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The Man Who Laughs (1928 film)

The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American romantic drama silent film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's 1869 novel of the same name, and stars Mary Philbin as the blind Dea and Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine. The film is known for the grotesque grin on the character Gwynplaine's face, which often leads it to be classified as a horror film. Film critic Roger Ebert stated "The Man Who Laughs is a melodrama, at times even a swashbuckler, but so steeped in expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film."

The Man Who Laughs
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul Leni
Screenplay byJ. Grubb Alexander
Walter Anthony
Mary McLean
Charles E. Whittaker
Based onThe Man Who Laughs
by Victor Hugo
Produced byCarl Laemmle
StarringMary Philbin
Conrad Veidt
Brandon Hurst
Cesare Gravina
Stuart Holmes
Samuel de Grasse
George Siegmann
Josephine Crowell
CinematographyGilbert Warrenton
Edited byEdward L. Cahn
Maurice Pivar
Music byJeff Rapsis Berklee College of Music
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • April 27, 1928 (1928-04-27) (NYC Premiere)
  • November 4, 1928 (1928-11-04)
Running time
110 minutes (10 reels)
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

The Man Who Laughs is a romantic melodrama similar to films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film was one of the earliest Universal Picture films that made the transition from silent films to sound films using the Movietone sound system introduced by William Fox. The film was completed in August 1927 but was set for release in October 1928 with sound effects and a musical score which included the song "When Love Comes Stealing."

Plot Edit

In late 17th-century England, court jester Barkilphedro informs King James II of the capture of Lord Clancharlie, an exiled nobleman, who has returned for his young son, Gwynplaine. The King tells Lord Clancharlie that a grin was carved upon the boy's face by Hardquanonne, a Comprachico surgeon. Lord Clancharlie is executed in an iron maiden.

Shortly afterward, the King issues a decree banishing all Comprachicos from England. A group of Comprachicos prepares to set sail from England, abandoning young Gwynplaine. The boy struggles through a snowstorm and rescues a baby girl whose mother had frozen to death. They are taken in by Ursus, a kindly philosopher-showman, and his pet wolf, Homo. Ursus realizes that the baby girl, named Dea, is blind.

Years later, Gwynplaine and Dea, now adults and in love, travel the countryside with Ursus, performing plays he has written for them. Gwynplaine's frozen smile has earned him widespread popularity as "The Laughing Man," but he is deeply ashamed of his disfigurement, believing himself unworthy of Dea's affections. Hardquanonne recognizes Gwynplaine at the Southwark Fair and sends a letter to the Duchess Josiana, which is intercepted by Barkilphedro, now an influential agent of the court. The letter claims knowledge of a living heir to the estates of Lord Clancharlie – currently being occupied by the Duchess – and suggests that she pay Hardquanonne for his silence. Barkilphedro shows the letter to Queen Anne, and his men take Hardquanonne to Chatham Prison to be tortured. The Queen sends the Duchess's fiancé, Lord Dirry-Moir, to retrieve her after she shirks her duties at the royal court. Dirry-Moir finds the Duchess shamelessly cavorting with the local men at the Southwark Fair. A brawl breaks out, and she leaves for Kensington Palace.

From a balcony, the Duchess watches Gwynplaine's act at the fair, and finds herself both sexually aroused and repelled by his disfigurement. A messenger gives him a note arranging a rendezvous at midnight, and while conflicted over his feelings for Dea, he sneaks out of the caravan that night. His departure is heard by a worried and heartbroken Dea, who finds the letter. Gwynplaine is ushered inside the Duchess's estate, where she attempts to seduce him, but is interrupted by the delivery of a pronouncement informing her of Gwynplaine's noble lineage and the Queen's decree that she marry Gwynplaine, thereby legitimizing her occupation of the late Lord Clancharlie's estates, with her engagement to Dirry-Moir already having been annulled. The Duchess begins to laugh, causing Gwynplaine to rush away, devastated at again being made into a mockery.

Gwynplaine returns home and extracts the Duchess's letter clutched in Dea's hands as she sleeps. He tears the note into pieces before breaking down into tears, overcome by guilt. Dea wakes up, relieved to find he has returned. He guides her hands to feel his smile for the first time, and she reassures him that God made her sightless so she could see only the real Gwynplaine. Guards arrive to arrest Gwynplaine, and he is taken to Chatham Prison. When the guards later march out of the prison bearing Hardquanonne's coffin, Ursus mistakenly concludes that Gwynplaine has been executed. Barkilphedro arrives to notify Ursus he has been banished from England, and cruelly lies to him that the "laughing mountebank" is dead. Hearing this from the stage, Dea faints in shock.

Gwynplaine is freed from prison and is to be made a peer in the House of Lords. The next day, he is brought to London for his introduction ceremony by Barkilphedro at the same time as Ursus and Dea head for the Thames docks to leave the country. Their vehicle carriage wheels lock and Ursus's pet wolf, Homo, leads Dea to the House of Lords. The peers are outraged that somebody who they believe to be a clown has joined their ranks. Gwynplaine is presented to Queen Anne, who decrees Gwynplaine will marry the Duchess. Dirry-Moir brings Dea inside the building, but she is tricked into going back outside by Barkilphedro and brought to Ursus. Upset over the peers' mockery, Gwynplaine renounces his peerage and refuses to marry the Duchess. He escapes from the guards and runs through the streets, only to find his show closed. Gwynplaine heads to the docks when he learns that Dea and Ursus were ordered to leave England, managing to elude Barkilphedro's men with the help of the villagers. When he reaches the docks, Gwynplaine's cries are heard by Homo, who leaps off the ship and swims to him. The wolf-dog mauls a guard about to attack Gwynplaine. They are pulled aboard. Gwynplaine is reunited with Ursus and Dea and together, they sail away.

