Laugh, Clown, Laugh

Plot

Tito (Lon Chaney), a traveling circus clown, finds an abandoned child. Tito adopts her and raises her as his daughter, naming her Simonetta after his brother Simon (Bernard Siegel). One day the now teen-aged Simonetta (Loretta Young) encounters Luigi (Nils Asther), a wealthy man who falls madly in love with her, but upon seeing that he already has a girlfriend, she rejects him. She returns home to the circus and Tito suddenly realizes she is no longer a child. Tito further realizes he has feelings for Simonetta, but also knows his feelings are improper because he raised her as his daughter.

Luigi begins having fits of uncontrollable laughter because Simonetta has rejected him. Tito falls into melancholy because of his conflicted interests about Simonetta. They both see the same doctor about their conditions and meet for the first time. They share their respective troubles and believe they can help each other, not knowing they both love the same woman. Nonetheless, the three eventually develop a strong friendship until Luigi asks Simonetta to marry him. Simonetta eventually accepts Luigi's proposal, which throws Tito into an even deeper melancholy. Simonetta learns of Tito's affections for her before she marries Luigi. She tells Tito she loved him before she loved Luigi, then goes to break her engagement with Luigi.

While Simonetta is breaking her engagement, Tito and Simon begin rehearsing some new material for their Flik and Flok act. Tito does not believe Simonetta's love is genuine, but that it is just pity and at the same time, he knows that as her adopted father - it wouldn't be right to have her as his wife. Driven insane by his internal conflict, he decides to practice his new routine from the act without protection. Despite his brother Simon's protests, he continues with the stunt and falls from the highwire.

Tito dies from his fall, freeing Simonetta to marry Luigi.

Cast

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

2002 re-score, 2003 release

In January 2002, the third annual Young Film Composers Competition sponsored by Turner Classic Movies awarded the right to re-score this film to a college student named Scott Salinas. In November 2002, he scored it at Todd-AO, with the film first aired in February 2003.