Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) User Reviews (57)

Classic Chaney Love Story!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 12 November 2003]

"Laugh, Clown Laugh" is another masterpiece from Lon Chaney. Although I didn't like it as much as some of his other work, it is nevertheless considered as one of his best films.

Tito (Chaney) and Simon (Bernard Siegel) are traveling clowns moving from town to town in Italy. One day Tito stumbles upon an abandoned little girl and rescues her. Despite protests from his partner, he names her Simonetta (to appease Simon) and raises her as his own. The grown up Simonetta (Loretta Young) blossoms into a beautiful young lady. Tito and Simon meanwhile, have become successful and now headline the grandest theaters in the land.

One day Simonetta, while out for a walk becomes entangled in a barb wire fence. She is rescued by Count Luigi Ravelli (Nils Aster) and taken to his home. There she learns that he is a womanizer and escapes. Tito suddenly discovers that he is in love with Simonetta when she appears before him in a stylish new dress.

Three Years later, Tito and Luigi meet while being treated by a doctor (Emmett King) for emotional problems. While in the office, Simonetta meets up again with Luigi and after some reservations begin to see each other ultimately becoming engaged. Tito is devastated and becomes distraught. In his sorrow he must continue to make people laugh as the show must go on even though he is being torn apart inside. Finally Simonetta discovers that Tito is also in love with her. Now she must choose.

Chaney returned to the eternal triangle theme time and time again in his films. He usually played the rejected lover and expressed such pathos that one could hardly help but feel pity for him. This film is no exception. The scenes where he must mask his sorrow and continue to play the clown, are classic Chaney.

Loretta Young, who would go on to a successful career spanning many decades was but a sweet sixteen when this film was made. The vast difference between her age and Chaney's made Chaney's character all the more pitiful.

Starring Lon Chaney as a less successful Woody Allen

[BrandtSponseller · 8/10 · 17 May 2005]

Lon Chaney is Tito Beppi, an Italian clown better known to his audiences as "Flik", in this Herbert Brenon directed film. Tito and his partner, Simon (Bernard Siegel), or "Flok", have a traveling two-man circus act. Tito finds an apparently abandoned young girl near a river and decides to adopt her. Simon objects, but Tito butters him up slightly by announcing that he'll name her Simonetta.

We quickly move forward in time, and Simonetta is now a young woman, played by Loretta Young, who was only 14 at the time of shooting. She's now skilled at tightrope walking, so Tito wants to work her into the act. On their promoter's advice, they try to make Simonetta look womanlier. They fix her hair and she heads out to a well-known spot where roses grow to acquire one as a coiffure accoutrement. It happens to be on Count Luigi Ravelli's (Nils Asther) property. The Count sees her and immediately falls in love. Tito has come to realize that he's in love with Simonetta, too, and thus the film is about the dilemmas of a morally and socially complex love triangle.

Like many films from the earlier years of Hollywood, Laugh, Clown, Laugh is an instantiation of a story that had a circuitous route to the silver screen. The script, by Elizabeth Meehan, with titles by Joseph Farnham, was adapted from a 1923 play by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, which was itself a version of an earlier (1919) Italian play--Ridi, Pagliacci--by Fausto Martini, which was very loosely based on Ruggiero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera Pagliacci. Films such as this are handy to keep in mind, by the way, whenever you want to counter someone complaining that only newer films rely so heavily on adapting stories from other media. Not that there is anything wrong with this, despite some saying it shows a "lack of originality" or "paucity of ideas" (fueled by them believing it's a new phenomenon). Laugh, Clown, Laugh has a nicely focused, parable-like script that works well despite the fact that all we have available now is a version of the film with a section missing. In fact, it's so well constructed that I couldn't even detect the missing section--I wasn't aware of it until I listened to the DVD commentary by Lon Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake.

This is the second time Chaney played a clown, the first being He Who Gets Slapped (1924). We might have expected Chaney to tackle a clown even earlier in his career given his notoriety for transformative makeup designs. He does a fantastic job in the role, as we'd expect. It's especially amazing to watch his ability to turn on a dime as he adjusts his depressive backstage persona (especially in the later sections of the film) to the happy-go-lucky Flik for the benefit of the audience on the other side of the curtain.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh incorporates compelling and even controversial themes, subtexts and direct content. Two scenes are relatively racy for the late 1920s, including one that builds up to a bit of foot fetish material and another containing a kiss with incestual subtexts--it's important to remember that this was an era when some states would not even allow films that showed a woman's bare leg or shoulder. The ending is somewhat nihilistic and surprisingly tragic.

On one level, the film is largely about social and dramatic contrasts. Tito and Simon are successful and popular when they perform, but they are almost gypsy-like, spartan itinerants. Like many comedians, Tito's public persona is joyous and exuberant, but behind the scenes he's not quite so happy. The love triangle involves both a man who is incredibly wealthy and in the upper niches of society and a man who is well liked but not wealthy and who is considered on lower or outside social rungs. There is a fabulous scene where both men head to a "neurologist" (more a psychologist) because one is suffering from mania characterized by uncontrollable laughter and the other is suffering from depression characterized by outbursts of crying--it's a personification of the comedy/tragedy masks. And of course, the film itself appears to be a comedy for much of its length, but ends up as a tragedy.

At the same time, Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a morality play. Tito ends up falling in love with his much younger, functionally adopted daughter. That's controversial material for the era--it's still controversial even now. Like many Chaney films, the climax hinges on the moral quandaries suggested by this love triangle and Chaney's difficult decisions.

While Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a quality film, it wasn't a complete artistic success in my view. I watched it on Turner Classic Movies' "Archives" Lon Chaney Collection disc, which also contains The Ace of Hearts (1921), which I just watched yesterday and preferred. The story here never quite captivated me in the way that Ace of Hearts did. The new score, by H. Scott Salinas, was also good (although maybe a bit too literal to the action at times for my tastes), but didn't match the sublime, sustained beauty of Vivek Maddala's Ace of Hearts score. Laugh, Clown, Laugh is well loved by many Chaney fans, though, and by some accounts, this was one of his favorite roles. Chaney's performance, at least, deserved a 10 even if the film overall wasn't up to the same degree of excellence.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh.... The Tears of a Clown

[sunlily · 9/10 · 30 May 2006]

Certainly the tale of the clown who's laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside, is not a new one. But in this version, Lon Chaney makes it his own through the force of his heart rending characterization.

The story of a clown who falls in love with the little girl he's raised as his daughter stops shy of being incestuous because the clown Tito, (Lon Chaney) tries to hide his feelings from the girl, Simonetta.(Played by a very young and exquisite Loretta Young.) Realizing that it's inappropriate,Tito always holds himself in check, but Simonetta is aware because she knows him so well. His realization that Simonetta is now a young lady, and no longer a child is one of the most touching scenes in the movie.The depth of his feeling for her speaks to the anguish of his inner soul, and produces emotional problems for which he seeks the help of a famous internist. The opposite side of the coin is played with aplomb by Nils Asther, whose emotional affliction is uncontrollable laughing,whereas Tito's is crying. Both men's salvation lies in the love they share for Simonetta.

While this is overall a sad movie, there are moments of lightness as well, especially when Tito is performing as Flik on the stage, and when he's trying to get Simonetta to laugh. Bernard Siegel gives fine support as Tito's partner Simon, who performs in the act as Flok.

By the end of the movie, you'll understand the pathos of Simon aka Flok saying, "Laugh, clown, laugh even though your heart is breaking."

A powerful performance by the man known as "the man of a thousand faces."

[Ziggy5446 · 10/10 · 27 June 2007]

A one man special effects unit, Lon Chaney was known as The Man of a Thousand Faces and more than lived up to his nickname. Of course, he is best known for his work The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but his career was loaded with impressive performances of all kinds. Laugh, Clown, Laugh certainly showcases one of the many he did.

Herbert Brenon, known as a despotic director, directs the film. It's a bittersweet romantic melodrama, a film with a similar theme that Chaney did in 1924's He Who Gets Slapped. The fifteen-year-old Loretta Young (only 14 at the time of shooting) is 45-year-old Lon Chaney's leading lady. Young started in showbiz at the age of four as an extra, but this was her first major role. The film proved to be popular; MGM had it shot with an alternative happy ending to its sad ending and let the individual movie houses decide which version they wanted. No surviving copy of the happy ending seems to have survived. It's taken from a 1923 play by David Belasco and Tom Cushing based on the Italian play Ridi Pagliacci by Gausto Martino, Elizabeth Meehan is the screenwriter. The play had a successful run in New York with Lionel Barrymore in the Chaney role. It was shot on location in Elysian Park, a suburb of Los Angeles by the legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe.

The film is simply about Tito (Lon Chaney) a clown in a traveling circus, a performer who once drew in massive crowds with his skills. When he was younger, he found himself in a most unusual situation, however. He and his friend Simon discover an abandoned young girl, who has no chance of survival on her own. Out of kindness, the two take her in and she is raised on the road with the two performers. As time passes and the years roll on, the girl blossoms into a beautiful young woman, known as Simonetta (Loretta Young). Tito's prime has passed, which has him in a depressed state at the outset. He and the self-indulgent Count Luigi Ravelli (Nils Asther) learn to help each other with their problems, but become romantic rivals when Simonetta falls for the rich count. Tito then falls into a spiral of sadness, due his mixed emotions.

Probably the first thing you'll notice about Laugh, Clown, Laugh is how little attempted dialogue there is. The title card is used infrequently. The vast majority of this movie is told in near pantomime: gestures, facial expressions, and stage direction. It is also eloquently plotted, so we understand the situations and dramatics instantly and inherently.

Without Chaney though, this film just would not work. It would seem forced or flashy, almost hyperactive in some ways. Chaney is the anchor, the solid center whose pure motives move quickly over to the mixed when he realizes the emotional bond between Simonette and himself is growing more "physical." Without the seriousness, the emotional concrete that Chaney provides to tie the movie to a core concept, the flighty nature of Loretta Young or the overacting of Simon and Count Lavelli would forever damage the narrative. Chaney is the epitome of a clown laughing on the outside as he is dying on the inside, and Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a classic film.

An Absolute Must For So Many Reasons

[kurugaal · 16 January 2008]

I've been a die-hard Lonaholic since the early 70's, but only managed to see this in a terrible 16MM bootleg print over 30 years ago, and then a fragmentary view when it was shown on TCM. Watching this DVD now has given me a whole new perspective on how great a silent picture can be, and on why I fell for Chaney as well.

The story, while it apparently bears the stamp post-Victorian melodrama, is also very complex and has sexual undercurrents that are surprisingly modern. It portrays emotions that are so primal, and portrays them so well, that its dated elements don't prevent it from feeling current and emotionally valid.

The acting is top notch. The deep and conflicting feelings that are a component of any of the three sides of a love triangle are brilliantly, subtly portrayed by all the principals. Fourteen year-old Loretta Young is perfectly cast as the girl who is becoming a woman, with her experiences always ahead of her understanding.