Cast Edit

Veidt also had a dual role as Gwynplaine's father Lord Clancharlie. Many significant silent-era actors appeared in minor or uncredited roles, including D'Arcy Corrigan,[1] Torben Meyer, Edgar Norton, Nick De Ruiz, Frank Puglia, and Charles Puffy.[2] Zimbo, a German Shepherd, played Ursus's pet wolf, Homo (whose name is a pun on the Latin saying "Homo homini lupus").

Production Edit

 
Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, an inspiration for the DC Comics supervillain the Joker, the nemesis of Batman

Following the success of Universal Pictures's 1923 adaptation of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, the company was eager to release another film starring Lon Chaney. A treatment adapting The Phantom of the Opera was prepared, but rejected by the Universal executives. In its place, Chaney was offered the lead in a film version of Hugo's The Man Who Laughs, to be produced under its French title (L'Homme Qui Rit) out of perceived similarity to Les Misérables.[3] The Man Who Laughs, published in 1869, had been subject to significant criticism in both England and France, and was one of Hugo's least successful novels,[4] but it had been filmed twice before. Pathé had produced L'Homme qui rit in France in 1908, and the Austrian film company Olympic-Film released a low-budget German version in 1921 as Das grinsende Gesicht.[5]

Despite Chaney's contract, production did not begin. Universal had failed to acquire film rights to the Hugo novel from the French studio Société Générale des Films. Chaney's contract was amended, releasing him from The Man Who Laughs, but permitting him to name the replacement film, ultimately resulting in the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera.[6] After the success of Phantom, studio chief Carl Laemmle returned to The Man Who Laughs for Universal's next Gothic film "super-production".[7][8] Laemmle selected two fellow expatriate Germans for the project. Director Paul Leni had been hired by Universal following his internationally acclaimed Waxworks,[9] and had already proven himself to the company with The Cat and the Canary.[10] Countryman Conrad Veidt was cast in the Gwynplaine role that was previously intended for Chaney. Veidt had worked with Leni for Waxworks and several other German films, and was well known for his role as Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.[11][12] American actress Mary Philbin, who had played Christine Daaé opposite Chaney in Phantom, was cast as Dea.[13]

Leni was provided with a skilled crew. Charles D. Hall was chosen to design the sets. He had previously adapted Ben Carré's stage sets to film for Phantom and had worked with Leni for The Cat and the Canary.[12] Jack Pierce became the head makeup artist at Universal in 1926, and was responsible for crafting Gwynplaine's appearance.[12]

During the sequence where Gwynplaine is presented to the House of Lords, the extras were so moved by Veidt's performance that they burst into applause.[14]

Universal put over $1,000,000 into The Man Who Laughs, an extremely high budget for an American film of the time.[15]

Music and sound Edit

The Man Who Laughs was originally released as a silent film with dialogue rendered through intertitles, and projected with musical accompaniment which would vary by venue. The phenomenal success of 1927's The Jazz Singer, the first commercially successful sound film, heralded the demise of the silent era. By May the next year, virtually every Hollywood studio was licensed by Western Electric's newly created marketing subsidiary, Electrical Research Products, Incorporated, to use Western Electric equipment with the Movietone sound-on-film recording system. Technologically superior to the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system used by The Jazz Singer, Movietone enabled image and sound to be recorded simultaneously in the same (photographic) medium, ensuring their precise and automatic synchronization.[16]

Universal used Movietone to provide The Man Who Laughs with a monophonic orchestral score in November 1928 that included occasional synchronized sounds including bells, knocks, and trumpets. The score was built around the waltz song "When Love Comes Stealing," composed in 1923 by Ernö Rapée with lyrics by Walter Hirsch and Lew Pollack.[17] It had been originally recorded acoustically by tenor Lewis James on 4 March 1924 as Victor 19326-A but achieved a resurgence of popularity in early 1928, possibly because of the success of Rapée and Pollack's waltz songs "Charmaine" and "Diane" as theme songs for the films What Price Glory? and 7th Heaven. Six commercially-issued electrical recordings of "When Love Comes Stealing" appeared between February and October on Edison, Victor, Columbia, and Brunswick, including versions by Jack Stillman's, Nathaniel Shilkret's, and Herman Kenin's orchestras, Jimmy McHugh's Bostonians, and tenor James Melton, well before its use in connection with The Man Who Laughs.

Release Edit

Theatrical release Edit

The Man Who Laughs opened on April 27, 1928, at New York's Central Theatre. Proceeds from the opening night were donated to the non-profit organization American Friends of Blérancourt. The film was released in the United States on November 4, 1928.

The Man Who Laughs received two releases in the United Kingdom. The film originally released in London on May 16, 1928, completely silent, with a score provided by each theater's resident musicians. Universal later used the Movietone sound-on-film process to give the film a synchronized musical score, which released in London on November 30, 1928.

Home media Edit

For many years, the film was not publicly available. In the 1960s, The Man Who Laughs was among the films preserved by the Library of Congress following a donation from the American Film Institute; along with 22 other such films, it was shown at the New York Film Festival in 1969.[18] It was again screened by Peter Bogdanovich at the Telluride Film Festival in 1998,[19] but remained largely unavailable until Kino International and the Cineteca di Bologna produced a restored version of the film made from two American prints and an Italian print.[20][21] This restoration was released on DVD by Kino on November 16, 2007.[21] Slant Magazine gave this DVD 3.5 out of 5 stars, citing the overall quality of the restoration and the uniqueness of the included extras, including a home movie of Veidt.[20] Kino included this DVD in their five-volume American Silent Horror Collection box set on October 9, 2007.[22] Sunrise Silents also produced a DVD of the film, edited to a slightly longer runtime than the Kino restoration, released in October 2008.[21]

The Man Who Laughs was released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 4, 2019, sourced from a new 4K restoration, and features the original score performed by The Berklee College of Music Silent Film Orchestra.[23] The film was also restored on August 17, 2020, by Masters of Cinema.

