the unknown ( 1927 film )
the unknown (1927): lon chaney, tod browning, and ...
the unknown (1927), black & white, 63 minutes, not rated .
the lodger (1927): hitchcock' s take on belloc lown ...
edit pf pollock' s original us version. released at end of 1927 .
browning and chaney’s collaborations are: the wicked darling 1919, outside the law 1921, the unholy three 1925, the blackbird 1926, the road to mandalay 1926, the unknown 1927, london after midnight 1927, the big city 1928, west of zanzibar 1928, where east is east 1929 .
the film was first presented, partially restored, at the bfi london film festival in 1980 .
“don’t step on it, it might be lon chaney. ” a 1927 quip .
channing pollock edition prepared for american release through paramount. premiered march 1927. running time given by variety at 107 minutes. varying lengths given in contemporary reviews throughout 1927 .
no matter how you describe this silent film from 1927 (directed by tod browning) you end up with something strange and demented .
daniel eagan is a film writer and author of america' s film legacy: the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the national film registry .
a trailer i created to promote the screening of the film at niles film museum on feb 4, 2017 .
a lost film that was never really lost, the last surviving print of the unknown was found in the early 1970s at la cinemathéque française in a few film cans marked “unknown. ” some minor lengths of footage did not survive in the print, but the film is largely intact, with no discernable gaps in the storyline. the film has probably survived only in a european release print that was originally shot from a b - camera position, but we are lucky to have the film — any print of the film — to enjoy today .
lon chaney collection (1921 - 2000), black & white and color, 329 minutes total, not rated, including the unknown (1927), black & white, 49 minutes, not rated .
in their very own archives, where it had become lost among all of the hundreds of reels of unidentified film similarly marked “unknown. ” (well, technically marked
modern restoration using all known extant film. prepared by a team at the munich film museum, under the guidance of enno patalas .
many reviewers of 1927 didn’t like the film, thinking it too morbid for the general public. but chaney / browning fans of today think that it stands as one of the best of the duo’s collaborations. — carl bennett
while west of zanzibar is undeniably sleazier and the lost london after midnight contained more traditional horror elements, the unknown is the craziest film from an actor - director team that excelled at climbing on the crazy train .
modern restoration using all known extant film. prepared by a team of german film archivists, lead by martin koerber .
a superb mystery thriller, unusual and startling even for a chaney film. lon as
the unknown
eats, drinks, shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet. don' t miss this startling spectacle. (print ad - the cobbleskill index, (( cobbleskill, ny) ) 13 october 1927 )
is quite possibly the most unusual, and the most deserving of “cult film” status .
we highly recommended this edition of the unknown for its visual quality, its unusual music score, and its new audio commentary .
chaney and browning were kindred spirits with a taste for the macabre and the unknown is probably their most popular collaboration. while audiences of 1927 were not entirely sure what to make of the picture, modern audiences can’t seem to get enough of alonzo and his twisted idea of romance .
a superb mystery thriller, unusual and startling even for a chaney film. lon as
the unknown
eats, drinks, shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet. don' t miss this startling spectacle. (print ad - the cobbleskill index, (( cobbleskill, ny) ) 13 october 1927) see more »
the unknown is available on dvd via amazon, and streams in various spots around the internet (it’s in the public domain, though soundtrack quality varies) .
in 1927, star lon chaney and director tod browning were among the biggest names in hollywood. joan crawford was a starlet on the rise, striving for recognition .
film historian anthony balducci has traced pie throwing on film back to at least 1905, but the keystone studios, remembered today for its eponymous cops, ran the bit into the ground in the 1910s. when buster keaton started making his own features in 1923, he explained in his autobiography, he forbade pie jokes entirely. but four years later, in september 1927, a virtual unknown named stan laurel proposed to revive the gag—by making it bigger than it had ever been before .
and if that’s not enough for you? well, this film is going to get a lot weirder. and then it’s going to get weird some more. and i’m not talking about weird for 1927—this is weird
many sources list joan crawford' s character as
estrellita ,
but the cutting continuity and extant prints of the film use nanon as her character name. prints of the unknown existed for many years only in a murky 9. 5mm blowup. henri langois at the cinematheque francais in paris had a nitrate print in his collection, but when mgm asked to borrow the print, it took him months to find it among all the cans of unidentified film marked
unknown .
