The Unknown

(1927) ***

The Unknown is a story about a love triangle between performers in a traveling circus; the beautiful circusmaster's daughter played by a very green Joan Crawford; the guy who has no arms (or does he???*) who can target throw knives and play a guitar with his feet, played by a very seasoned Lon Chaney; the strongman, played by regular Chaney co-star Norman Kerry. Crawford admitted that it wasn't until she worked alongside Chaney in this film that she learned the difference between standing in front of a camera and really acting, crediting his intense concentration with inspiring her to work at her craft. As for Lon himself, wwwwwow.

Lon Chaney's face is the cereal box prize of this whole flick. He scowls and sneers and weeps but manages to force a seething smile through his tears. He'd had 15 years of film acting credits to his name by the time he was cast in The Unknown and it shows. It's not like I'm all, "holy shit, you guys gotta see this," but the margin over which I'd recommend The Unknown to you swings entirely on Lon Chaney's acting. He's brilliant. Total pro.

Maybe I'm being nitpicky here, but this is kind of a waste of a good movie title. Why The Unknown? Because the other characters don't know he's got arms? I mean, any movie in which any of the characters don't know something could be called The Unknown for that reason. Like, "oh no! Are Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks gonna bang at the end of this movie? Let's call it The Unknown", or "oh no! Is Robert Redford going to strike out at his last at-bat? Let's call this film The Unknown". There is exactly as much that is unknown in this film as literally any other film in the history of films. Why not something simple like The Man With No Arms? This is all probably just misdirected anger at the movie Trick Or Treat. Whatever. I'm fine.

*-He does. I swear I'm not spoiling anything you don't learn in the first 5 minutes.