Critical reception Edit

Contemporary Edit

Initially, the critical assessment of The Man Who Laughs judged the film mediocre, with some critics disliking the morbidity of the subject matter and others complaining that the German-looking sets did not evoke 17th-century England.[8]

Paul Rotha was particularly critical. In his 1930 book on the history of film, The Film Till Now, he called The Man Who Laughs a "travesty of cinematic methods,"[24] and declared that in directing it, Leni "became slack, drivelling, slovenly, and lost all sense of decoration, cinema, and artistry."[25] The New York Times gave the film a slightly positive review, calling it "gruesome but interesting, and one of the few samples of pictorial work in which there is no handsome leading man."[26]

Modern Edit

The Man Who Laughs has received critical acclaim from modern critics as an influential German Expressionist horror film made during the height of the silent era. Roger Ebert placed The Man Who Laughs on his Great Movies list, giving it four out of four stars and declaring the film to be "one of the final treasures of German silent Expressionism," commending Leni's "mastery of visual style."[27] Kevin Thomas from the Los Angeles Times gave the film a glowing review, describing it as "precisely the kind of all-stops-out romantic adventure that needs the silent rather than sound medium for maximum impact," and calling Leni "its perfect director, for his bravura Expressionist style lifts this tempestuous tale above the level of tear-jerker to genuinely stirring experience."[28] Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, writing that The Man Who Laughs took Universal's series of Gothic horror films to "new and unparalleled heights in cinematic intelligence." Henderson noted the film's "obsessive dualism," citing its "fascination with bric-a-brac and its tendency towards spare, minimalist compositions" as "evidence of a stylistic schism."[29] Time Out's Bob Baker called the film "a riot of Expressionist detail in Leni's forceful handling" anchored by Veidt's "sensitive rendering" of Gwynplaine. Baker credits Leni's "pictorial genius" as marking the film as "one of the most exhilarating of late silent cinema."[30] Comparing the film to Leni's directorial effort from the previous year, The Cat and the Canary, the Chicago Reader's J. R. Jones found that The Man Who Laughs better demonstrates the director's "considerable dramatic and pictorial talents," with the love between Gwynplaine and Dea yielding "a sincere and extravagant sense of romance."[31] Writing for Little White Lies, Anton Bitel describes the film as never reaching the same horror as Leni's other features, Waxworks and The Cat and the Canary, despite its sometimes grisly subject matter, likening it to "a sentimental romance and a political satire, with just a smidgin of rooftop swashbuckling thrown in near the end." He praised Veidt's ability to portray a full emotional range without being able to move "one of the face's most expressive parts," and called the theatricality and transgression of social norms within the film "carnivalesque," embodied most completely by Gwynplaine, "a man who is his mask".[32]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a perfect 100% approval rate based on 20 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A meeting of brilliant creative minds, The Man Who Laughs serves as a stellar showcase for the talents of director Paul Leni and star Conrad Veidt."[33]

Legacy Edit

The Man Who Laughs had considerable influence on the later Universal Classic Monsters films.[34] Pierce continued to provide the makeup for Universal's monsters; comparisons to Gwynplaine's grin were used to advertise The Raven.[35] Hall's set design for The Man Who Laughs helped him develop the blend of Gothic and expressionist features he employed for some of the most important Universal horror films of the 1930s: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, and Bride of Frankenstein.[36] Decades later, the themes and style of The Man Who Laughs were influences on Brian De Palma's 2006 The Black Dahlia, which incorporates some footage from the 1928 film.[37]

 
The Joker's distinctive grin, seen here in art by Alex Ross, was inspired by Veidt's role as Gwynplaine

The Joker, nemesis to DC Comics's Batman, owes his appearance to Veidt's portrayal of Gwynplaine in the film. Although Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson disagreed as to their respective roles in the 1940 creation of the Joker, they agreed that his exaggerated smile was influenced by a photograph of Veidt from the film.[38] A 2005 graphic novel exploring the first encounter between Batman and the Joker was also titled Batman: The Man Who Laughs in homage to the 1928 film, as was the Batman Who Laughs, an alternate universe Batman who becomes more like Joker after managing to kill his enemy.[39] In the Justice League episode, "Wild Cards", the Joker runs a TV production company called Gwynplaine Entertainment Company, after the character.

Later adaptations Edit

Although prominent actors, including Christopher Lee and Kirk Douglas, expressed interest in taking the role of Gwynplaine in a hypothetical remake,[5] there has been no American film adaptation of The Man Who Laughs in the sound era; however, there have been three adaptations by European directors. Italian director Sergio Corbucci's 1966 version, L'Uomo che ride (released in the United States as The Man Who Laughs, but in France as L'Imposture des Borgia)[40] substantially altered the plot and setting, placing the events in Italy and replacing the court of King James II with that of the House of Borgia.[5] Jean Kerchbron directed a three-part French television film adaptation, L'Homme qui rit, in 1971. Philippe Bouclet and Delphine Desyeux star as Gwynplaine and Dea; Philippe Clay appeared as Barkilphedro.[40] Jean-Pierre Améris directed another French-language version, also called L'Homme qui rit, which was released in 2012. It stars Marc-André Grondin and Christa Théret, with Gérard Depardieu as Ursus.[41]

Horror-film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon described the 1961 film Mr. Sardonicus, also featuring a character with a horrifying grin, as "The Man Who Laughs ... remade, after a fashion".[42] However, its director, William Castle, has stated the film is an adaptation of "Sardonicus", an unrelated short story by Ray Russell originally appearing in Playboy.[43]

