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.
Review of Laugh, Clown, Laugh
