It might be surprising to know a movie titled The Man Who Laughs is actually a silent film. It’s a sort of macabre and unsettling one at that, following a downtrodden character with a disfigurement that has him permanently grinning (interestingly, he was also the inspiration for the early Joker character in the Batman comics).
It’s also one of the films being given a new life with this year’s Movies & Music on the Lawn series at Baton Rouge Gallery. Local DJ Matsy is creating an original soundtrack for the 1928 film, which will be projected on a huge screen behind the gallery.
He’s returning, along with England in 1819 and Denton Hatcher & the Soapbox Blues, to create live soundtracks for their respective silent films. New this year is chamber-folk band Minos the Saint, which will provide music for Sunrise, considered one of the great silent films.