You can really see in LCL why Lon Chaney was considered the actor's actor of his day. He's superb; his Tito Beppi is an irresistible combination of simplicity and depth. At first I thought Chaney was hamming a bit, but ultimately it contributes to the impact of his portrayal of Tito's honest and profoundly compassionate character. The few seconds when Beppi realizes that his fatherly love for Simonetta--whom he has raised since she was a child--has suddenly veered into desire, ought to be taught in acting classes. That Chaney was capable of portraying so many strong, and subtle, deeply personal emotions, without a single word, goes a long way towards explaining the powerful grip his on screen charisma had on audiences of the Twenties.

James Wong Howe's photography is stunning. He was famous for having been able to get Mary Miles Minter's pale blue eyes to register on orthochromatic film; LCL shows how he brought that same testimonial to the richness of black and white to the more realistic palette of panchromatic stock.

The DVD's presentation is excellent. The new musical score really enhances the film without calling attention to itself. Its quiet urgency contributes to the sense of inevitable tragedy without ever veering into clichéd dramatics. I think this print of Laugh Clown Laugh is the only one surviving; there are some small continuity hiccups from lost footage but it doesn't detract.

Anyone who is or has been in love should see this film; it's hard not to identify with elements of the plights of all three protagonists. Put this on a double bill with City Lights and it's liable to kill you.

Regards, Richard Day Gore

One of the Great Films

[teehee7 · 10/10 · 26 July 2004]

Not only is this the greatest performance I've seen by Chaney, it is one of the great films.

In this, Chaney definitively proves he is one of the greatest actors, perhaps the greatest, in all of film. Although he appears in different make-ups in almost every scene, the make-up is to portray himself as a younger man who slowly grows older as the 25-year span of the film tells the well-known tragic love story more familiarly known as "Pagliacci," the clown who could not laugh.

The film co-stars a radiant 14-year-old Loretta Young, who Chaney supposedly guided to another great performance. Without the director, who was unduly harsh on her, knowing it. When Chaney found out, he made sure he was always with Young whenever the director was. Young's mistreatment ended.

Several times I was near tears because Chaney's performance--watch his eyes, hands and demeanor--is so naturalistic, even though somewhat melodramatic, as all silent performances were.

Almost all of Chaney's films were about unrequieted love, but here he may have reached his apotheosis. I won't know until I see a few more of his non "horror" films, especially, "He Who Gets Slapped."

Don't let what I've said make you think this is some clunky "tear-jerker," It is filled with good laughs, drama, wonder and real pathos. Chaney's final scene is utterly tragic and beautiful.

Even non-Chaney fans will be awed by "Laugh, Clown, Laugh."

Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 5 January 2009]

I can't say I am surprised by Lon Chaney's fine performance here, as he continues to impress me with every film I see of his for the first time. Here he plays a clown named Tito, who comes across an abandoned little girl one day and decides to take her in and bring her up, naming her Simonetta. As the years progress, Simonetta develops into a beautiful young woman (Loretta Young) and Tito begins to fall in love with her. Problem is, so too has a young Count, with whom Tito must compete. But the magic is that we get to see Chaney's heart being broken even though he has to work as a laughing and joyful clown while crying on the inside.

I wouldn't say the movie is exceptional, but it's got sentiment and Chaney is very good. I found Loretta Young to be quite attractive, but I later discovered she was only 14 at the time (oops). You know, I'm surprised more people haven't talked about the incestuous implications of a film like this one, considering that the Chaney character was more or less the girl's "father". Not that I mind, you understand; these things do occur, and it's not like the girl was Tito's own flesh and blood or anything. But I do have to wonder why people didn't cut Woody Allen the same slack? *** out of ****

Chaney's favourite of all his pictures is a landmark weeper

[kingdaevid · 10/10 · 25 May 2005]

...the Pagliacci story has become a keystone of American popular culture, all the way from Enrico Caruso's Metropolitan Opera performances in the Leoncavallo classic (his various recordings of "Vesti la Giubba" combined to sell over a million copies according to the Guinness Book of World Records) through to the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles hit record "Tears of a Clown." This Lon Chaney movie was once a primary link in that chain, but because it was considered "lost" for many years (before a British release print with two reels missing was found towards the end of the century) it was forgotten. Now that it's available on DVD with a beautiful H. Scott Salinas musical score worthy of Morricone, as well as a scholarly audio commentary by Michael F. Blake, it deserves to be restored to its former status as one of the greatest American films of the silent era...

Clown In Love

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 2 January 2013]

A rather dated play by David Belasco serves as the basis for Laugh Clown Laugh which is saved today by Lon Chaney's incredible performance as a clown in love. Chaney brings some incredible pathos to the role of a performing clown who falls in love with a young girl he took in as an orphan. The child grows up to be Loretta Young who is given little to do, but look pretty and fetching.

Knowing that this was Belasco who wrote this and knowing the type of audience and era that he wrote for, I was wondering if he might have gotten the inspiration for the story from Grover Cleveland and his wife Frances Folsom. Frances was around 10 years old when her father was killed in a carriage accident. Oscar Folsom's estate was handled by his law partner Cleveland and Grover helped raise the child and when she came of age married her. There were a few whispers about that back in the day. Of course it turns out better for them than it did for Chaney.

Chaney and partner Bernard Siegel were a pair of itinerant traveling performer clowns when they take in this orphan girl. Loretta is an innocent and Chaney's kept her that way. But one day looking for a rose to put in her hair she gets caught on the barbed wire fence protecting the garden of count Nils Asther.

I have to say when I first saw Asther with that rakish monocle I thought for sure we've got ourselves a Snidely Whiplash villain. However it turns out he's got more character than on first impression.

But the film truly belongs to Chaney who even away from his horror films and through clown makeup can register so many emotions. Look at his eyes, his closeups really tell all.

