TRASH FISH ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION is once again 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 somnambulist from CALIGARI), the whey-faced Mary Philbin, and the uncanny 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 kindly stage actor with a sinister grin permanently carved into his face. 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 deleting over half an hour of original footage (including more than two dozen crucially important scenes) as well as many of the explanatory intertitles. 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) have previously presented new scores to NOSFERATU and FAUST at ATA. The Zag Men 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.
