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Lon Chaney Collection [2 Discs] (Black & White) (DVD) (Black & White) (Eng)
- SKU: 5928008
- Release Date: 10/28/2003
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Ratings & Reviews
Special Features
- London After Midnight, Rick Schmidlin's skillful photo reconstruction of the lost 1927 film
- Audio commentaries by Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake
- Photo/memorabilia galleries
- Introduction by Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne
- Profiles of TCM Young Film Composers Competition winners
- Subtitles: Français & Español
- Closed Captioned
Synopsis
Includes:The Ace of Hearts (1921)
London After Midnight (1927)
The Unknown (1927)
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2002)
The Ace of Hearts
Based on a story by Gouverneur Morris, this drama involves a group of terrorists whose motive is to do away with capitalists of their choosing. To pick the assassin for their latest mark, they draw cards, and a pretty female member, Lillith (Leatrice Joy), offers to marry the man chosen. Forrest, a waiter (John Bowers), is the one picked and after he and Lillith wed, he sets out to plant a bomb under his mark's favorite table at the restaurant. But when he realizes that the explosion will also kill a honeymooning couple at a nearby table, he can't go through with the killing. In spite of Forrest's seeming cowardice, Lillith learns to love him, and although the heads of the terrorist group sentence him to death, they are the ones who die instead. Although the Goldwyn studios put together a great cast for this film -- in addition to Joy and Bowers, it included Lon Chaney and Raymond Hatton -- its characters were not sympathetic and it was not well-received ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
London After Midnight
The most tantalizing of the "lost" Tod Browning films, London After Midnight has gained a near-legendary status in recent years, especially since so many critics of the 1930s considered the film as vastly superior to its 1935 remake, Mark of the Vampire. Clearly inspired by the stage version of Dracula, the story concerns a fog-ridden London neighborhood that seems to have become a breeding ground for vampires. Ever since the mysterious death of wealthy old Mr. Balfour, strange things have been happening, prompting Scotland Yard inspector Edmund Burke (Lon Chaney) to investigate. For a while, it looks as though Burke is as stymied as the local authorities, especially when heroine Lucy Balfour (Marceline Day) is confronted with the "living corpse" of her father. But it soon develops that both Burke and Lucy are working in concert, staging an elaborate hoax to trap her dad's murderer into a confession. It is giving nothing away at this late date to reveal that Burke and the mysterious, fang-toothed "vampire man" Mooney are one in the same; indeed, this plot revelation hardly took anyone by surprise in 1927. A shooting script for London After Midnight still exists, suggesting that, if anything, the much-maligned Mark of the Vampire (in which the main "detective" role was split between Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi) was an improvement on the original. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Unknown
As a group, the silent-movie collaborations between director Tod Browning and star Lon Chaney hardly represent the best work of either man, though each film definitely has its moments. One of the best, and weirdest, of the batch is The Unknown. Chaney plays a carnival performer known as the "Armless Wonder," who performs near-miraculous stunts with his bare feet. In fact, he is in possession of both his arms, but keeps them strapped to his side to maintain the illusion of being limbless. Chaney's beautiful assistant Joan Crawford has a pathological fear of being touched by any man. This leads Chaney to believe that he is attractive to Crawford so long as his keeps his arms hidden. Halfway through the film, Chaney murders the circus manager--a crime witnessed by Crawford, who was only able to glimpse Chaney's distinctively mutated thumb. To cover up his crime, and to make himself the perfect mate for Crawford, Chaney blackmails a doctor into amputating his arms. Upon returning to the carnival, the now-genuinely armless Chaney learns to his horror that Crawford has overcome her aberration of being touched, thanks to handsome circus strong man Norman Kerry. Enraged, Chaney plots to kill Kerry in a horrible fashion...but guess who ends up seriously dead? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Laugh, Clown, Laugh
Fifteen-year-old Loretta Young is 45-year-old Lon Chaney's winsome leading lady in Laugh, Clown, Laugh. Based on the war-horse stage piece by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, the film casts Chaney as (what else?) an aging circus clown, who adopts an orphaned girl and falls in love with her when she grows up. Alas-and not surprisingly-the girl loves another, prompting Chaney to perform a suicidal circus stunt, freeing her to marry the man she truly cares about (Nils Asther). Chaney had been here before, having played a similar role opposite Norma Shearer in 1924's He Who Gets Slapped. Though widely touted as Loretta Young's film debut, she had actually made earlier appearances with her sisters as a child extra. A silent film, Laugh Clown Laugh was released with a musical sound track, which highlighted the hit title song. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
No synopsis available.
