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.
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.