See also Edit

References Edit

Bibliography Edit

  • Altman, Rick (2007). Silent Film Sound. Film and Culture. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11663-3.
  • Castle, William (1992) [1976]. Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America: Memoirs of a B-Movie Mogul. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-88687-657-9.
  • Conrich, Ian (2004). "Before Sound: Universal, Silent Cinema, and the Last of the Horror-Spectaculars". In Prince, Stephen (ed.). The Horror Film. Rutgers University Press. pp. 40–57. ISBN 978-0-8135-3363-6.
  • DiLeo, John (2007). Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery. Hansen. ISBN 978-1-60182-654-1.
  • Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2010). A History of Horror. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4795-4.
  • Gleizes, Delphine, ed. (2005). L'œuvre de Victor Hugo à l'écran (in French). L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-7475-9094-5.
  • Holston, Kim R. (2013). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6062-5.
  • Josephson, Matthew (2005) [1942]. Victor Hugo: A Realistic Biography of the Great Romantic. Jorge Pinto Books. ISBN 978-0-9742615-7-7.
  • Long, Harry H (2012). "The Man Who Laughs". In Soister, John T.; Nicolella, Henry; Joyce, Stever; Long, Harry H; Chase, Bill (eds.). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913–1929. McFarland. pp. 374–378. ISBN 978-0-7864-3581-4.
  • Mank, Gregory William (2009) [1990]. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together (revised ed.). McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3480-0.
  • Melnick, Ross (2012). American Showman: Samuel 'Roxy' Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908–1935. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-15904-3.
  • Richards, Rashna Wadia (2013). Cinematic Flashes: Cinephilia and Classical Hollywood. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00688-2.
  • Riley, Philip J. (1996). The Phantom of the Opera. Hollywood Archives Series. Magicimage Filmbooks. ISBN 978-1-882127-33-7.
  • Rotha, Paul (1930). The Film Till Now: A Survey of the Cinema. Jonathan Cape. OCLC 886633324.
  • Slowik, Michael (2014). After the Silents: Hollywood Film Music in the Early Sound Era, 1926–1934. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-16582-2.
  • Soister, John T. (2002). Conrad Veidt on Screen: A Comprehensive Illustrated Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4511-0.
  • Solomon, Matthew (2013). "Laughing Silently". In Pomerance, Murray (ed.). The Last Laugh: Strange Humors of Cinema. Wayne State University Press. pp. 15–30. ISBN 978-0-8143-3513-0.
  • Stephens, Michael L. (1998). Art Directors in Cinema: A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3771-9.

Notes Edit

  1. ^ Long, Harry H.; et al. (John T. Soister; Henry Nicolella; Steve Joyce) (2012). "The Last Warning". American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films. Research and archiving by Bill Chase. McFarland & Company. p. 313. ISBN 9780786435814.
  2. ^ Long 2012, p. 374.
  3. ^ Riley 1996, pp. 39–40.
  4. ^ Josephson 2005, p. 459.
  5. ^ a b c Long 2012, p. 378.
  6. ^ Riley 1996, p. 40.
  7. ^ Solomon 2013, p. 27.
  8. ^ a b Newman, James (October 24, 2003). "The Man Who Laughs". Images. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  9. ^ Stephens 1998, p. 196.
  10. ^ DiLeo 2007, pp. 176–177.
  11. ^ DiLeo 2007, p. 176.
  12. ^ a b c Conrich 2004, p. 42.
  13. ^ Soister 2002, p. 206.
  14. ^ "Gossip of All the Studios". Photoplay. February 1928. Vol. XXXIII. No. 3. p. 88.
  15. ^ Daly, Phil M. (April 22, 1928). "And That's That". lantern.mediahist.org. The Film Daily. XLIV (19): 5. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  16. ^ Cook, David A.; Sklar, Robert. "History of Film". Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  17. ^ Melnick 2012, p. 479.
  18. ^ Koszarski, Richard (1969–1970). "Lost Films from the National Film Collection". Film Quarterly. 23 (2): 31–37. doi:10.2307/1210519. JSTOR 1210519.
  19. ^ Ebert, Roger (January 18, 2004). "The Man Who Laughs". RogerEbert.com. Great Movies. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  20. ^ a b Henderson, Eric (September 29, 2003). "The Man Who Laughs". Slant Magazine. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  21. ^ a b c "The Man Who Laughs". Silent Era. Silent Era Films on Home Video. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  22. ^ "American Silent Horror Collection". Silent Era. Silent Era Films on Home Video. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  23. ^ Review. Blu-ray.com. June 20, 2019.
  24. ^ Rotha 1930, p. 204.
  25. ^ Rotha 1930, p. 31.
  26. ^ "The Screen; His Grim Grin". The New York Times. April 28, 1928. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  27. ^ Ebert, Roger (January 18, 2004). "The Man Who Laughs". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  28. ^ Thomas, Kevin (August 15, 1994). "Leni's 'Man Who Laughs' a Silent, Stirring Experience". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  29. ^ Henderson, Eric (September 29, 2003). "Review: The Man Who Laughs". Slant Magazine. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  30. ^ Baker, Bob (June 24, 2006). "The Man Who Laughs". Time Out. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  31. ^ Jones, J. R. (January 8, 2014). "The Man Who Laughs". Chicago Reader. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  32. ^ Bitel, Anton (August 17, 2020). "How The Man Who Laughs redefined early horror cinema". Little White Lies. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  33. ^ "The Man Who Laughs (1928)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  34. ^ DiLeo 2007, p. 177.
  35. ^ Mank 2009, p. 256.
  36. ^ Stephens 1998, pp. 148–150, 196.
  37. ^ Uhlich, Keith (September 11, 2006). "The Black Dahlia". Slant Magazine. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  38. ^ Rodriguez, Mario (2014). "Physiognomy and Freakery: The Joker on Film". Americana. 13 (2).
  39. ^ Serafino, Jay (August 3, 2016). "How a 1928 Silent Film Influenced the Creation of the Joker". Mental Floss. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  40. ^ a b Gleizes 2005, p. 244.
  41. ^ Young, Neil (September 12, 2012). "The Man Who Laughs (L'Homme Qui Rit): Venice Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 8, 2016.
  42. ^ Dixon, Wheeler W. (2010). A History of Horror. Rutgers University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780813547954.
  43. ^ Castle 1992, p. 163.