The story is dated and old fashioned and hardly likely to be remade today. But it shouldn't, no one could top Chaney and what he did here.

Even Though Your Heart Is Breaking

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 21 December 2003]

A clown afflicted with terrible melancholy and an Italian Count plagued by uncontrollable laughter seek solace with the girl they both love.

LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH is a silent showcase for the dramatic skills of Lon Chaney. No phantoms or monsters here; no belfries, dungeons or secret laboratories. What you do have is a rather simple story set against a circus backdrop, the milieu which was so dear to Chaney's heart. Here is a clown tormented; even though consumed with love for his young protégée, he cannot put his feelings into words. No need--his marvelously expressive face, even when hidden by greasepaint, poignantly portrays every emotion. Chaney once again displays his talent as one of the supreme actors of the American Silent Film.

Nils Asther enters the movie playing a rich cad, but his character is allowed to grow into rather more than that. Deftly underplaying his role he provides a nice counterpart to Chaney. Beautiful Loretta Young has little to do except look lovely and that is enough.

MGM has given the film superior production values, which was the fitting respect shown for one of their most important stars.

H. Scott Salinas has composed an excellent film score which perfectly complements the action on the screen.

Tragic Clown without the High C's

[st-shot · 7/10 · 10 February 2008]

Lon Chaney poses no threat to anyone but himself in Laugh Clown Laugh, a film that borrows slightly from the tragic theme of Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci (the actual name of the clown act in which Chaney performs). As Tito Beppi, Chaney is far from menacing as he brings laughter and joy to all ages as an acrobatic mirth maker in his traveling act with fellow bozo Simon. Early in the film they come upon an abandoned child which Simon wants to drop off at an orphanage but Tito insists on raising. Ironically she is named Simonetta (played by a stunning 14 year old Loretta Young) and she grows into a beautiful young lady. Tito senses a shift in his love for the child and attempts to combat these urges. Meanwhile Simonetta meets the dashing Count Luigi Ravelli (Nils Asther) briefly and he becomes smitten with her. Time passes and Beppi and Ravelli meet in a psychiatrist office where they are both being treated for depression. They become fast friends helping each other out but problems arise when Luigi falls hard for Simonetta. Tito has never made his full intentions known to her and in true Chaney fashion he bears the brunt of pain and sacrifice.

The circus world Tito inhabits is a far cry from and more antiseptic take than the dark world of the armless knife thrower in The Unknown. For the most part Tito is a pretty happy go lucky guy at odds with the incestuous implications involving Simonetta. Her happiness alone is what matters to him and he plots no revenge against his rival suitor, but he hurts bad. Chaney once again conveys the heartfelt tragic emotions that make him the great silent tragedian he is. Festooned in his uniform of joy Tito quickly spirals into self mocking, regaling the audience with laughter while Simon off stage exhorts "Laugh clown laugh, even though your heart is breaking" (Is this where Chaplin got the idea for his song smile?).

While Tito may be a watered down Chaney character and Herbert Brenon's direction may lack the subversiveness and ambiance of a Todd Browning collaboration, Laugh Clown Laugh is never the less a solid silent with an emotional punch.

Tremendously well made, but also very sad

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 8 May 2021]

Lon Chaney was was of the most prolific actors of the early 1900s, and he made about 150 movies between between 1913 and 1930 when he died. Sadly, only about a third of them survive today, and one that I'm very happy to know that did is this one. The film's storyline involves Chaney playing a circus clown who finds an abandoned girl one day and decides to raise her himself. When she is a teenager, she meets someone that already has a girlfriend and as a result, does not want to be with him. To add more to the story's complexity, Chaney also starts to take an interest in her, but he knows his lust is wrong since he raised the girl himself. Later in the movie, she is getting ready to marry the man that she rejected earlier, but then breaks her promise after telling Chaney she loved him first. At the end of the movie, Chaney doesn't believe she truly loves him, and so he intentionally makes a fatal mistake while practicing for a circus trick one day, and falls from a wire. He dies shortly afterwards, and the girl will never be able to marry him now. The ending is very depressing and Chaney plays the clown amazingly, since the role in and of itself is a contradiction. He's part of a circus and supposed to be joyful all the time, but inside he's conflicted. I saw an alternate version of this movie made in 2003 I think with new music, and once again it really does make the viewer feel sad for Chaney. A must see for silent movie fans.

Great Acting, Creepy Plot

[ClaudetteColbertFan · 7/10 · 3 November 2018]

I'm a fan of both Lon Chaney and Loretta Young so the film was a must-see. Chaney is the show stealer in this. Young shows early on, however, she has talent with her subtle expressions and expressive eyes. She is sadly underrated. The plot is a bit on the creepy side.

Sad Clown Lusts After Teenage Daughter

[Cineanalyst · 4/10 · 8 April 2021]

For this Lon Chaney vehicle, "Laugh, Clown, Laugh," The Man of a Thousand Faces once again plays a clown (he'd already done so in "He Who Gets Slapped" (1924))-and a sad one at that. It's a distasteful film and not just because it has clowns, the usual love triangle and is a dated tearjerker, which, today, comes off as excruciating and quite slow for being only 74 minutes. The love triangle features two men chasing after a girl half, or in Chaney's case about a third, their ages. Moreover, Chaney's character, Tito, has been raising this girl, Simonetta, like a daughter since he found her orphaned as a small child. Later, when she is played by the then-14-years-old Loretta Young, Tito (who is at least in his mid-forties, if not older, like Chaney was) falls in love with her romantically. Next up in the love triangle, a rich count or dandy named Luigi won't keep his hands off the teenager he's just met.

