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1925. 7 reels.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Presents Lon Chaney in Tod Browning's Production THE UNKNOWN. With Norman Kerry and Joan Crawford. © 1927 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. Story by Tod Browning. Scenario by Waldemar Young. Titles by Joe Farnham. Settings by Cedric Gibbons and Richard Day. Wardrobe by Lucia Coulter. Photography by M. Gerstad. Film Editors, Harry Reynolds and Errol Taggart. Directed by Tod Browning. Cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford, Nick De Ruiz, John George, Frank Lanning. Opening title: This is a story they tell in old Madrid.... it's a story they say is true. |
Pick any three of Lon Chaney's films for MGM,
and you will find many similarities of themes and setting. The Unknown
incorporates many of the most bizarre elements of Chaney's collaborations
with director Tod Browning- obsessions with bondage, disfigurement, mutilation
and unattainable young women. This film is the most extreme example, with
some perverse plot twists that produce the same reaction of disgust and
amazement in the viewer as Browning's later Freaks (1932).
Chaney is 'Alonzo the Armless' in a small European circus. He is fixated on the owner's daughter, Joan Crawford. She finds men repulsive because they want to put their hands all over her. She rejects strong man Norman Kerry, and finds solace with Chaney, because he is sympathetic, and has no arms to hold her with. The story reveals early on that Chaney's character really has arms, so for the first time we see how one of his effects was achieved. Chaney's armless rig is very convincing, and he plays guitar, drinks coffee, lights and smokes a cigarette, and drinks wine with his feet, though he was doubled in some of the shots. The loss of arms provides his livelihood through his circus act, and disguises his side activities as a thief. In this film Chaney is less sympathetic and more manipulative than in most of his other films, but also more interesting. Although Chaney used his hands expressively, this film shows how eloquent the actor could be using only his face. The plot goes in some very interesting directions which I won't spoil for those are unfamiliar with the story, other than to say that the story goes beyond the expected conclusion as Chaney attempts to exact revenge on Kerry. The Unknown ran a mere 55 minutes on its original release, as Browning cut the story to the bone, stripping the plot to its essentials. There is no time for subtlety; the titles hit the irony home again and again. The surviving version is from a French print and according to Browning scholar Elias Savada, the restoration translates the titles from French, rather than use the original text. While the laserdisc release has a running time of 50 minutes, no footage is obviously missing. While Browning's staging is effective, the sets and costumes have to provide the atmosphere, since the photography is overlit for such a dark story. Some of the scenes with Kerry and Crawford shot through thin cloth (muslin, perhaps) for a pleasing painting-like effect. Crawford is dressed in a provacative manner, but she is still more sexy than sensual. The laserdisc release from Image Entertainment is part of "The Lon Chaney Collection." The music score by the Alloy Orchestra is very effective, and the Alloy produces a lot of sound for three performers. While they emphasize percussion, other music is effective throughout as traditional silent film music, and at times sound effects. (Review © 1998 David Pierce) |
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Send additions, suggestions, comments or questions to David Pierce, prizma@onetel.com
© 1998 David Pierce