While watching this movie I found myself wondering if the Smiley character might have been inspired by the Joker character in the Batman series. The Batman series, and the Joker character, started a few years before this film was released.
shareThe Joker was directly inspired by the character of Gwynplaine in the 1928 film "The Man Who Laughs". The part of Gwynplaine was played by the great character actor Conrad Veidt who as a German ex-patriot (who escaped WW II era Germany)later played Nazis in several films. His most famous role being that of Major Strasser in the film classic "Casablanca".
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