eventually uncovered, mgm restored the original english titles and the film is now available in a lovely 35mm print .
the unknown is a truly horrifying film that takes us into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. all of the characters are simple beings who are driven by their emotions: the circus owner bullies, the hunky strongman loves, the attractive nanon lives in fear, and alonso oscillates between obsession and hatred .
it should be noted that there are numerous variants of metropolis available on video release, though it is often difficult to relate these to the versions of the film listed in the table above. this is due to variations in copy transfer speeds from film to video, and the unknown or uncited origin of the film from which the video was produced. the jef films video of 1986, and its subsequent variants, is a good example of this .
if you have never seen the unknown but all of this sounds like a kick to you, go ahead and check it out. the chaney and browning collaborations are definitely not for the easily offended but if you put aside squeamishness, you will find a truly unique picture. there has never been another film like the unknown. whether or not that is a good thing depends on your point of view .
founded in 1999, senses of cinema is one of the first online film journals of its kind and has set the standard for professional, high quality film - related content on the internet .
over the weekend, it was quietly announced at the library of congress’ festival of “unidentified, underidentified, or misidentified films ” that one of the most deeply mourned lost treasures in film history has reappeared. as reported by pamela hutchinson at silent london, silent film historian jon mirsalis unexpectedly rediscovered the second reel of laurel and hardy’s 1927 film the battle of the century, lost for 60 years. the battle of the century is not only a crucial film in the careers of laurel and hardy, but it contains the biggest, best, funniest execution of the pie - in - the - face gag in cinematic history. for fans of early film comedy, this discovery is roughly the equivalent of moby dick swimming ashore carrying the holy grail .
the film will also be available on bfi dvd / blu - ray and bfi player .
survival status: prints exist in the metro - goldwyn - mayer film library [ 35mm restoration negative and positive ]; and in the george eastman museum film archive [ 35mm positive ] .
running at some five and a half hours on screen, the 1927 film demands a huge investment of resources - from projectionists, musicians, conductor and audiences, and in a live performance with intervals the experience adds up to more than eight hours from start to finish .
sounds like a lot of weird stuff going on in this film. and it’s about the circus! count me in for a ticket to the big show. i’m down for this film !
waxworks (1924): paul leni' s anthology film brings ...
joan crawford always considered the unknown (1927) a big turning point for her. she said it wasn' t until working with lon chaney in this film that she learned the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting in front of a camera. she said that was all due to chaney and his intense concentration, and after that experience she said she worked much harder to become a better actress. see more »
also included below (table 2) is an attempt to correlate film projection speeds against film lengths and film screening times for the various known versions of metropolis listed in table 1. this is followed by a listing of cast and crew. finally, a tabulation (table 3) of information relating to the gross takings of metropolis during its initial american release during 1927 is given for interest, based on figures compiled and published by variety magazine at the time .
this is the most complete version of napoleon since it opened at the paris opéra in 1927, and the first u. s. screenings of the film with an orchestra in over 30 years. due to the technical and financial demands, there are no further screenings scheduled in this country, and no plans for a digital release of any kind .
rpm orchestra plays a live film score during the screening of silent movie classic
the unknown
( 1927) @ filmbar theater. audience participation is written into the score, with theatergoers divided into three orchestra' toy instrument' sections: flutes & horns (heard @ 2m38s), whirlygig whistles (@ 15m53s), and rattles (28m24s). the live performance (as recorded during the oct 14 screening) is heard here. [ the live
movie soundtrack
( audio - only) recording is avail @ urltoken
mr brownlow said :
this is a tremendous step forward for film history .
the following information was extracted from the film daily yearbook for 1927 (new york, 1928). it lists a selection of box - office figures for metropolis, and is based on information gleaned from variety magazine. metropolis took in close to $ 140, 000 during its initial six week run at new york' s rialto theatre. the rialto was a medium - sized theatre, able to accommodate 1, 960 patrons. during the screening of metropolis between 10 march and 16 april, tickets were available at 30c, 50c, 75c and 90c, and it is known that some 6, 400 people attended the theatre on easter monday, 1927. it was also noted in variety that the first week taking for metropolis were affected by the opening that week of the 6, 200 seat roxy theatre. despite its rather average takings for the time, and often critical reviews, a panel of 286 critics and the film daily yearbook for 1927 voted metropolis number 12 amongst the best pictures of that year. that journal also identified the length of the film upon original release in the united states as 10, 400 feet, though the motion picture news booking guide and theatre directory for 1927 gives a figure of 8, 039 feet .
