Cortechba Overrated

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

salvidienusorfitus Very good story. Joan Crawford is lovely and Norman Kerry is pleasant and agreeable. It is a shame that some footage is missing from the early part of the film. No indication is made about what the missing footage contained in the print I saw. A few title cards with a summary stating what happened during the missing section would have been nice. Lon Chaney is very good and quite convincing as a man driven insane by unrequited love.

MissSimonetta Though Browning is known best for directing Dracula (1931) and Chaney is most known as The Phantom of the Opera (1925), this little known thriller is their masterpiece.The Unknown (1927) concerns a seemingly armless knife thrower named Alonzo (Lon Chaney) who's really a murderer on the run. He pretends to be armless so his deformed thumb won't give him away. Alonzo becomes obsessed with the ringmaster's beautiful daughter Nanon (Joan Crawford) and seeks to possess her not only sexually, but emotionally as well. Luckily for Alonzo, she is frightened of men's hands (it's implied that she has suffered abuse in the past), which makes her comfortable around him. Alonzo wants to marry Nanon and believes she finds out about his true condition on their wedding night, she will forgive his deception. That all gets thrown out the window when he murders her father and Nanon sees that the killer has a double thumb. Plus, she's falling for the sideshow's handsome strongman(Norman Kerry). From there on, Alonzo unravels more and more, leading to the film's suspense-filled conclusion.A story as bizarre as this one could only be made plausible in the otherworldly universe of silent film. Having worked in a sideshow during his younger years, Browning often returned to such settings in his films (The Show (1927), The Unholy Three (1925), Freaks (1932)). As usual, he renders a world that is sinister and off-kilter. Lon Chaney also gives his best performance as Alonzo. It's mind-blowing how he takes such a creepy and violent character and manages to make him sympathetic. Though he's such a terrible person, Chaney somehow has you rooting for him to win the girl over. The scene toward the end where he has a mental breakdown has to be one of the most chilling things I've ever witnessed.If The Unknown has a flaw, then it would be the ending. It's a tad rushed and the resolution could have been handled better. I'd like to know more about Nanon's reaction to Alonzo's actions, for instance. Oh well. That's more of a nitpick than a real issue that topples the whole picture. The Unknown is essential for those who've only seen the static 1931 Dracula and think Browning was a hack, and those who believe Chaney relied solely on make-up to dazzle audiences.

blanche-2 Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford star in "The Unknown," a 1927 film written and directed by Tod Browning.Chaney, who often suffered great physical pain getting into his roles, plays Alonzo, an armless man who uses his feet to throw daggers at Nanon (Crawford) as part of his circus act. In truth, though, only his pal Cojo (John George) knows that Alonzo has both arms, corseted behind him while he's working. He's a burglar hiding from the police. Since one of his thumbs is deformed, it seems to him a good disguise.But Alonzo finds it difficult to hide his love for Nanon. Nanon seems frightened of any man's touch, although she is attracted to Malabar (Norman Kerry). One night, her father Zanzi (Nick de Ruiz) sees that Alonzo has arms, and Alonzo has to kill him. Nanon sees the murder, but not the face of the killer; she does, however, see his deformity.Alonzo decides it's best to have the arm with the deformed finger amputated. When he recovers and returns to work, he discovers that Nanon and Malabar are now an item. It's not something he's willing to take lightly.Weird, bizarre, strange, all these words and more describe this twisted story, typical Tod Browning fare. Joan Crawford looks a little different in this film than she does in other early movies. She may have had her nose altered at some point. Nevertheless, with those tremendous flashing eyes, beautiful figure and vibrant presence, it's not hard for her to earn the love of two men. Unfortunately one of them is nuts.Chaney was a master at facial expressions and physical changes, and he gives a compelling portrait as Alonzo, desperately in love with Nanon, who swears he will have her no matter what. I wasn't familiar with Norman Kerry before this film; he seems to have been a potential Fairbanks replacement, very dashing.All in all, a fascinating silent. I saw it on TCM and like so many other silents, it's not in great shape, but that shouldn't distract from the viewing.

gavin6942 A criminal on the run (Lon Chaney) hides in a circus and seeks to possess the daughter (Joan Crawford) of the ringmaster at any cost.Love, crime, a hidden identity, and horses on treadmills all come together for this silent classic, now mostly forgotten. And it all blends together beautifully well, with Chaney taking the lead and everyone following in his path.Some of the best parts are the use of feet for smoking and knife-throwing. How much is Chaney and how much is his double is hard to say exactly. While it all looks like him, clever camera tricks may have fooled me. Either way, people who use their feet as hands are pretty cool.Reviews at the time were quite positive, as they should have been. Photoplay appreciated the "macabre atmosphere" and Harrison's Reports noted it was "artistically acted and skillfully directed". Variety was less praising, calling the movie "not as great a picture as it might have been", but what more did they want?This is definitely one of Chaney's strongest performances in his later years. That may be strange to say, but it is true. Although Chaney peaked in 1924-1925, his career was already over by 1930. This one is must-see.