I should declare a personal interest here: the Austrian film 'The Grinning Face' is based on one of my all-time favourite novels, 'The Man Who Laughs' by Victor Hugo. How favourite is it? Well, the protagonist of this novel is named Gwynplaine (Hugo's imperfect attempt at creating a British name). When I first encountered this novel in my adolescence, I found Gwynplaine's exploits so inspiring that I took his name as my own middle name, changing my name legally by deed poll.
Anyone reading this page is likely to know that Paul Leni directed a very impressive film version of 'The Man Who Laughs' in Hollywood, at the very end of the silent era, starring the brilliant actor Conrad Veidt. That movie made several changes to Hugo's novel (including the addition of a happy ending), but on the whole it's an excellent film with superb production values and a brilliant central performance by Veidt.
This earlier Austrian version sticks closer to Hugo's novel ... which isn't entirely a point in this film's favour, as Hugo's novel has a rambling plot that places too much attention on peripheral characters, most of whom should have been deleted altogether.
Linnaeus Clancharlie (how's that for an Englishman's name?) is a baron in the British peerage. He's also the Marquis of Corleone in Sicily, but he'd rather live in England and be a baron instead of being a marquis in Sicily, even though a marquis is three rungs higher up the peerage. In 1682, Clancharlie incurs the displeasure of King James the Second ... who has the baron murdered. The king also orders the murder of the baron's young son and heir, two-year-old Fermain. But the corrupt Doctor Hardquanonne sells the boy to some bandits, who mutilate Fermain's face so that they can exhibit him at funfairs. They carve his mouth into a permanent grin.
Years later, in the reign of Queen Anne, the mutilated boy -- who has no knowledge of his noble birthright -- is now the young man Gwynplaine, manly of figure and presumably handsome of face except for the mutilation of his cake-hole. Gwynplaine lives with Ursus, a travelling mountebank who sells folk remedies. Their jolly family is completed by Dea, a beautiful foundling who is blind. She is passionately in love with Gwynplaine, all unaware of his deformity. Whenever Dea passes her fingers across Gwynplaine's disfigured face, she assumes he must be happy because of his broad grin. But meanwhile, under torture in Queen Anne's dungeon, Hardquanonne has confessed Gwynplaine's birthright...
This film presents a fairly straightforward and simplified retelling of Hugo's novel. Comparisons to the Leni version are inevitable, so here goes: although the Leni film had superb production values, its depiction of early 18th-century England was not especially convincing. (I still cringe when I recall the Ferris wheel in the funfair sequences.) This Austrian film was made on a far lower budget, but the costumes and sets are vastly more convincing than in Leni's version. Leni's film boasts the splendidly sensitive performance of Conrad Veidt, and several excellent supporting performances. In this Austrian 'pre-make', most of the actors are dull and stolid. The actor who plays Lord Dirry-Moir should have been deleted from this movie altogether. One exception is Nora Gregor as Princess Josiana, the jaded heiress who is attracted to Gwynplaine precisely *because* of his deformity. Gregor makes it clear that Josiana is sexually aroused by Gwynplaine's deformity; the Leni remake was very close-mouthed on this subject.
In the central role of Gwynplaine, Franz Höbling possesses barely a fraction of Conrad Veidt's electrifying presence and sensual virility. Höbling is further handicapped by a wretched makeup job simulating the mutilation of his face. In his own performance as Gwynplaine, Veidt expertly rose to the challenge of being unable to use the lower half of his face to convey emotion, skilfully employing his eyes and his hands to convey emotions that radically contradicted the broad grin on his face. Höbling is simply unable to do justice to a role that requires him to keep his mouth immobile.
As the blind heroine Dea, Lucienne Delacroix is a disaster, but I shan't blame the actress for this. One of the weak points of Hugo's novel is that Dea is really a compendium of frailties rather than a fully realised human being. She resembles those doomed Victorian heroines -- Little Nell, Eva St Claire -- who exist for the sole purpose of dying tragically young. That's how Delacroix plays the role here. Unlike Leni's version, this Austrian movie retains the tragic ending of Hugo's original novel: Dea abruptly dies at sea, and Gwynplaine flings himself overboard to a watery grave.