for fans of early film comedy, this discovery is roughly the equivalent of moby dick swimming ashore carrying the holy grail .
the most amazing thing i was struck by was the direction by tod browning. it was very well crafted, and so now i' m beginning to wonder about those stories by david manners saying that browning actually did not direct most of 1931' s
dracula
after all. because with the unknown here is earlier proof that the director could do very interesting work. considering that the unknown, freaks and even mark of the vampire…
a growing source of silent era film information. this listing is from the progressive silent film list by carl bennett. copyright © 1999 - 2018 by carl bennett and the silent era company. all rights reserved .
from autumn 2016, audiences will be able to experience this cinematic masterpiece with carl davis' s score - the longest ever composed for a silent film - when the film goes on theatrical release in uk cinemas .
175 + intertitles. original director' s cut as presented to the berlin film censor' s office .
the unknown is an early tod browning film, featuring lon chaney in the role of alonzo the armless, a criminal who hides his distinctive double - thumb deformity by working in a traveling circus as an armless knife thrower. throughout the film, the illusion that chaney is using his legs to open doors, smoke cigarettes, and throw knifes is accomplished by having paul desmuke, armless in real - life, play the role of chaney' s legs .
the musical accompaniment is another nonstandard take by the alloy orchestra, with its emphasis on digital keyboards and percussion, more melodic than the band’s comedy scores and far more expressive. it was recorded in 1997 for tcm showings and was the soundtrack used on the laserdisc release. we were privileged to see the band peform the score live during a theater screening of the unknown, and because of the laserdisc edition and the live show, we inextricably associate the score with the chaney film .
( because this film is so popular, the review will be relatively spoilery, though i will not reveal the ending. )
2018 © san francisco silent film festival. true art transcends time. all rights reserved .
notes: the unknown is arguably chaney' s best film with browning, and one of the best performances of his career. though contemporary critics found the film
gruesome
and
shocking ,
it holds up extremely well today. a body double was obviously used for some of the more elaborate scenes with chaney performing maneuvers with his feet, but for several of the scenes chaney did have to perfect picking up wine glasses and other impressive acts of dexterity with his feet. the unknown was a modest production, costing only $ 217, 000 for its 35 - day shooting schedule. it earned respectable profits of $ 362, 000 .
.) this is the only instance i know of in which a film’s title caused it to be lost .
. fearing that “lesueur” would be difficult for the public to pronounce, mgm staged a contest in a fan magazine to rename her. “joan crawford” was the winning entry. between 1926 and 1927 she appeared in 14 films, among them
the film is full of characteristic tod browning macabre touches and twists of storyline that surprise audiences who see it for the first time .
menilmontant may be more often billed as a thriller, but the double axe murder that opens the film is as intense as the shower stabbing ...
it wasn’t until 1961 that john mccabe published stan laurel’s account of the film, finally restoring at least a brief account of the film’s first reel. mccabe believed at the time that the film was “leading a lonely life in the vaults of the hal roach studios. ” but he was wrong—four years earlier, the negative had been exhumed for the last time by filmmaker robert youngson, probably the first and last person to see it complete since its theatrical run .
i don' t like hands. they' re coarse and rough and irritating and they go everywhere. not like here. here everything is soft and armless .
nanokin, attack of the armless, 1927
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
being a nice, normal to the point of boring sort of person, i always thought that one viewing of “the unknown” would be all i could handle. you have made me want to brave those waters again and shout “bravo” at the screen .
the film features full - scale historical recreations of episodes from the personal and political life of napoleon, from the french revolution to the arrival of french troops in italy marking the beginning of the first italian campaign of 1796 .
metro - goldwyn - mayer pictures corporation production; distributed by metro - goldwyn - mayer distributing corporation. / scenario by waldemar young, from a screen story by tod browning. production design by cedric gibbons and richard day. costume design by lucia coulter. cinematography by merritt b. gerstad. intertitles by joseph w. farnham. edited by harry reynolds and errol taggart. presented by louis b. mayer. / © 27 june 1927 (at seven reels) by metro - goldwyn - mayer pictures corporation [ lp24123 ]. released 4 june 1927. / standard 35mm spherical 1. 33: 1 format. / working title: alonzo, the armless. principal photography was taken from 7 february through 19 march 1927. polly moran’s appearance as a lady’s lady and bobbie mack’s appearance as a gypsy were cut from the film before release. / silent film .