External links Edit

laughs, 1928, film, laughs, 1928, american, romantic, drama, silent, film, directed, german, expressionist, filmmaker, paul, leni, film, adaptation, victor, hugo, 1869, novel, same, name, stars, mary, philbin, blind, conrad, veidt, gwynplaine, film, known, gro. The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American romantic drama silent film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo s 1869 novel of the same name and stars Mary Philbin as the blind Dea and Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine The film is known for the grotesque grin on the character Gwynplaine s face which often leads it to be classified as a horror film Film critic Roger Ebert stated The Man Who Laughs is a melodrama at times even a swashbuckler but so steeped in expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film The Man Who LaughsTheatrical release posterDirected byPaul LeniScreenplay byJ Grubb AlexanderWalter AnthonyMary McLeanCharles E WhittakerBased onThe Man Who Laughsby Victor HugoProduced byCarl LaemmleStarringMary PhilbinConrad VeidtBrandon HurstCesare GravinaStuart HolmesSamuel de GrasseGeorge SiegmannJosephine CrowellCinematographyGilbert WarrentonEdited byEdward L CahnMaurice PivarMusic byJeff Rapsis Berklee College of MusicProductioncompanyUniversal PicturesDistributed byUniversal PicturesRelease datesApril 27 1928 1928 04 27 NYC Premiere November 4 1928 1928 11 04 Running time110 minutes 10 reels CountryUnited StatesLanguagesSilentEnglish intertitlesThe Man Who Laughs is a romantic melodrama similar to films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame The film was one of the earliest Universal Picture films that made the transition from silent films to sound films using the Movietone sound system introduced by William Fox The film was completed in August 1927 but was set for release in October 1928 with sound effects and a musical score which included the song When Love Comes Stealing Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Music and sound 4 Release 4 1 Theatrical release 4 2 Home media 5 Critical reception 5 1 Contemporary 5 2 Modern 6 Legacy 6 1 Later adaptations 7 See also 8 References 8 1 Bibliography 8 2 Notes 9 External linksPlot EditIn late 17th century England court jester Barkilphedro informs King James II of the capture of Lord Clancharlie an exiled nobleman who has returned for his young son Gwynplaine The King tells Lord Clancharlie that a grin was carved upon the boy s face by Hardquanonne a Comprachico surgeon Lord Clancharlie is executed in an iron maiden Shortly afterward the King issues a decree banishing all Comprachicos from England A group of Comprachicos prepares to set sail from England abandoning young Gwynplaine The boy struggles through a snowstorm and rescues a baby girl whose mother had frozen to death They are taken in by Ursus a kindly philosopher showman and his pet wolf Homo Ursus realizes that the baby girl named Dea is blind Years later Gwynplaine and Dea now adults and in love travel the countryside with Ursus performing plays he has written for them Gwynplaine s frozen smile has earned him widespread popularity as The Laughing Man but he is deeply ashamed of his disfigurement believing himself unworthy of Dea s affections Hardquanonne recognizes Gwynplaine at the Southwark Fair and sends a letter to the Duchess Josiana which is intercepted by Barkilphedro now an influential agent of the court The letter claims knowledge of a living heir to the estates of Lord Clancharlie currently being occupied by the Duchess and suggests that she pay Hardquanonne for his silence Barkilphedro shows the letter to Queen Anne and his men take Hardquanonne to Chatham Prison to be tortured The Queen sends the Duchess s fiance Lord Dirry Moir to retrieve her after she shirks her duties at the royal court Dirry Moir finds the Duchess shamelessly cavorting with the local men at the Southwark Fair A brawl breaks out and she leaves for Kensington Palace From a balcony the Duchess watches Gwynplaine s act at the fair and finds herself both sexually aroused and repelled by his disfigurement A messenger gives him a note arranging a rendezvous at midnight and while conflicted over his feelings for Dea he sneaks out of the caravan that night His departure is heard by a worried and heartbroken Dea who finds the letter Gwynplaine is ushered inside the Duchess s estate where she attempts to seduce him but is interrupted by the delivery of a pronouncement informing her of Gwynplaine s noble lineage and the Queen s decree that she marry Gwynplaine thereby legitimizing her occupation of the late Lord Clancharlie s estates with her engagement to Dirry Moir already having been annulled The Duchess begins to laugh causing Gwynplaine to rush away devastated at again being made into a mockery Gwynplaine returns home and extracts the Duchess s letter clutched in Dea s hands as she sleeps He tears the note into pieces before breaking down into tears overcome by guilt Dea wakes up relieved to find he has returned He guides her hands to feel his smile for the first time and she reassures him that God made her sightless so she could see only the real Gwynplaine Guards arrive to arrest Gwynplaine and he is taken to Chatham Prison When the guards later march out of the prison bearing Hardquanonne s coffin Ursus mistakenly concludes that Gwynplaine has been executed Barkilphedro arrives to notify Ursus he has been banished from England and cruelly lies to him that the laughing mountebank is dead Hearing this from the stage Dea faints in shock Gwynplaine is freed from prison and is to be made a peer in the House of Lords The next day he is brought to London for his introduction ceremony by Barkilphedro at the same time as Ursus and Dea head for the Thames docks to leave the country Their vehicle carriage wheels lock and Ursus s pet wolf Homo leads Dea to the House of Lords The peers are outraged that somebody who they believe to be a clown has joined their ranks Gwynplaine is presented to Queen Anne who decrees Gwynplaine will marry the Duchess Dirry Moir brings Dea inside the building but she is tricked into going back outside by Barkilphedro and brought to Ursus Upset over the peers mockery Gwynplaine renounces his peerage and refuses to marry the Duchess He escapes from the guards and runs through the streets only to find his show closed Gwynplaine heads to the docks when he learns that Dea and Ursus were ordered to leave England managing to elude Barkilphedro s men with the help of the villagers