I enjoyed 'The Grinning Face', but I'm prejudiced in its favour. In a few aspects, it actually surpasses the Leni film. But, on a point-for-point basis, there's no question that the Leni version is superior. I'll rate 'The Grinning Face' 6 points out of 10.
Anyone reading this page is likely to know that Paul Leni directed a very impressive film version of 'The Man Who Laughs' in Hollywood, at the very end of the silent era, starring the brilliant actor Conrad Veidt. That movie made several changes to Hugo's novel (including the addition of a happy ending), but on the whole it's an excellent film with superb production values and a brilliant central performance by Veidt.
This earlier Austrian version sticks closer to Hugo's novel ... which isn't entirely a point in this film's favour, as Hugo's novel has a rambling plot that places too much attention on peripheral characters, most of whom should have been deleted altogether.
Linnaeus Clancharlie (how's that for an Englishman's name?) is a baron in the British peerage. He's also the Marquis of Corleone in Sicily, but he'd rather live in England and be a baron instead of being a marquis in Sicily, even though a marquis is three rungs higher up the peerage. In 1682, Clancharlie incurs the displeasure of King James the Second ... who has the baron murdered. The king also orders the murder of the baron's young son and heir, two-year-old Fermain. But the corrupt Doctor Hardquanonne sells the boy to some bandits, who mutilate Fermain's face so that they can exhibit him at funfairs. They carve his mouth into a permanent grin.
Years later, in the reign of Queen Anne, the mutilated boy -- who has no knowledge of his noble birthright -- is now the young man Gwynplaine, manly of figure and presumably handsome of face except for the mutilation of his cake-hole. Gwynplaine lives with Ursus, a travelling mountebank who sells folk remedies. Their jolly family is completed by Dea, a beautiful foundling who is blind. She is passionately in love with Gwynplaine, all unaware of his deformity. Whenever Dea passes her fingers across Gwynplaine's disfigured face, she assumes he must be happy because of his broad grin. But meanwhile, under torture in Queen Anne's dungeon, Hardquanonne has confessed Gwynplaine's birthright...
This film presents a fairly straightforward and simplified retelling of Hugo's novel. Comparisons to the Leni version are inevitable, so here goes: although the Leni film had superb production values, its depiction of early 18th-century England was not especially convincing. (I still cringe when I recall the Ferris wheel in the funfair sequences.) This Austrian film was made on a far lower budget, but the costumes and sets are vastly more convincing than in Leni's version. Leni's film boasts the splendidly sensitive performance of Conrad Veidt, and several excellent supporting performances. In this Austrian 'pre-make', most of the actors are dull and stolid. The actor who plays Lord Dirry-Moir should have been deleted from this movie altogether. One exception is Nora Gregor as Princess Josiana, the jaded heiress who is attracted to Gwynplaine precisely *because* of his deformity. Gregor makes it clear that Josiana is sexually aroused by Gwynplaine's deformity; the Leni remake was very close-mouthed on this subject.
In the central role of Gwynplaine, Franz Höbling possesses barely a fraction of Conrad Veidt's electrifying presence and sensual virility. Höbling is further handicapped by a wretched makeup job simulating the mutilation of his face. In his own performance as Gwynplaine, Veidt expertly rose to the challenge of being unable to use the lower half of his face to convey emotion, skilfully employing his eyes and his hands to convey emotions that radically contradicted the broad grin on his face. Höbling is simply unable to do justice to a role that requires him to keep his mouth immobile.
As the blind heroine Dea, Lucienne Delacroix is a disaster, but I shan't blame the actress for this. One of the weak points of Hugo's novel is that Dea is really a compendium of frailties rather than a fully realised human being. She resembles those doomed Victorian heroines -- Little Nell, Eva St Claire -- who exist for the sole purpose of dying tragically young. That's how Delacroix plays the role here. Unlike Leni's version, this Austrian movie retains the tragic ending of Hugo's original novel: Dea abruptly dies at sea, and Gwynplaine flings himself overboard to a watery grave.
I enjoyed 'The Grinning Face', but I'm prejudiced in its favour. In a few aspects, it actually surpasses the Leni film. But, on a point-for-point basis, there's no question that the Leni version is superior. I'll rate 'The Grinning Face' 6 points out of 10.
