The Man Who Laughs (Paul Leni, 1928) Centerpiece Film

Batman creator Bob Kane credited the title character, whose face was disfigured into a gruesome grin, as the visual inspiration for The Joker. Preceded by short: THE VOICE INVISIBLE/MAKING A RECORD (c.1919) $15 Member/$17 Non-Member

Our centerpiece film is a macabre tale of one man's tortuous struggle for love, brought to life with nightmarish verisimilitude by german expressionist director paul leni. Conrad veidt ("the cabinet of dr. Caligari") is gwynplaine, an english nobleman's son disfigured by a gypsy doctor so that his face is fixed in the rictus of a grotesque grin, forever marking him as the man who laughs. Batman creator bob kane credited veidt's hideous make-up as the visual inspiration for the joker. Live organ accompaniment bya href=http://www.clarkwilson.net/clark wilson/a
cast: conrad veidt, mary philbin, olga baclanova, josephine crowell
dir: paul leni (1927, 109m)
35mm print source:a href=http://www.loc.gov/index.htmlthe library of congress/a
preceded by short: the voice invisible/making a record (c.1919, 7m)
underwritten bya href=http://www.mcroskey.com/mcroskey mattress company/a
program length: 125m
admission price: $15 member/$17 non-member