The man who laughed before Batman existed — and it's not pretty.
A wealthy man, a circus clown by profession, tells another man, during a car ride, some excerpts from his life and that of his partner. Before becoming a clown, he had difficulty finding work due to the abnormal appearance of his face and was constantly laughed at.
Acting
Alfred Abel's physically demanding, heartbreaking clown performance.
Direction
Meinert's framing makes the audience complicit in staring.
Production
Carnival sets that feel genuinely sleazy, not romanticized.
Director
Rudolf Meinert
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Weimar Germany's obsession with circus films and bodily difference as metaphor for national trauma.
Victor Hugo's 'The Man Who Laughs' was a clear influence, predating the more famous 1928 adaptation by four years.
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