TCM Archives - The Lon Chaney Collection (1928)

Long before teams of technicians used computers to bring monsters and superheroes to the screen, one man equipped with little more than a makeup kit and a remarkable acting talent dazzled moviegoers with his ability to transform himself into all manner of men, monsters and outcasts. That man was Lon Chaney. This 2-Disc Chaney celebration includes three of his major works. The Ace of Hearts, - a tale of murderous intrigue, Laugh, Clown, Laugh - Chaney as a love-smitten circus clown, and The Unknown - where Chaney is a armless knife thrower. These are in their most complete surviving versions. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, Turner Classic Movies' compelling documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces explores Chaney's diverse career and very private personal life. They are a few of this genius's thousand faces - faces that continue to amaze and entertain

The Man of a Thousand Faces

In 1883 Leonardus Chaney was born in Colorado Springs, however the world would come to know him as Lon Chaney. Lon Chaney was one of the great American performers during the era of silent filmmaking. His success was due in part to the fact that he was extraordinarily skilled in his creation and application of makeup and prosthetics. But Chaney was more than just a great makeup artist. He was a highly expressive actor who utilized his entire body to create memorable characters. Though he is remembered mainly for his roles in early horror films, Chaney actually starred in films from many genres ranging from horror to westerns, from comedies to melodramas. When he died in 1930, at the age of 47, he left a gap in the industry that would never be filled.

The Ace of Hearts - 1921 (Newly scored by Vivek Maddala)
A group of political dissidents target a powerful capitalist and whoever draws the Ace of Hearts will be the assassin. When the cards are dealt, Farallone (Chaney) watches in horror as his rival, Forrest is given the honor of being the assassin. But soon Farallone realizes that he has less to live for while the woman he loves, Lilith, has promised herself to Forrest. Farallone chooses to sacrifice himself so that the two lovers may be together.

The Unknown - 1927
Lon Chaney plays Alonzo, a knife throwing circus performer who supposedly has no arms (he throws the knives with his feet). In actuality he hides his arms because he has two thumbs on his left hand and this would identify him as the killer the police are looking for. Joan Crawford plays Nanon, Alonzo's beautiful assistant and the daughter of the circus owner. She has an unusual fear of being handled by men, which leads Alonzo to believe that she might fall in love with him. But one night he gets into a fight with the circus owner and strangles him. Nanon witnesses the crime but never sees the killer's face, only the two thumbs on his left hand. Alonzo decides to bribe a surgeon into amputating his arms and as he's already learned to use his feet to perform daily activities, he won't need them. The surgeon is forced to cooperate. When Alonzo returns to announce his love to Nanon, he finds that she's become engaged to the circus strongman, Malabar. The realization that he's had his arms cut off for nothing drives him into a murderous frenzy. He plots revenge on the two lovers. This strangely engaging film was directed by Tod Browning (Dracula & Freaks).

Laugh, Clown, Laugh - 1928 (Newly scored by H. Scott Salinas)
Chaney plays Tito, a clown who falls in love with Simonetta, the abandoned girl that he raised (Loretta Young). But she only views him as a father figure, which breaks his heart. When she falls in love with a handsome young aristocrat, Tito is left distraught with only a clown's painted-on smile to hide his anguish.

London After Midnight - 1927
This is a photographic reconstruction of a lost film about a detective who poses as a vampire in order to uncover a murderous plot. This film was later remade as Mark of the Vampire starring Béla Lugosi and directed by Tod Browning.

This spectacular set includes the following bonus features:
Three audio commentaries by Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake, photo galleries for each film, a great documentary about Chaney's life and career, two featurettes about the composers who created the new scores for Ace of Hearts and Laugh, Clown, Laugh.

TCM Archives produced this terrific 2-disc set and as always Turner Classic Movies proves themselves to be a central force in the preservation and presentation of classic films. This set is a must-have for silent film enthusiasts and Chaney fans alike.

Also recommended:
A Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney's Unique Artistry in Motion Pictures
Lon Chaney: The Man Behind the Thousand Faces
The Films of Lon Chaney
The Penalty
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
The Phantom of the Opera July 21, 2008

A good first look at Lon Chaney's work

Most people associate Lon Chaney as a star of horror films, but he was much more than that. This collection offers three of Chaney's films with commentary, a stills recreation of the lost film "London after Midnight", and a documentary on Chaney's life and work.

The oldest film in the bunch, "Ace of Hearts", was directed by Wallace Worsley, the same man who directed Chaney in the more famous "The Penalty" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Here Chaney is the member of a group of men who decide that a certain prominent man poses a threat to society and thus has "lived too long". They draw cards to decide who will do the deed. Both Chaney and the man who draws the ace of hearts - indicating he is chosen - are in love with Lillith, another member of the group. This is a straight dramatic role for Chaney, and a pretty good film. Outside of his longer hair, which the commentator said was unusual for the times, there is nothing out of the ordinary about his appearance. There is some overacting by all of the players, which is probably due to direction.

"Laugh Clown Laugh" has Chaney playing an Italian clown who finds a baby girl in the forest. He names her Simonetta, and cares for her as a father. However, when she grows up, Chaney begins to love her as a woman. He is unable to tell her because of his role as father figure in her life. As a result he cannot stop crying. A wealthy young man cares for her too, as a result of his love he cannot stop laughing. This film is somewhat similar to "He Who Gets Slapped" as far as Chaney being the man who sacrifices everything for love when he realizes the girl loves someone else.

