The Man Who Laughs (1966 film)

Last updated
The Man Who Laughs
Man Who Laughs 1966.jpg
Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Screenplay byFilippo Sanjust
A. Issaverdens
A. Bertolotto
Luca Ronconi
Franco Rossetti
Sergio Corbucci
Dialogue:
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
Based on The Man Who Laughs
by Victor Hugo
Produced byJoseph Fryd
Starring Jean Sorel
Lisa Gastoni
Ilaria Occhini
Edmund Purdom
Cinematography Enzo Barboni
Edited by Mario Serandrei
Music by Carlo Savina
Production
companies
Sanson Film
Compagnie Internationale de Productions Cinématographiques
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • 3 February 1966 (1966-02-03)
Running time
105 minutes
CountriesItaly
France
LanguageItalian

The Man Who Laughs (Italian : L'uomo che ride) is a 1966 Italian historical drama film based on the 1869 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. [1]

Contents

Plot

In this version, the character of Gwynplaine is renamed Angelo (played by Jean Sorel). His disfigurement is represented as a single broad slash across his mouth, crude yet convincing. While he deals with this, he also falls for a beautiful girl named Dea. The story (which is attributed, in the movie credits, to the director, producer and others involved in making the film, but not to Victor Hugo) has the disfigured acrobat being seduced by a noblewoman and in so doing becomes a henchman for the Borgias. Meanwhile, Dea miraculously acquires her eyesight and falls in love with a young nobleman. This nobleman is marked for death not just by Angelo's employers but by Angelo as well over the loss of Dea. Angelo's assassination attempt fails and he is mortally wounded. In the final scene the escaping Angelo staggers into a Leper Colony and falls dead.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucrezia Borgia</span> Spanish-Italian duchess-consort of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio (1480–1519)

Lucrezia Borgia was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the governor of Spoleto, a position usually held by cardinals, in her own right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Hugo</span> French novelist, poet, and dramatist (1802–1885)

Victor-Marie Hugo, sometimes nicknamed the Ocean Man, was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms.

<i>Les Misérables</i> 1862 novel by Victor Hugo

Les Misérables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for film, television and the stage, including a musical.

<i>Lucrezia Borgia</i> (opera) Opera by Gaetano Donizetti

Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramatic opera in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play Lucrezia Borgia by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan.

Dea is the Latin word for "goddess" and may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comprachicos</span> Belief in criminals that deform growing children

Comprachicos are supposed groups in folklore who were said to change the physical appearance of human beings by manipulating growing children through deliberate mutilation. The most common methods said to be used in this practice included stunting children's growth by physical restraint, muzzling their faces to deform them, slitting their eyes, dislocating their joints, and causing their bones to malform. The term is a compound Spanish neologism meaning "child-buyers", which was coined by Victor Hugo in his novel The Man Who Laughs. The words comprapequeños and cheylas are also used. The resulting dwarfed and deformed adults made their living as mountebanks or were sold to lords and ladies to be used as pages or court fools or court dwarfs.

<i>The Man Who Laughs</i> Novel by Victor Hugo

The Man Who Laughs is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title L'Homme qui rit. It takes place in England beginning in 1690 and extends into the early 18th century reign of Queen Anne. It depicts England's royalty and aristocracy of the time as cruel and power-hungry. Hugo intended parallels with the France of Louis-Philippe and the Régence.

<i>Le roi samuse</i>

Le roi s'amuse is a French play in five acts written by Victor Hugo. First performed on 22 November 1832 but banned by the government after one evening, the play was used for Giuseppe Verdi's 1851 opera Rigoletto.

<i>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</i> (1956 film) 1956 film

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1956 French-Italian CinemaScope film version of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, directed by Jean Delannoy and produced by Raymond Hakim and Robert Hakim. It stars American actor Anthony Quinn and Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. The film is the first version of the novel to be made in color.

<i>The Horseman on the Roof</i> 1995 French film

The Horseman on the Roof is a 1995 French film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and starring Juliette Binoche and Olivier Martinez. Based on the 1951 French novel Le hussard sur le toit by Jean Giono, the film follows the adventures of a young Italian nobleman in France raising money for the Italian revolution against Austria during a time of cholera. The Italian struggle for independence and the cholera pandemic in southern France in 1832 are historical events. The film received César Awards in 1996 for Best Cinematography and Best Sound, as well as eight César Award nominations for Best Film, Best Costume Design, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Production Design, and Most Promising Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo</span>

Manuel José de Araújo Porto-Alegre, Baron of Santo Ângelo, was a Brazilian Romantic writer, painter, architect, diplomat and professor, considered to be one of the first Brazilian editorial cartoonists ever. He is the patron of the 32nd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

<i>The Man Who Laughs</i> (1928 film) 1928 film by Paul Leni

The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American synchronized sound romantic drama film directed by the German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both sound-on-disc and sound-on-film processes. 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."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triboulet</span> French jester (1479–1536)

Triboulet (1479–1536), also known as Le Févrial or under his family name Ferrial, was a jester for king Francis I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Sorel</span> French actor

Jean Sorel is a French actor.

<i>Prince of Foxes</i> (film) 1949 film by Henry King

Prince of Foxes is a 1949 American historical adventure film adapted from Samuel Shellabarger's novel Prince of Foxes. The movie starred Tyrone Power as Orsini and Orson Welles as Cesare Borgia. It was nominated for two Oscars during the 22nd Academy Awards: Best Black and White Cinematography and Best Costume Design, Black and White.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Gabrio</span> French actor

Gabriel Gabrio was a French stage and film actor whose career began in cinema in the silent film era of the 1920s and spanned more than two decades. Gabrio is possibly best remembered for his roles as Jean Valjean in the 1925 Henri Fescourt-directed adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Cesare Borgia in the 1935 Abel Gance-directed biopic Lucrèce Borgia and as Carlos in the 1937 Julien Duvivier-directed gangster film Pépé le Moko, opposite Jean Gabin.

The Grinning Face, aka The Man Who Laughs, is a 1921 Austrian-German silent horror film directed by Julius Herska and starring Franz Höbling, Nora Gregor and Lucienne Delacroix. It is an adaptation of the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo.

Lucrezia Borgia is an 1833 play by the French writer Victor Hugo. It is a historical work portraying the Renaissance-era Italian aristocrat Lucrezia Borgia. The play is believed to have been a major influence on Oscar Wilde's The Duchess of Padua (1891).

<i>The Man Who Laughs</i> (2012 film) 2012 French film

The Man Who Laughs is a 2012 French/Czech romantic musical drama film produced by EuropaCorp and based on the 1869 eponymous novel by Victor Hugo.

<i>The Man Who Laughs</i> (opera)

The Man Who Laughs is an opera in two acts with a prologue by Canadian composer Airat Ichmouratov, to a libretto in French by poet Bertrand Laverdure, adapted from the eponymous novel by Victor Hugo. Commissioned by Festival Classica, it was premiered in concert version, conducted by Airat Ichmouratov on May 31, 2023, in Montreal, Canada.

References

  1. Roberto Poppi, Mario Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film. Gremese Editore, 2007. ISBN   8884405033.