Tito, Simonetta and Luigi become best pals after Tito and Luigi visit a doctor. Tito, the clown, can't help crying, and Luigi can't control his laughter. And, as strange as that sounds, even stranger is the doctor's same advice to them: love. He suggests to Tito that he stop suppressing his feelings of love and tells Luigi to fall in love sincerely with the right kind of woman. What a quack. Soap-opera-like (well, the film traces its origins back to an opera, so I guess it's just operatic) backstage drama ensues, as the characters eventually encounter each other about the love-triangle predicament. Tito seems to take his doctor's advice too far about not suppressing his feelings-as he throws them all over the place while he performs his circus routines in anticipation of Simonetta's decision. This is not one of Chaney's more restrained performances, to say the least. But, apparently, some silent-film fans still like it, and I suppose the material is begging for capital-A Acting.

I'd probably like it better if Chaney's clown were at least funny. In addition to the love triangle, the film also makes a big deal about how funny Tito's clown persona, Flick, is. His clown partner, Simon, a.k.a. Flock, makes a dramatic plea for him to continue performing because, as he says, the world needs laughter. Flick only has one good act, and it's impressive as a physical stunt, but not a comical one. If you want to see a funny clown at the circus, see Charlie Chaplin in "The Circus" (1928). To say something nice, however, Chaney's makeup job is impressive, per usual, and I'm not talking about the clown makeup. He did well to portray the aging of his character from young adoptive father to incestuous old man pining after his now-teenage daughter.

Love can break your heart

[Leahcurry · 5 July 2004]

"Laugh, Clown, Laugh" is a very sad movie, much like "He Who Gets Slapped", only much more heartrending. There is no horror, and the only special makeup is clown makeup. Lon Chaney finds an abandoned toddler, naming her Simonetta to appease his partner Simon. The movie wastes no time into getting to the main plot, involving a teenaged Simonetta (played by a 15-year old Loretta Young), who the circus coordinator says should look like a woman in order to join Tito's and Simon's act.

Tito (Chaney) has loved Simonetta from the time he finds her as a toddler. When he tells her she needs a rose in her hair, Simonetta goes to the gardens of Count Ravelli (Nils Asther), where they grow. She scrapes her legs over the barbed wire fence, and Count Ravelli sees her and takes her into his house to tend to her. He is a womanizer, and immediately becomes infatuated with her. He verbalizes his love, and says the prophetic "What an alluring woman you could be." Maybe it encourages her, even after she learns to her horror that he is a womanizer, because later that day, she is dressed like a woman and amazes Tito.

Both men are now passionately in love with her, and suffer uncontrollable emotions as a result (the Count's is laughter, and Tito's is crying). Three years later, the two men meet at a neurologist's and decide to cure each other, not yet knowing they are both in love with Simonetta.

After they recover, they learn. Count Ravelli gives Simonetta some pearls, which Loretta and Lon Chaney initially reject--until they read the accompanying note. Then, things get really complicated.

Each performance is excellent throughout. Chaney gives an excellent performance, though his quick transformation from a fatherly love to one that borders on incest. Tito is not the kind of man who is given to that kind of passion, and he doesn't like it, knowing it is wrong. Nils Asther is not dramatic or as convincing as Lon Chaney, but then, who can outshine Chaney? No one. Count Ravelli's transformation is more plausible because Loretta Young makes Simonetta innocent and pure, who by her virtues slowly changes him from a reckless womanizer to a devoted lover. All three deserve praise, and don't be surprised if you want to watch it more than once. It may be sad, but it is also sweet.

Excellent acting performances in this silent film!

[mcade · 8/10 · 27 February 2003]

This premiered on Turner Classic Movies on February 26, 2003 and I got to see it for the first time. The story is engaging but the film comes to life because of Lon Chaney's heartbreaking performance. The pain he feels because he cannot tell the orphan girl who has grown into a woman that he is in love with her while all the time being told by his partner that he has to "Laugh Clown Laugh" to make people laugh is heartrenching. You can feel his pain and longing for Loretta Young's character. Eventually the pain overcomes him leading him to commit suicide. Loretta Young, who was only 15 in this film, turns in a remarkably performance for being a newcomer.

All in all a very enjoyable silent film. This is one worth catching if it is shown again.

Laugh, Clown Laugh

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 28 September 2015]

Lon Chaney offers a heart-wrenching performance as an agonizing, aging circus performer (clown) who raises a pretty orphan girl found while he and a colleague, Simon (Bernard Siegel) are taking a rest break during their country travels. Take us about ten or so years later, and Chaney's Tito wants Simon to include Simonetta (Loretta Young, a cutie) in their act as a balancing on the wire act in a ballerina suit. Simon doesn't like and walks out on Tito, but he later recants when they start selling out large theaters. Enter affluent aristocrat, Luigi (Nils Asther), seeing Simonetta caught on a fence wire, instantly in love. Tito soon realizes he is falling in love with Simonetta (a bit creepy considering he's much older and she's still a teenager), and a triangle ensues with Luigi seemingly a monkey wrench. It all ends in tragedy.

The anguish with Lon is palpable and effective. That is what I take from this film. Loretta is cute and bubbly. Lon reacts in ways that are both subtle and over the top (his eyes widening an example, and his slipping away at the end with the eyes less bugging and more introspective and hurt), but I always felt it all works well at exposing his inner adoration, pain, and madness. What he goes through is all right there on screen. A tour de force. The ending is predictable but compelling and spellbinding. Lon was an absolute silent film actor's actor.

