Artists' Television Access

The Man Who Laughs

with live new score by The Zag Men

Saturday, January 10, 2004, 8:00 pm, $5

» More images

TRASH FISH ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION is proud to present Paul Leni’s 1928
almost-a-masterpiece “The Man Who Laughs” accompanied by a new
score performed live by TFEC recording artists The Zag Men.
Starring Conrad Veidt, the whey-faced Mary Philbin, and Madonna
impersonator Olga Baclanova, The Man Who Laughs updates Victor Hugo’s
little-read melodrama L’Homme Qui Rit with a thoroughly
Americanized ending and mega-budget production design – but no amount of
Hollywood whimsy can neutralize Veidt’s bizarre performance as the
facially mutilated son of an executed revolutionary.  For this screening,
the original Movietone score has been discarded in favor of metal-improv
dissonance (courtesy of The Zag Men), and a newly butchered version of the
film has been prepared – missing over half an hour of important footage,
with two reels reversed in order and most of the explanatory intertitles
missing.  Don’t miss your chance to see this important piece of Hollywood
history defaced by rock-and-roll anarchists! TFEC recording artists The Zag
Men (Lester “Tombstone” Raww, Col. Timothy Leather, and S. Dodds) previously
presented their new score to Murnau’s Nosferatu at ATA this last fall. 
Their Murnau trilogy will culminate in their accompaniment to Faust, the
greatest of all silent pictures, at ATA later this year.  They cite Zappa,
the Residents, Robert Fripp, and Reagan’s Polyp as primary among their
influences. Earplugs are recommended for those with an aversion to
“incorrect” chord progressions and/or heavy distortion.


Leave a Reply