When he reaches the docks Gwynplaine s cries are heard by Homo who leaps off the ship and swims to him The wolf dog mauls a guard about to attack Gwynplaine They are pulled aboard Gwynplaine is reunited with Ursus and Dea and together they sail away Cast EditMary Philbin as Dea Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine Brandon Hurst as Barkilphedro Cesare Gravina as Ursus Olga Baclanova as Duchess Josiana Stuart Holmes as Lord Dirry Moir Josephine Crowell as Queen Anne George Siegmann as Dr Hardquanonne Sam De Grasse as King James IIVeidt also had a dual role as Gwynplaine s father Lord Clancharlie Many significant silent era actors appeared in minor or uncredited roles including D Arcy Corrigan 1 Torben Meyer Edgar Norton Nick De Ruiz Frank Puglia and Charles Puffy 2 Zimbo a German Shepherd played Ursus s pet wolf Homo whose name is a pun on the Latin saying Homo homini lupus Production Edit nbsp Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine an inspiration for the DC Comics supervillain the Joker the nemesis of BatmanFollowing the success of Universal Pictures s 1923 adaptation of Victor Hugo s The Hunchback of Notre Dame the company was eager to release another film starring Lon Chaney A treatment adapting The Phantom of the Opera was prepared but rejected by the Universal executives In its place Chaney was offered the lead in a film version of Hugo s The Man Who Laughs to be produced under its French title L Homme Qui Rit out of perceived similarity to Les Miserables 3 The Man Who Laughs published in 1869 had been subject to significant criticism in both England and France and was one of Hugo s least successful novels 4 but it had been filmed twice before Pathe had produced L Homme qui rit in France in 1908 and the Austrian film company Olympic Film released a low budget German version in 1921 as Das grinsende Gesicht 5 Despite Chaney s contract production did not begin Universal had failed to acquire film rights to the Hugo novel from the French studio Societe Generale des Films Chaney s contract was amended releasing him from The Man Who Laughs but permitting him to name the replacement film ultimately resulting in the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera 6 After the success of Phantom studio chief Carl Laemmle returned to The Man Who Laughs for Universal s next Gothic film super production 7 8 Laemmle selected two fellow expatriate Germans for the project Director Paul Leni had been hired by Universal following his internationally acclaimed Waxworks 9 and had already proven himself to the company with The Cat and the Canary 10 Countryman Conrad Veidt was cast in the Gwynplaine role that was previously intended for Chaney Veidt had worked with Leni for Waxworks and several other German films and was well known for his role as Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 11 12 American actress Mary Philbin who had played Christine Daae opposite Chaney in Phantom was cast as Dea 13 Leni was provided with a skilled crew Charles D Hall was chosen to design the sets He had previously adapted Ben Carre s stage sets to film for Phantom and had worked with Leni for The Cat and the Canary 12 Jack Pierce became the head makeup artist at Universal in 1926 and was responsible for crafting Gwynplaine s appearance 12 During the sequence where Gwynplaine is presented to the House of Lords the extras were so moved by Veidt s performance that they burst into applause 14 Universal put over 1 000 000 into The Man Who Laughs an extremely high budget for an American film of the time 15 Music and sound Edit The Man Who Laughs was originally released as a silent film with dialogue rendered through intertitles and projected with musical accompaniment which would vary by venue The phenomenal success of 1927 s The Jazz Singer the first commercially successful sound film heralded the demise of the silent era By May the next year virtually every Hollywood studio was licensed by Western Electric s newly created marketing subsidiary Electrical Research Products Incorporated to use Western Electric equipment with the Movietone sound on film recording system Technologically superior to the Vitaphone sound on disc system used by The Jazz Singer Movietone enabled image and sound to be recorded simultaneously in the same photographic medium ensuring their precise and automatic synchronization 16 Universal used Movietone to provide The Man Who Laughs with a monophonic orchestral score in November 1928 that included occasional synchronized sounds including bells knocks and trumpets The score was built around the waltz song When Love Comes Stealing composed in 1923 by Erno Rapee with lyrics by Walter Hirsch and Lew Pollack 17 It had been originally recorded acoustically by tenor Lewis James on 4 March 1924 as Victor 19326 A but achieved a resurgence of popularity in early 1928 possibly because of the success of Rapee and Pollack s waltz songs Charmaine and Diane as theme songs for the films What Price Glory and 7th Heaven Six commercially issued electrical recordings of When Love Comes Stealing appeared between February and October on Edison Victor Columbia and Brunswick including versions by Jack Stillman s Nathaniel Shilkret s and Herman Kenin s orchestras Jimmy McHugh s Bostonians and tenor James Melton well before its use in connection with The Man Who Laughs Release EditTheatrical release Edit The Man Who Laughs opened on April 27 1928 at New York s Central Theatre Proceeds from the opening night were donated to the non profit organization American Friends of Blerancourt The film was released in the United States on November 4 1928 The Man Who Laughs received two releases in the United Kingdom The film originally released in London on May 16 1928 completely silent with a score provided by each theater s resident musicians Universal later used the Movietone sound on film process to give the film a synchronized musical score which released in London on November 30 1928 Home media Edit For many years the film was not publicly available In the 1960s The Man Who Laughs was among the films preserved by the Library of Congress following a donation from the American Film Institute along with 22 other such films it was shown at the New York Film Festival in 1969 18 It was again screened by Peter Bogdanovich at the Telluride Film Festival in 1998 19 but remained largely unavailable until Kino International and the Cineteca di Bologna produced a restored version of the film made from two American prints and an Italian print 20 21 This