Circus Dreams continues with the iconic clown melodrama LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH. Starring the Master of Disguise—Lon Chaney (following his clown performance in HE WHO GETS SLAPPED)—LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH is key masterwork in his filmography and “the perfect example of Chaney’s unmatched talent for turning tear-jerking melodrama into heartbreaking tragedy” (Leonard Maltin). Of his many masterful performances, it was also Chaney’s personal favorite.

Produced by the prestigious MGM, LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH features Chaney as Tito the kindhearted clown. Having found a young child abandoned, Tito raises the girl as his own daughter. But when Simonetta (a fourteen-year-old Loretta Young in one of her earliest roles) falls in love with a rapscallion of a rich and spoiled Count—played to roguish perfection by Nils Asther—Tito must confront his conflicted romantic feelings for the woman he raised from infancy. With a broken heart and perched high above the circus ring, Tito walks a tightrope to tragedy and despair.

Directed by Herbert Brennon, LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH is a remarkable, multilayered film that proves Chaney’s dramatic chops transcended horror. It is also an authentic Circus Dream, with Chaney and Young training with seasoned acrobat Hilda Nelson and walking the tightrope in real life.

Silent Revue is curated by Alicia Fletcher

Live accompaniment by Jordan Klapman

Special Event Pricing $15/$12 Students, Seniors, Members