’s durned weird novel in which a fallen aristocrat is
disfigured as a child and somehow manages to rise once again despite his permanent
grin. It’s said, that the film inspired Batman’s nemesis The Joker in which
case Olga B might well have lain the ground work for Catwoman or, as she was
originally known, The Cat… she’s certainly the, ahem, cat’s whiskers.
Having watched Leni’s Cat
and the Canary the night before, it was interesting to see the director’s
work and quite a few of the same performers – he was clearly hitting a great
groove which makes his untimely death in 1929 all the more regretful. But
whilst that Cat is a spooky mystery this one is an outright creepy comedy and
it says much for contemporary sensibilities that audiences were attracted to its
dark disturb.
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| Lokking through Conrad Veidt's eyes |
Veidt plays Gwynplaine a man scarred for life from childhood
by a group of travellers led by Dr. Hardquanonne (George Siegmann) who
specialised in cosmetic disfigurement in order to create oddities suitable for
circus performers. In this case, Charles II, and successor James II (Samuel de Grasse)
has ordered the mutilation as revenge on the boy’s father who has displeased
him. The father, Lord Clancharlie (Connie dashing not laughing) is mercilessly
squished in the Iron Lady and the boy’s face will forever be locked in an
horrific grin… laughing at his father’s betrayal.
It’s a brutal beginning but the film soon begins to work its
uncanny rhythms and hope emerges as the boy rescues a blind baby from the
bitter cold and finds sanctuary with an itinerant circus performer called Ursus
(Cesare Gravina) who lives in a caravan with his pet wolf Homo (Zimbo the Dog)
…
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| Not the Meg Morley Trio |
All grown up now and Gwynplaine’s face has made him the most
popular clown in town – people just can’t help but laugh when they see his
hysterical smile but, in spite of the gadgetry and painful false teeth he wore,
Veidt’s eyes give so much more away: pain but also something more, his love for
blonde, beautiful and blind Dea (Mary Philbin, the Sheila Eaton to Olga’s
Madonna, the Taylor to her Gaga etc…) who loves him back. But she has never
seen his disfigurement nor felt his smile… Gwynplaine cannot believe that she
would still love him if she knew what he really looked like.
But, as in all such tales, Gwyn’s past is still in front of
him… Lord Clancharlie’s land and property was given to the family who betrayed
him and so Laughing Boy has an inheritance and a peerage he knows nothing
about. The beneficiary is one Duchess
Josiana (Olga B) who leads a life of carefree debauchery and expressive bathing
as a servant’s key-hole view of her boudoir reveals.
The troupe travel to entertain the court of Queen Anne
(Josephine Crowell) and, as their weird play proceeds, the crowd breaks into
hysterics and yet daring Duchess Josiana cannot decide whether to laugh or lust;
there’s something more deeply intriguing about Gwynplaine’s unrelenting grin.
She orders him to be brought to her chambers sending him a
note from “the woman who did not laugh” neglecting to mention the reason why, although he
soon finds out. Gwynplaine is impressed if only for the reason that if the
Duchess can fancy him, then Dea may also… so he must let down her lustful ladyship.
Meanwhile the Queen’s aid, Barkilphedro (Brandon Hurst), has
found out that Gwynplaine is the rightful owner of the Duchess’ land and for
her to retain her title, she will need to marry him. The Queen orders his
capture and immediate ennoblement.
Can Gwynplaine escape from his new-found position, refuse his Queen’s instruction and go in search of Dea all the while
turning down the desirous Duchess? Knowing Victor Hugo, you’d have to say not
but this is Hollywood and the unexpected is always possible if not probable.
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| Mary Philbin with Zimbo The Dog |
It’s a splendid romp with Leni making light of the
convoluted plot and playing for drama and laughs in equal measure. The cast are
exemplary even though poor Mary Philbin often gets overlooked in favour of the dynamic
duo: The Joker and The Cat.
You can now pre-order the new 4k restoration from Flicker Alley and the film comes in dual format with a new score form Sonia Coronado,
along with the original Movietone and stack of extras including an essay from our own Kevin Brownlow and a visual essay by John Soister on Leni's work at Universal
during this period. There's a trailer here - it looks dynamic and so clear.
For further Southbank Silents screenings follow them on the Twitter @SouthbankSilent and the 1901 Arts Club on the web-thingy.
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| There's that Steinway, just waiting to be played... |
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