restoration was released on DVD by Kino on November 16 2007 21 Slant Magazine gave this DVD 3 5 out of 5 stars citing the overall quality of the restoration and the uniqueness of the included extras including a home movie of Veidt 20 Kino included this DVD in their five volume American Silent Horror Collection box set on October 9 2007 22 Sunrise Silents also produced a DVD of the film edited to a slightly longer runtime than the Kino restoration released in October 2008 21 The Man Who Laughs was released on Blu ray and DVD on June 4 2019 sourced from a new 4K restoration and features the original score performed by The Berklee College of Music Silent Film Orchestra 23 The film was also restored on August 17 2020 by Masters of Cinema Critical reception EditContemporary Edit Initially the critical assessment of The Man Who Laughs judged the film mediocre with some critics disliking the morbidity of the subject matter and others complaining that the German looking sets did not evoke 17th century England 8 Paul Rotha was particularly critical In his 1930 book on the history of film The Film Till Now he called The Man Who Laughs a travesty of cinematic methods 24 and declared that in directing it Leni became slack drivelling slovenly and lost all sense of decoration cinema and artistry 25 The New York Times gave the film a slightly positive review calling it gruesome but interesting and one of the few samples of pictorial work in which there is no handsome leading man 26 Modern Edit The Man Who Laughs has received critical acclaim from modern critics as an influential German Expressionist horror film made during the height of the silent era Roger Ebert placed The Man Who Laughs on his Great Movies list giving it four out of four stars and declaring the film to be one of the final treasures of German silent Expressionism commending Leni s mastery of visual style 27 Kevin Thomas from the Los Angeles Times gave the film a glowing review describing it as precisely the kind of all stops out romantic adventure that needs the silent rather than sound medium for maximum impact and calling Leni its perfect director for his bravura Expressionist style lifts this tempestuous tale above the level of tear jerker to genuinely stirring experience 28 Slant Magazine s Eric Henderson gave the film three and a half out of four stars writing that The Man Who Laughs took Universal s series of Gothic horror films to new and unparalleled heights in cinematic intelligence Henderson noted the film s obsessive dualism citing its fascination with bric a brac and its tendency towards spare minimalist compositions as evidence of a stylistic schism 29 Time Out s Bob Baker called the film a riot of Expressionist detail in Leni s forceful handling anchored by Veidt s sensitive rendering of Gwynplaine Baker credits Leni s pictorial genius as marking the film as one of the most exhilarating of late silent cinema 30 Comparing the film to Leni s directorial effort from the previous year The Cat and the Canary the Chicago Reader s J R Jones found that The Man Who Laughs better demonstrates the director s considerable dramatic and pictorial talents with the love between Gwynplaine and Dea yielding a sincere and extravagant sense of romance 31 Writing for Little White Lies Anton Bitel describes the film as never reaching the same horror as Leni s other features Waxworks and The Cat and the Canary despite its sometimes grisly subject matter likening it to a sentimental romance and a political satire with just a smidgin of rooftop swashbuckling thrown in near the end He praised Veidt s ability to portray a full emotional range without being able to move one of the face s most expressive parts and called the theatricality and transgression of social norms within the film carnivalesque embodied most completely by Gwynplaine a man who is his mask 32 On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has a perfect 100 approval rate based on 20 reviews with a weighted average rating of 8 4 10 The site s critical consensus reads A meeting of brilliant creative minds The Man Who Laughs serves as a stellar showcase for the talents of director Paul Leni and star Conrad Veidt 33 Legacy EditThe Man Who Laughs had considerable influence on the later Universal Classic Monsters films 34 Pierce continued to provide the makeup for Universal s monsters comparisons to Gwynplaine s grin were used to advertise The Raven 35 Hall s set design for The Man Who Laughs helped him develop the blend of Gothic and expressionist features he employed for some of the most important Universal horror films of the 1930s Dracula Frankenstein The Old Dark House The Invisible Man The Black Cat and Bride of Frankenstein 36 Decades later the themes and style of The Man Who Laughs were influences on Brian De Palma s 2006 The Black Dahlia which incorporates some footage from the 1928 film 37 nbsp The Joker s distinctive grin seen here in art by Alex Ross was inspired by Veidt s role as GwynplaineThe Joker nemesis to DC Comics s Batman owes his appearance to Veidt s portrayal of Gwynplaine in the film Although Bill Finger Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson disagreed as to their respective roles in the 1940 creation of the Joker they agreed that his exaggerated smile was influenced by a photograph of Veidt from the film 38 A 2005 graphic novel exploring the first encounter between Batman and the Joker was also titled Batman The Man Who Laughs in homage to the 1928 film as was the Batman Who Laughs an alternate universe Batman who becomes more like Joker after managing to kill his enemy 39 In the Justice League episode Wild Cards the Joker runs a TV production company called Gwynplaine Entertainment Company after the character Later adaptations Edit Although prominent actors including Christopher Lee and Kirk Douglas expressed interest in taking the role of Gwynplaine in a hypothetical remake 5 there has been no American film adaptation of The Man Who Laughs in the sound era however there have been three adaptations by European directors Italian director Sergio Corbucci s 1966 version L Uomo che ride released in the United States as The Man Who Laughs but in France as L Imposture des Borgia 40 substantially altered the plot and setting placing the events in Italy and replacing the court of King James II with that of the House of Borgia 5 Jean Kerchbron directed a three part French television film adaptation L Homme qui rit in 1971 Philippe Bouclet and Delphine Desyeux star as Gwynplaine and Dea Philippe Clay appeared as