in one word: masterpiece
I've wanted to see this film since I was a child. My grandmother raised me on silent movies, often lousy prints she'd show me on her rickety old Brownie projector. This was how I first viewed The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, The Cat And The Canary, Phantom Of The Opera, and countless others. She told me of seeing a film that completely overwhelmed her when she was a girl: The Man Who Laughs. She informed me that it starred Conrad Veidt (of Caligari fame), was directed by Paul Leni (who helmed Cat & Canary), and also featured as heroine, Mary Philbin (who co-starred with Lon Chaney in Phantom). She gave me the desire to see Man Who Laughs.
I finally got to see it this afternoon. WOW. One of the greatest films to come out of Hollywood's silent era. I have just viewed a creative masterpiece.
To approximately quote Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond: "Isn't it wonderful? And no dialog. We didn't need dialog then, we had FACES!"
But then who am I to say? I haven't looked at a television set in nearly 2 years. I've given up completely on Hollywood and its lowest common denominator, FX-driven, salacious, sensationalistic trash. I got sick of TV and Hollywood insulting my intelligence. If it weren't for foreign language and indie films there would be nothing current worth watching.
Hollywood had its last gasp around 1970. Since then, like a cannibal vampire, it's been feeding off its own rotten carcass and recycling its own excrement to serve up to an apathetic public. Thanks to quality DVD releases of masterpieces such as The Man Who Laughs (thank you Kino International for granting a lifelong wish) I can at least celebrate the Hollywood that once was.
If current Hollywood crap turns your stomach like it does mine, I suggest you make a point of seeing this film. It has absolutely everything to recommend it. Flawless. Perfection.
Just my educated opinion as an artist, actress and lifelong passionate lover of REAL cinema.
BTW - footnote to cinemantrap's post on Olga Baclanova - she's not only fine in this film, she's even better in Josef von Sternberg's 1928 classic The Docks Of New York. A noteworthy actress who makes the idiot actresses of Hollywood today look like the talentless no-class bimbos that most of them are. (Great website, cinemantrap.)
Sometimes I'd prefer not to have my superpowers, if only to make my adventures a bit more difficult