The Unknown

(1927)
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Waldermar Young (screenplay), Joseph Farnham (titles)
Starring Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford, Nick de Ruiz, John George
IMDB Entry

Posterity isn't fair. Lon Chaney was considered one of the greatest actors of the silent era, but he's now been reduced to one image -- the reveal of his face as the Phantom of the Opera. His son, Lon Chaney, Jr.* is even more of a film icon for his portrayal of the Wolf Man, and his appearance in dozens of horror films of the 1940s. He is not comparable to his father in acting ability, but the odds are that he's more familiar. But Lon Chaney, though he loved to play grotesque characters, shows off some amazing acting chops, and none better than in The Unknown.

Alonzo the Armless (Chaney) is a knife thrower in the circus, tossing the blades with his feet to his assistant Nanon (Joan Crawford). But Alonzo isn't actually armless: he binds his arms so that he seems so and to hide his identity, since he's a criminal with a strange double thumb on one hand. The circus strongman Malabar (Norman Kerry) is in love with Nanon, but she doesn't reciprocate and confides in Alonzo that she cannot stand a man's hands touching her. Later, Nanon's father, the circus owner (Nick De Ruiz), discovers Alonzo's secret. Alonzo strangles him, witnessed by Nanon, who doesn't see his face, but sees the double thumb. So Alonzo decides to take drastic measures to solve the problem.

The story is more than a little bit melodramatic, but Chaney is excellent.** He acts with his face, showing the emotions going through him clearly and fairly naturalistically.*** Alonzo's is not in any way a monster, and evokes our sympathy easily so that his final tragedy is quite affecting.

Most people think of Joan Crawford in the Mommy Dearest image, but forget she got started as an ingenue. She makes an appealing love interest and later said that she learned more from Cheney about acting than from anywhere else. Of note is John George as Alonzo's friend and confidant:  he had a long career as a bit player, often uncredited****

Chaney received raves for the part, as did director Tod Browning, who later directed the Bela Lugosi Dracula and the classic horror film, Freaks. But, unfortunately, Cheney died in 1930 from a combination of lung cancer and an infection caused when some artificial snow lodged in his throat. He only made one sound film, and his career has taken a back seat to his son's. Nowadays, if you hear his name, you usually think of Junior, but the original is still a fine example of acting.

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*Born Creighton Chaney

**He's far less sinister than he appears in the movie poster. 

***Given the constraints of silent film.

****Interestingly, he was an extra in The Man of a Thousand Faces, Chaney's film biography.