Barkilphedro 40 Jean Pierre Ameris directed another French language version also called L Homme qui rit which was released in 2012 It stars Marc Andre Grondin and Christa Theret with Gerard Depardieu as Ursus 41 Horror film historian Wheeler Winston Dixon described the 1961 film Mr Sardonicus also featuring a character with a horrifying grin as The Man Who Laughs remade after a fashion 42 However its director William Castle has stated the film is an adaptation of Sardonicus an unrelated short story by Ray Russell originally appearing in Playboy 43 See also EditList of early sound feature films 1926 1929 References EditBibliography Edit Altman Rick 2007 Silent Film Sound Film and Culture Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 11663 3 Castle William 1992 1976 Step Right Up I m Gonna Scare the Pants Off America Memoirs of a B Movie Mogul Putnam ISBN 978 0 88687 657 9 Conrich Ian 2004 Before Sound Universal Silent Cinema and the Last of the Horror Spectaculars In Prince Stephen ed The Horror Film Rutgers University Press pp 40 57 ISBN 978 0 8135 3363 6 DiLeo John 2007 Screen Savers 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery Hansen ISBN 978 1 60182 654 1 Dixon Wheeler Winston 2010 A History of Horror Rutgers University Press ISBN 978 0 8135 4795 4 Gleizes Delphine ed 2005 L œuvre de Victor Hugo a l ecran in French L Harmattan ISBN 978 2 7475 9094 5 Holston Kim R 2013 Movie Roadshows A History and Filmography of Reserved Seat Limited Showings 1911 1973 McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 6062 5 Josephson Matthew 2005 1942 Victor Hugo A Realistic Biography of the Great Romantic Jorge Pinto Books ISBN 978 0 9742615 7 7 Long Harry H 2012 The Man Who Laughs In Soister John T Nicolella Henry Joyce Stever Long Harry H Chase Bill eds American Silent Horror Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films 1913 1929 McFarland pp 374 378 ISBN 978 0 7864 3581 4 Mank Gregory William 2009 1990 Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together revised ed McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 3480 0 Melnick Ross 2012 American Showman Samuel Roxy Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry 1908 1935 Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 15904 3 Richards Rashna Wadia 2013 Cinematic Flashes Cinephilia and Classical Hollywood Indiana University Press ISBN 978 0 253 00688 2 Riley Philip J 1996 The Phantom of the Opera Hollywood Archives Series Magicimage Filmbooks ISBN 978 1 882127 33 7 Rotha Paul 1930 The Film Till Now A Survey of the Cinema Jonathan Cape OCLC 886633324 Slowik Michael 2014 After the Silents Hollywood Film Music in the Early Sound Era 1926 1934 Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 16582 2 Soister John T 2002 Conrad Veidt on Screen A Comprehensive Illustrated Filmography McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 4511 0 Solomon Matthew 2013 Laughing Silently In Pomerance Murray ed The Last Laugh Strange Humors of Cinema Wayne State University Press pp 15 30 ISBN 978 0 8143 3513 0 Stephens Michael L 1998 Art Directors in Cinema A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 3771 9 Notes Edit Long Harry H et al John T Soister Henry Nicolella Steve Joyce 2012 The Last Warning American Silent Horror Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films Research and archiving by Bill Chase McFarland amp Company p 313 ISBN 9780786435814 Long 2012 p 374 Riley 1996 pp 39 40 Josephson 2005 p 459 a b c Long 2012 p 378 Riley 1996 p 40 Solomon 2013 p 27 a b Newman James October 24 2003 The Man Who Laughs Images Retrieved November 8 2016 Stephens 1998 p 196 DiLeo 2007 pp 176 177 DiLeo 2007 p 176 a b c Conrich 2004 p 42 Soister 2002 p 206 Gossip of All the Studios Photoplay February 1928 Vol XXXIII No 3 p 88 Daly Phil M April 22 1928 And That s That lantern mediahist org The Film Daily XLIV 19 5 Retrieved October 25 2019 Cook David A Sklar Robert History of Film Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved June 22 2021 Melnick 2012 p 479 Koszarski Richard 1969 1970 Lost Films from the National Film Collection Film Quarterly 23 2 31 37 doi 10 2307 1210519 JSTOR 1210519 Ebert Roger January 18 2004 The Man Who Laughs RogerEbert com Great Movies Retrieved November 8 2016 a b Henderson Eric September 29 2003 The Man Who Laughs Slant Magazine Retrieved November 8 2016 a b c The Man Who Laughs Silent Era Silent Era Films on Home Video Retrieved November 8 2011 American Silent Horror Collection Silent Era Silent Era Films on Home Video Retrieved November 8 2016 Review Blu ray com June 20 2019 Rotha 1930 p 204 Rotha 1930 p 31 The Screen His Grim Grin The New York Times April 28 1928 Retrieved October 23 2018 Ebert Roger January 18 2004 The Man Who Laughs RogerEbert com Retrieved June 22 2021 Thomas Kevin August 15 1994 Leni s Man Who Laughs a Silent Stirring Experience Los Angeles Times Retrieved June 22 2021 Henderson Eric September 29 2003 Review The Man Who Laughs Slant Magazine Retrieved June 22 2021 Baker Bob June 24 2006 The Man Who Laughs Time Out Retrieved June 22 2021 Jones J R January 8 2014 The Man Who Laughs Chicago Reader Retrieved June 22 2021 Bitel Anton August 17 2020 How The Man Who Laughs redefined early horror cinema Little White Lies Retrieved June 22 2021 The Man Who Laughs 1928 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved June 22 2021 DiLeo 2007 p 177 Mank 2009 p 256 Stephens 1998 pp 148 150 196 Uhlich Keith September 11 2006 The Black Dahlia Slant Magazine Retrieved November 9 2011 Rodriguez Mario 2014 Physiognomy and Freakery The Joker on Film Americana 13 2 Serafino Jay August 3 2016 How a 1928 Silent Film Influenced the Creation of the Joker Mental Floss Retrieved November 8 2016 a b Gleizes 2005 p 244 Young Neil September 12 2012 The Man Who Laughs L Homme Qui Rit Venice Review The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved November 8 2016 Dixon Wheeler W 2010 A History of Horror Rutgers University Press p 21 ISBN 9780813547954 Castle 1992 p 163 External links Edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to The Man Who Laughs 1928 film The Man Who Laughs at the American Film Institute Catalog The Man Who Laughs at AllMovie The Man Who Laughs at IMDb The Man Who Laughs at Rotten Tomatoes The Man Who Laughs at the TCM Movie Database The Man Who Laughs at Letterboxd Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Man Who Laughs 1928 film amp oldid 1180066351, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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