The Man Who Laughs

The Man Who Laughs

88 mins | Drama | Aug. 20, 1966

A 1966 French-Italian film version made in Italy, titled L'uomo che ride, directed by Sergio Corbucci. This version features elaborate colour photography but a very low production budget. The main action is shifted to Italy and moved yesterwards in time, with the deformed protagonist meeting Lucrezia Borgia instead of Queen Anne. In this version, Gwynplaine is renamed Angelo (played by Jean Sorel). His disfigurement is represented as a single broad slash across his mouth, crude yet convincing. The story (which is attributed, in the movie credits, to the director, producer and others involved in making the film, but not to Victor Hugo) is a swashbuckler pitting the disfigured acrobat against the henchmen of the Borgias. At the end, Dea (actress Lina Sini) miraculously acquires her eyesight and Angelo undergoes surgery that completely reverses his disfigurement and renders him perfectly handsome.

The Man Who Laughs

88 mins | Drama | Aug. 20, 1966

The Man Who Laughs
A 1966 French-Italian film version made in Italy, titled L'uomo che ride, directed by Sergio Corbucci. This version features elaborate colour photography but a very low production budget. The main action is shifted to Italy and moved yesterwards in time, with the deformed protagonist meeting Lucrezia Borgia instead of Queen Anne. In this version, Gwynplaine is renamed Angelo (played by Jean Sorel). His disfigurement is represented as a single broad slash across his mouth, crude yet convincing. The story (which is attributed, in the movie credits, to the director, producer and others involved in making the film, but not to Victor Hugo) is a swashbuckler pitting the disfigured acrobat against the henchmen of the Borgias. At the end, Dea (actress Lina Sini) miraculously acquires her eyesight and Angelo undergoes surgery that completely reverses his disfigurement and renders him perfectly handsome.
IMDb rating 4.5
Producers Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Compagnie Internationale de Productions Cinématographiques (CIPRA), Sanson Film
Original title L'uomo che ride
Directors Sergio Corbucci
Writers A. Bertolotto, A. Issaverdens, Luca Ronconi, Filippo Sanjust, Franco Rossetti, Sergio Corbucci, Victor Hugo

Cast

Jean Sorel

as Angelo Bello / Astorre Manfredi

Lisa Gastoni

as Lucrezia Borgia

Edmund Purdom

as Cesare Borgia

Gino Pernice

as Galeazzo

Ferdinando Poggi

as Umberto

Linda Sini

as Margherita

Gianni Musy

as Paolo Orsini

Nino Vingelli

as Ursus

Pierre Clémenti

as Orsini's Partisan

Adriano Cornelli

as Archimedes the Dwarf

John Bartha

as Giovanni