The best film is "The Unknown". Here you get a view of Chaney the villain and the man of a thousand bodies. He is Alonzo the Armless, a performer in a circus, in love with the circus owner's daughter, Nanon (Joan Crawford). He actually does have arms. He is just hiding them for the purpose of hiding from the police, since he is a criminal who is known to have two thumbs on one hand. Naturally, nobody is going to suspect an armless man. Nanon feels safe with Alonzo since she hates having men put their arms around her. How far will Alonzo go to gain Nanon? This film is directed by Tod Browning, who worked so well with Chaney.

The stills recreation of the lost film "London After Midnight" was done quite well with very good atmospheric music added. Chaney's vampire does look a little unconventional though, and it's too bad we have not even clips of this one since some people who actually saw the movie said that the most unusual thing about Lon Chaney's vampire was his walk. Apparently it was much like Groucho Marx' famous gait. That's something that stills, no matter how well presented, just can't communicate. One thing I noted after viewing - the plot for 1935's "The Mark of the Vampire" was almost completely lifted from this film. Both were directed by Tod Browning.

The commentary on all of the films are very good, and so is the extensive documentary on Chaney's life. There are more Chaney films in control of WHV that I would also like to see put on DVD - most notably "Tell it to the Marines", which was Chaney's favorite film and one that got him made an honorary marine. As the documentary stated, Chaney's popularity with movie audiences is hard to figure. Undoubtedly he had talent, but he was not a particularly good looking leading man in a conventional sense. His power at the box office probably had something to do with his ability to gain empathy from the audience no matter what role he took on, no matter how disfigured, no matter how villainous. June 21, 2008

Not much to add to previous reviews...

...only that, believe it or not, Lon Chaney in Germany is a complete unknown to today's audiences.
Whenever I mention the name to people around me (even true movie buffs) I am confronted with complete ignorance...Lon, who???
It is a shame that this great actor never found the recognition in this country, where during the silent era real motion picture history was written. Just imagine, how a collaboration between true artists such as Chaney and for instance Fritz Lang could have looked like!
But I guess this is just wishful thinking...
Let's instead enjoy this package we have here. Despite offering a mixed bag (with The Ace of Hearts for me providing a rather lame start), this box set contains two really exciting displays of Chaney's unbelievable talent. Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a deeply romantic story with Chaney acting as the too old and hence unwanted lover of a young artist. A movie that despite its rather simple plot but at the same time due to Chaney's amazing acting qualities offers a truly touching story, that if brought to the screen today would still find its audience.
The Unknown, the last and without any doubt the best movie of the three, offers a story that even under today's standards (and I am talking bizarre and blood stained movies such as Saw and alike) should thrill genre fans. For it proves that despite its bizarre if not sadistic contents the ACTING makes for a great movie experience. Chaney alone carries the twisted plot about a sideshow artist become cripple for his love of his life, just to find out that loves goes in a very different way...so, if you are into the cinema of the bizarre, and the cinema of great acting performances, you better sink your teeth into this one!
August 23, 2007

Great value set for the enthusiast

TCM have produced a great set of rare Lon Chaney silent films which will appeal to the Chaney fan and anyone interested in the history of the American film. The set consists of 3 films which were "lost" for many years, so it is great they are now available to view.

Michael Blake is the author of 3 books on Chaney and provides detailed commentaries on each film. Blake has clearly devoted his life to Chaney's legacy and his commentaries go way beyond what is seen on the screen. Accordingly, they are very interesting but possibly jaundiced about the films' appeal 80 years later.

The earliest film, from 1921, is "Ace of Hearts" a static and melodramatic story of a vigilante group who draw cards to select who will commit murder. The print is fairly poor and the film suffers from a snail pace and overacting.

The second film is "The Unknown", released in 1927. The film, we are told, is possibly the best of the partnership of the director Tod Browning with Chaney. The story is bizarre, the powerful story of a circus performer who cuts off his arms to win the girl. Joan Crawford, in a very early role, plays the object of Chaney's love. The film follows the common theme of unrequited love which appeared in many of Chaney's films. As well as observing Chaney's art, the film has excellent photography and Crawford is very different to the pretentious star she became, suggesting more talent than she subsequently showed. She also displays a rawness which is probably much closer to who she was before she became THE Joan Crawford.

The final film is "Laugh Clown Laugh", apparantly Chaney's own favourite of all his films. Once again, the film's theme is unrequited love with Chaney as a clown who makes the public laugh while he is heartbroken inside. This time, the object of his affection is the virginal and teenage Loretta Young and she displays the purity of emotion which was in all of her best performances pre 1935 long before the artificial later Loretta.

There is also a reconstruction of an early version of the vampyr legend, 'London after Midnight". This is a highly desired lost film but on the evidence of a few interviewees who saw the original film, the script and the stills, it looks like it might have been extremely melodramatic. While the reconstruction has been done lovingly, the result is static and rather boring, which is to be expected, I suppose.

Both "Laugh Clown Laugh" and "The Unknown" are missing scenes but what remains preserves Chaney at the height of his powers. They demonstrate that, in fact, his reputation as a horror star is misleading. He was a character actor who changed his appearance to suit the role in the same way as Charles Laughton and Paul Muni did much later. His talent for pathos is outstanding.

Possibly the best features of the DVD set are the marvellous documentary about Chaney and the short films about the competitions which TCM ran to locate new scores for the films. The DVD set is excellent value. June 12, 2007

When Will We See The Second Chaney Collection?

I bought this set right away in October 2003. It has been over three years since this set was released. It includes great performances by Lon Chaney Sr. WHEN are we going to get a second collection? I personally would love to see "The Unholy Three," both the 1925 silent version and the 1930 talkie version released as part of a second collection, and also "West of Zanzibar," and maybe "The Road To Mandalay." This great performer deserves another release of his best and I for one will show up for my DVD collection the day it is released! February 11, 2007

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