When Chaney Was King

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 10 January 2010]

Circus clowns Lon Chaney (as Tito Beppi) and Bernard Siegel (as Simon) entertain a beautiful Italian countryside. On a water break, Mr. Chaney happens upon an abandoned little girl. Assuming (correctly, for this story's purposes) she was left by a family overburdened with children, Chaney decides to adopt the child. However, Mr. Siegel proclaims, "Women bring bad luck!" But, naming her after his partner helps charm Siegel into accepting the kid into their family. The three appear blissfully happy.

Years later, the girl grows into nubile Loretta Young (as Simonetta); and, she joins Chaney & Siegel's circus act, as a tightrope walker. One day, Ms. Young climbs over some barbed wire while looking to pick a rose, and gets tangled up. Out for a walk, handsome nobleman Nils Asther (as Luigi Ravelli) helps Young get her "pretty little legs" untangled. Clearly attracted, Mr. Asther takes Young home, to dress her wounds. Happenstance, however, separates the potential young lovers. Three years pass…

Chaney has grown more sexually attracted to his young ward, but suppresses his feelings. Meanwhile, Asther sees a series of women, but none match up to Young. With physical manifestations of their emotional distress, Asther and Chaney meet, when visiting a doctor. Asther is afflicted with fits of uncontrollable laughter, and Chaney suffers from crying spells. The men become friends, and are told their conditions may be cured by the love of a woman. Obviously, it's Young - but, only one will win her…

Young's indecisive love pledging is dizzying, but Chaney seems to figure out what her "soul" really wanted. Despite the story missteps, Chaney is marvelous - note, especially, one of his most memorable farewells, in clown make-up, saying, "The comedy…is…ended!" Composed for the film's showing on TCM, H. Scott Salinas' 2002 musical score is excellent; hopefully, the film's "lost" soundtrack wasn't one of those "synchronized sound effect" tracks more common toward the end of 1928.

Chaney was 1928's biggest male box office star, and "Laugh, Clown Laugh" hit #1 on the record charts, in a vocal version by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, on July 21, 1928. This film was a big hit for Chaney and MGM, making gorgeous teenaged Young an obvious star, and advancing Asther's American career. The romance between "father" Chaney and "daughter" Young gets a lot of attention, but also watch how Asther brushes his hand over Young's breast and erotically kisses her foot - ay, there's the rub…

******** Laugh, Clown, Laugh (4/14/28) Herbert Brenon ~ Lon Chaney, Loretta Young, Nils Asther, Bernard Siegel

"Be a Clown, Be a Clown ... All the World Loves a Clown"

[lugonian · 8/10 · 12 August 2017]

LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1928), produced and directed by Herbert Brenon, returns Lon Chaney to playing the role of a tragic clown, a type of role he earlier portrayed in his earlier screen adaptation to HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (MGM, 1924). Though it's easier to confuse one film from the other, particularly where Lon Chaney and his clowning are concerned, yet for this silent melodrama, taken from the play elements by David Belasco, and story by Tom Cushing, it's somewhat predictable Chaney to say the least.

Opening title: "Spring comes early in the Italian hills. Peasants hearts are light - and the voice of the traveling circus is heard in the land." This strange tale opens with Tito (Lon Chaney) and Simon (Bernard Siegel), a couple of sideshow entertainers traveling through an Italian village where they entertain and invite the public to attend their upcoming circus show where they perform as clowns. Following their performance, Tito rests up by the lake where he washes his clothes. At a distance he hears some crying, only to find an abandoned infant girl whose feet are tied to a branch. Releasing her from her bondage, rather than taking her to an orphanage, Tito decides to adopt her, much to the chagrin of Simon until he names the baby Simonetta. Years pass. Simonetta (Loretta Young), now a young girl, is being trained by Tito to become a tight rope walker. Later, while accidentally getting her foot caught in barb wire, Simonetta is rescued by the passing Count Luigi Babelli (Nils Asther), who takes to her beauty. After inviting her to his home, Simonetta's presence causes friction between Luigi and his girlfriend, Lucretta (Gwen Lee). During their argument, Simonetta leaves. Later, Luigi finds himself suffering from uncontrollable laughter due to life of self-indulgence while at the same time, Tito suffers from depression involving Simonetta. As both men pay a visit to a neurologist (Emmett King) in Rome, he advises individually that they find a girl to truly love and marry. In order to break from his crying spells, Tito resumes life as Flick the clown, while Luigi attempts winning the love of a circus girl. Situations become complex as Simonetta learns the true love from both men, and whether or not they can ever overcome their inner troubled emotions. Others members of the cast include: Cissy Fitz-gerald (Giancinta); and Julie Devalora (The Nurse).

Aside from the know-how melodramatic elements given by the legendary Lon Chaney, LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH is also notable for being the first major movie role for the third-billed Loretta Young, then about age 15, yet looking very much like a grown mature woman here. Radiant, beautiful and still new to the movie business following numerous uncredited bit parts dating back to the early 1920s or beyond. Young, whose role could have been performed by other MGM contract performers as Anita Page, Dorothy Sebastian or HE WHO GETS SLAPPED co-star, Norma Shearer, shows how she can hold her own even at a very young age as a serious actress. Working opposite the ever popular Lon Chaney certainly proves to be a big advantage to her career. Nils Asther, better known to film scholars mostly for his co-starring roles in silent dramas opposite another popular MGM performer, Greta Garbo, performs his task well as the troubled young Count.

