The Unknown (dir. Tod Browning, 1927)
Alonzo the Armless (Lon Chaney) is a fugitive criminal and fraudulent freak, a fully able-bodied man who presents himself as disabled in order to better sell his circus act where he flings knives and fires rifles using only his feet. This facade, which includes dressing as a Romani stereotype, also conceals his double thumbed hand, which would easily identify him to the authorities. The only man who knows his secret is Cojo, his short statured sidekick. He’s secretly in love with Nanon (Joan Crawford), his much younger assistant and the daughter of the circus owner, Antonio Zanzi. Her other suitor is the strongman Malabar the Mighty. However, Nanon has a crippling and narratively quite convenient fear of men’s arms!
The story that follows includes murder, blackmail, surgical amputations, and some very poor timing.
It’s as much melodrama as it is horror, and the joy of the film comes from seeing Lon Chaney and his armless body double Paul Desmuke at work. The nickname “Man of a Thousand Faces” was applied to Chaney for being a proto-Ron Perlman, able to convincingly act under heaps of makeup and effects, but not enough is said for his ability to convey emotion. I have never seen a greater grimace than the one when it’s revealed his desperate measures have been for naught. It’s also considered Joan Crawford’s breakthrough film performance, having been a bit player and stand-in and, as the rumor goes, appearing in some lite pornography.
And of course, there’s no way you can’t like a movie like dialogue such as: “You are forgetting you have arms!”
October 15, 2018
oliveresque 