The Man Who Laughs

The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 silent film from German Expressionist director Paul Leni, starring Conrad Veidt in the title role. From Wikipedia:

Taking place in England in the year 1690, The Man Who Laughs features Gwynplaine, the son of an English nobleman who has offended King James II. The monarch sentences Gwynplaine's father to death in an iron maiden, after calling upon a surgeon, Dr. Hardquannone, to disfigure the boy's face into a permanent grin. As a title card states, the King condemned him "to laugh forever at his fool of a father."^[3]

This verson has been overdubbed with music from Tim Burton’s Batman. (via Metafilter)