The Ace of Hearts
Based on a story by Gouverneur Morris, this drama involves a group of terrorists whose motive is to do away with capitalists of their choosing. To pick the assassin for their latest mark, they draw cards, and a pretty female member, Lillith (Leatrice Joy), offers to marry the man chosen. Forrest, a waiter (John Bowers), is the one picked and after he and Lillith wed, he sets out to plant a bomb under his mark's favorite table at the restaurant. But when he realizes that the explosion will also kill a honeymooning couple at a nearby table, he can't go through with the killing. In spite of Forrest's seeming cowardice, Lillith learns to love him, and although the heads of the terrorist group sentence him to death, they are the ones who die instead. Although the Goldwyn studios put together a great cast for this film -- in addition to Joy and Bowers, it included Lon Chaney and Raymond Hatton -- its characters were not sympathetic and it was not well-received ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
London After Midnight
The most tantalizing of the "lost" Tod Browning films, London After Midnight has gained a near-legendary status in recent years, especially since so many critics of the 1930s considered the film as vastly superior to its 1935 remake, Mark of the Vampire. Clearly inspired by the stage version of Dracula, the story concerns a fog-ridden London neighborhood that seems to have become a breeding ground for vampires. Ever since the mysterious death of wealthy old Mr. Balfour, strange things have been happening, prompting Scotland Yard inspector Edmund Burke (Lon Chaney) to investigate. For a while, it looks as though Burke is as stymied as the local authorities, especially when heroine Lucy Balfour (Marceline Day) is confronted with the "living corpse" of her father. But it soon develops that both Burke and Lucy are working in concert, staging an elaborate hoax to trap her dad's murderer into a confession. It is giving nothing away at this late date to reveal that Burke and the mysterious, fang-toothed "vampire man" Mooney are one in the same; indeed, this plot revelation hardly took anyone by surprise in 1927. A shooting script for London After Midnight still exists, suggesting that, if anything, the much-maligned Mark of the Vampire (in which the main "detective" role was split between Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi) was an improvement on the original. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Unknown
As a group, the silent-movie collaborations between director Tod Browning and star Lon Chaney hardly represent the best work of either man, though each film definitely has its moments. One of the best, and weirdest, of the batch is The Unknown. Chaney plays a carnival performer known as the "Armless Wonder," who performs near-miraculous stunts with his bare feet. In fact, he is in possession of both his arms, but keeps them strapped to his side to maintain the illusion of being limbless. Chaney's beautiful assistant Joan Crawford has a pathological fear of being touched by any man. This leads Chaney to believe that he is attractive to Crawford so long as his keeps his arms hidden. Halfway through the film, Chaney murders the circus manager--a crime witnessed by Crawford, who was only able to glimpse Chaney's distinctively mutated thumb. To cover up his crime, and to make himself the perfect mate for Crawford, Chaney blackmails a doctor into amputating his arms. Upon returning to the carnival, the now-genuinely armless Chaney learns to his horror that Crawford has overcome her aberration of being touched, thanks to handsome circus strong man Norman Kerry. Enraged, Chaney plots to kill Kerry in a horrible fashion...but guess who ends up seriously dead? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Laugh, Clown, Laugh
Fifteen-year-old Loretta Young is 45-year-old Lon Chaney's winsome leading lady in Laugh, Clown, Laugh. Based on the war-horse stage piece by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, the film casts Chaney as (what else?) an aging circus clown, who adopts an orphaned girl and falls in love with her when she grows up. Alas-and not surprisingly-the girl loves another, prompting Chaney to perform a suicidal circus stunt, freeing her to marry the man she truly cares about (Nils Asther). Chaney had been here before, having played a similar role opposite Norma Shearer in 1924's He Who Gets Slapped. Though widely touted as Loretta Young's film debut, she had actually made earlier appearances with her sisters as a child extra. A silent film, Laugh Clown Laugh was released with a musical sound track, which highlighted the hit title song. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
No synopsis available.
Cast & Crew
- Lon Chaney - Tito Beppi
Bernard Siegel - Simon- Loretta Young - Simonette
- Cissy Fitzgerald - Giancinta
- Nils Asther - Count Luigi Ravelli