LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH (1928)

Standard issue Lon Chaney feature (from a hit 1923 David Belasco play starring Lionel Barrymore & new wife Irene Fenwick*), follows a master clown who can’t stop crying off-stage, and a wealthy young Count whose dissipated life left him vulnerable to uncontrollable fits of laughter.  A doctor suggests love as a cure, unaware the one thing these men have in common is the object of their passion, 15-yr-old Loretta Young.  Raised as a foundling by Chaney, he’s only recently noticed the girl has become a beautiful young woman.  While the Count (Nils Asther), who once drunkenly forced his attentions on her, now chastely offers love & marriage.  Unaware of any connection, the two men laugh & cry their way to health, their ying/yang temperaments a balm between them before the impasse is discovered.  (A missing reel #4 possibly weakening this part of the story.)  The bosom buddies each offer renunciation, but overseen love-making leads to the inevitable clown liebestod.   Atmospherically handled by director Herbert Brenon & cinematographer James Wong Howe (fabulous back-stage and deep focus angles), Chaney’s usual masochism tempered by melancholy rather than horror or revenge.  A bit slighter than other late-silent Chaneys*, but still effective.  Excellent preserved film elements, too.  Look for a Turner Classic edition newly scored by H. Scott Salinas.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Pivoting between monsters & third-wheel types, Chaney’s best-remembered roles combined the two in HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME/’23 and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA/’25.  Best known, but not his best.  For delayed revenge: Victor Sjöström’s pageant like HE WHO GETS SLAPPED/’24.  For unrequited love: George W. Hill’s exceptionally naturalistic TELL IT TO THE MARINES/’26.  And for pure malevolent masochism, Tod Browning’s THE UNKNOWN/’27, silent Hollywood’s sickest mainstream movie.   OR: *After Chaney’s early death, Lionel Barrymore took on remakes & obvious Chaney vehicles like MARK OF THE VAMPIRE/’35 and THE DEVIL DOLL/’36.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/12/devil-doll-1936.html