Out of circulation for decades, LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH, a sort-after Lon Chaney melodrama, premiered on Turner Classic Movies cable channel (TCM premiere: February 26, 2003), accompanied by a new original score composed by J. Scott Salinas. Though one would wish for the original score that accompanied this 1928 production, the Salinas orchestration proves to be quite satisfactory during its current clock time of 74 minutes. For such an unusual story with no laughs, and very much a one man (Chaney) show, it's plausible though its fine performances made believable by Chaney and his co-stars. Available on DVD, LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH is a welcome edition to the other Chaney movies during his MGM years (1924-1930) and worthy viewing for the presence of a girl named Loretta when she was young. (***)

Clown stories are often sad ones...

[SinjinSB · 7/10 · 26 February 2003]

For some reason I expected this to be a happier film, but often clown stories are sad ones. Tito and Simon have a very entertaining clown show. They find an abandoned young girl and Tito (Lon Chaney) decides to raise her with the show. Simonetta (Loretta Young) grows up and falls for a rich guys who helps her one day and they're married. This saddens Tito, who himself has fallen for Simonetta. That's the part that disturbs me the most. Not only is Tito 30 years older, but he was the one who raised her. It turned me off a bit. Apparently there is an alternate ending that was filmed for this movie that no longer exists. I heard that this was common and the theater could choose which ending to show it's patrons. Based on the rest of the tone of this movie, I think the current ending is the better one. There were a couple serious stunts in this movie and I'm not sure if Lon Chaney did his own stunts, but I was impressed. I was lucky to see this with the musical score composed by H. Scott Salinas in 2002. It was excellent and matched the film well. This may not be one of the great silent films, but I am glad I was able to catch this rarely seen gem on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

*** (out of 4)

Possibly Chaney's Best Emotional Range

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 27 April 2015]

A professional clown (Lon Chaney) and a self-indulgent count (Nils Asther) learn to help each other with their problems, but then become romantic rivals.

"Laugh, Clown, Laugh" is easily one of Lon Chaney's best films. Although the makeup effects that made him famous are sparse here, it gives him a chance to show he is not just a good character actor, but truly a gifted leading man in his own right. In no other film does Chaney have such a range of emotion from depressed to ecstatic, and pull it off in such a believable manner.

And Chaney was surrounded by talent. Not only Loretta Young, whose fame only swelled over the next three decades, but the camera was handled by the legendary James Wong Howe, a ten time Oscar nominee. Along with the supporting cast, this makes for a very strong film.

There is some questionable material that might leave the audience conflicted. While we are clearly supposed to sympathize with Tito, there is a not-so-subtle incestuous undertone that may be repulsive. And the drastic age difference (never stated explicitly, but possibly as much as thirty or more years).

Horror? No, not in any sense. But a key film in the career of Lon Chaney, the first major horror icon.

I wish this would have been better.

[plaidpotato · 6/10 · 27 February 2003]

I loved Lon Chaney as a masochistic clown in He Who Gets Slapped, a bizarre and wonderful film. Chaney played a different sort of clown in Laugh, Clown, Laugh, a funny one--supposedly. Flik was meant to be the clown who kept all Rome laughing. But the problem was, Chaney wasn't even remotely funny or clown-like. The best clown humor he could muster was to don a foot-long dildo-nose and stroke a stuffed chicken (a cock?). Maybe the studio should have hired a director who knew something about clowns, or hired a clown coach to help Chaney come up with some funny bits. There needed to be some real humor to contrast with the tragic bits, and there wasn't.

The tragic love story part was age-old, but fairly interesting in a pseudo-incestuous kind of way. It reminded me a little of one of the installments of Kieslowski's Dekalog, and also a little of Fellini's Variety Lights. Chaney was generally better when he was out of makeup. And Loretta Young--I can't believe she was 15 when this was filmed. Jeez, talk about precocious. I feel dirty.

Chaney's greatest role.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 10/10 · 15 July 2007]

'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' was Lon Chaney's favourite of his own films, according to Robert Gordon Anderson's 1971 Chaney bio. As Tito Beppi, an Italian clown who adopts a foundling, Lon Chaney pulls the stops out: playing a wide range of emotions, even legitimately over-acting as a circus clown. He also adds an elaborate Auguste-style clown whiteface to his gallery of 1,000 faces. And it didn't hurt that 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' had a hit song in 1928. (Yes, silent movies sometimes had hit songs: published as song sheets to accompany the film, these were performed by pit musicians in first-run cinemas.)

I screened an acetate print of 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' duplicated from a nitrate vault print missing Reel Four. This explains why Chaney's clown partner (Bernard Siegel, excellent!) walks out of Chaney's life in Reel Three but is back for the climax: their reconciliation is in Reel Four. Also missing is a sequence (filmed but possibly never used) in which teenage Loretta Young dons a pageboy's 'Buttons' uniform.

In early scenes with the infant foundling, Lon Chaney portrays a man younger than himself: here his make-up softens his features; his hair is dyed black and his bald spot is thatched over. The action jumps ahead about 15 years: Chaney appropriately greys and thins his hair, while adding wrinkles. The action moves ahead three more years: Chaney ages more than that in the interim, but his character is under great strain.

I had mixed feelings about one sequence: Chaney's character visits a doctor's surgery, complaining of depression. The doctor tells him to attend a performance of the circus clown Flik, whose sawdust antics can cure anyone's melancholy. Chaney sadly replies that this advice cannot help him: he IS Flik! For me, coming from a background of British and European showbiz, this moment was unimpressive because I recognised its origin: this story was first told about the English clown Joseph Grimaldi (1778-1837), and later told about Grock, a Swiss clown who was still performing when 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' was in production: in 1928, Grock was the world's highest-paid circus performer. 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' is apparently set in the contemporary present: Loretta Young wears some cloche hats and other 1928 fashions, and Nils Asther wears a wristwatch. (These were considered effeminate until after World War One.)

Chaney often played madmen or characters beyond the brink of madness. In 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh', he plays a man who questions his own sanity, yet he retains our sympathy. In one shot, Chaney's face contorts into rage ... and for an instant I saw some of his earlier villainous roles. This is possibly Chaney's only misstep in an otherwise note-perfect role that deserved an Academy Award.

Loretta Young, barely over age 14 here, is a seasoned pro: winsome in her early scenes as a girl her own age, then becoming a demure young lady in the scenes three years on. Several of Lon Chaney's MGM films ('The Big City', 'The Black Bird' and 'While the City Sleeps') cast him as a man with romantic designs on a girl young enough to be his daughter. (Chaney had no such penchant in real life.) Here, he raises foundling Loretta from birth, then finds himself wanting to pitch woo to her in her teen years ... but this time the girl (by adoption) really IS his daughter! This was the only aspect of Chaney's portrayal which I disliked.

It's well-known that some silent-film actors' careers were ruined by the coming of sound. Less well-known is that some directors' careers suffered as well. Herbert Brenon (who reportedly bullied Young during this production) was a major silent-film director whose career plummeted rapidly in talkies. Brenon's films had a slight unreality about them, which worked well in fantasies (his best-known film is 'Peter Pan') or in dramas with a theatrical background such as 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh'.

The film benefits from MGM's top production values. Only two details rang false: a nurse in Italy wears an American nurse's uniform, and I have difficulty believing that (even in 1928, before mega-tort lawsuits) a tightrope performer would perform directly above his audience without a safety net.

In 'The Black Bird', Lon Chaney (who never visited Britain or Europe) expertly depicted a thief from London's Limehouse district. Chaney employed the hand gestures and body language of an authentic London costermonger; I don't know where he observed these gestures (from an expat in Los Angeles?), but his portrayal convinced me that he was a genuine Londoner. In 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh', playing an Italian peasant, Chaney uses authentic Italian gestures and body language without going into 'mama mia!' exaggerations. Bravo, Lon!

SLIGHT SPOILERS. At the climax of 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' there's a brilliantly lyrical image. On the stage of an empty theatre, Chaney's demented clown hears the (absent) orchestra, and the audience applauding. This being a silent film, we SEE musicians' instruments and applauding hands superimposed over Chaney's whiteface Auguste make-up. This beautiful and evocative visual device would have worked just as well in a talkie film, but I suspect that -- if Chaney had lived long enough to film this story as a sound movie -- the image would have been omitted in favour of a straightforward auditory hallucination on the soundtrack. Compare the very similar climactic sequence in 'Stage Door' (1937), where Andrea Leeds plays a deluded actress who imagines herself preparing to go onstage while she commits suicide: in that film, the delusion is confined to the soundtrack, and it's not nearly so effective. As usual, when a silent film and a talkie depict similar events, the silent version does it better. Film is, after all, primarily a visual medium.

Despite my nitpicks, 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh' is a masterpiece which works even with a reel missing, and Chaney's performance is a triumph: possibly his greatest role, surpassing even the Phantom of the Opera. My rating for 'Laugh, Clown, Laugh': a solid 10 out of 10.

Double Ick Factor

[RogerRmjet · 6/10 · 2 May 2006]

Just watched this recently on TCM and my wife and I both had our jaws on the floor. It starts out very sweetly with Lon Chaney (Tito) and pal (Simon) as traveling circus clowns in Italy. Chaney discovers an abandoned little girl and decides to raise her as his own daughter, despite his partner's objections. To win Simon over, he names the girl "Simonetta."

Years later, Simonetta has grown into quite a beautiful young woman. After she gets dolled up to join the act as a tightrope walker, Chaney feels something stirring inside that makes him feel rather uncomfortable. It made us feel uncomfortable, too. Shades of Woody Allen! He's old and basically her father. Double ick factor.

More times passes and Chaney falls into depression due to his unrequited love for Simonetta. He's the clown who cannot laugh. And then she gets involved with someone else -- Luigi, a rich count who can't stop laughing. On the one hand, you want to feel for Chaney (he was quite likable in the beginning), but certainly not for his situation.

Chaney gives an excellent performance and speaks volumes with his his face alone. He's much more understated here than films made just a few years earlier, such as Phantom of the Opera. You also to see what he really looked like (at the beginning anyway -- his old age make-up is excellent). I certainly would have rated this film higher were it not for the double ick factor.

The ending, while semi-tragic, seems to be missing something. There is a lost reel and I'm wondering if that's where it went. There's no follow-up with Simonetta.

Not one of my favorite Lon Chaney films

[sdave7596 · 4/10 · 22 January 2010]

"Laugh, Clown Laugh" released in 1928, stars the legendary Lon Chaney as a circus clown named Tito. Tito has raised a foundling (a young and beautiful Loretta Young) to adulthood and names her Simonetta. Tito has raised the girl in the circus life, and she has become an accomplished ballerina. While Chaney gives his usual great performance, I could not get past the fact that Tito, now well into middle age, has the hots for the young Simonetta. Although he is not her biological father, he has raised her like a daughter. That kind of "ick" factor permeates throughout the film. Tito competes for Simonetta's affections with a young and handsome 'Count' Luigi (Nils Asther). Simonetta clearly falls for the young man, but feels guilt about abandoning Tito (out of loyalty, not romantic love). The whole premise of the film is ridiculous, and I find it amazing that no one in the film tells Tito what a stupid old fool he is being (until he reveals it himself at the end). The film is noteworthy only because of Loretta Young, who would go on to have a great career. While I adore Chaney's brilliance as an actor, this whole film seems off to me and just downright creepy.