if you love freaks, in theory you should love this one. i happen to love freaks, but have be in the mood to watch the unknown. it’s a truly disturbing film - perhaps why it has survived, to preserve its uniquely disturbing aspects. what must contemporary u. s. audiences have made of it, i wonder .
central park - 1932 - joan blondell has trouble on her hands when she gets suckered into helping a gangster to rob a charity event. though this film stars joan and wallace ford, it also features the american great depression which is the background for the hunger and desperation that flavors the film .
wolf blood is arguably the second werewolf film ever made, yet it’s often inaccurately listed as the first. countless books and articles c ...
for additional information, readers are referred to the feb / march, 1992 issue of filmfax for an excellent article on the film by author bret wood .
the following section deals with the various physical and technical aspects of metropolis. it begins (table 1) by listing known releases and variants of the film which have occurred since november 1926, when fritz lang presented his initial director' s cut to the berlin film censor' s office. table 1 is a summary of the numerous editions known to the author. additional detailed information is available martin koerber' s article published in jaconsen and sudendorf (2000). data on release dates, film length (in feet and metres), and screening duration (in minutes according to varying film speeds) is given, though this is somewhat tentative and subject to variation, dependent upon the specific reference used. furthermore, it should be noted that the print as originally released to distributors and theatre managers by ufa during 1927 - 8 may have been subject to servere cutting by local authorities and operators; or the film run at inordinately fast speeds - up to 26 frames per second - to fit the time constraints of local programs (a 90 minute feature was often the' ideal'). as a result, it is difficult to ascertain exactly what version of metropolis individual audiences saw during the initial run in 1927 - 8, and what was the precise screening time. for example, a reviewer might indicate that the length of the film was' 12 reels' or that it ran for' 107 minutes'. unfortunately this information is not detailed enough to indicate the exact length of the film (in feet / metres), whether it had been cut or censored, or the speed at which it was screened on the night .
( 1925). the film was a hit, reviving a creative partnership that would last through seven more films. of these ,
lon chaney as an armless knife thrower in tod browning' s the unknown. some of the stunts were performed by real - life armless foot double paul desmuke, who went on to perform for years billing himself as
lon chaney' s feet .
literally everyone that walked into the living room and gave the unknown a few seconds of their attention, ended up sitting through to the end. and literally everyone that did, giggled, and gasped, and
yooooo' d
, and laughed (my wife even came in for a high five during a pivotal scene). i' m probably the worst person you could ask regarding the consitution of a quality silent film - - this being only my second one - - but i know quality entertainment when i see it, and the unknown was one hell of a circus act. as a fan of the kind of horror and macabre making up the majority of 1950s ec horror comic books, this landed so well for me .
as in any art form, the history of cinema contains many works that are, for whatever reason, overlooked and underrated. tod browning’s the unknown (1927) is definitely one of these works, and it is, without hesitation, a modern masterpiece for the current century. browning is best remembered for the milestone dracula (1931), the first of the universal horror films (for which lon chaney was originally offered the lead role but he deferred and then died) and freaks (1932), the director’s confronting rebuke for the representation of malformation by hollywood, filmmaking, and the other arts. yet prior to both he made a remarkable series of films with the extraordinary, ‘man of a thousand faces’, lon chaney (1), of which the unknown is the pinnacle. this delirious, outrageous l’amour fou – a chilling, genuinely disturbing and haunting melodrama – is what cinema should be all about: a suspension of belief in the face of a story that defies all logic yet rings true to the deeper human emotions .
, he created not one, but five voices. shortly after completing the film chaney died of throat cancer, on august 26, 1930 .
( 1970). crawford died on may 10, 1977, as legendary a film icon as her early influence, the remarkable lon chaney .
reviews of silent film releases on home video. copyright © 1999 - 2018 by carl bennett and the silent era company. all rights reserved .
film # 10 for 31 days of silent horror films is maciste in hell, featuring one of the longest - running characters in cinema. the beefy mac ...
an 89 - year - old film, which could take cinema - goers a marathon seven hours to watch, is returning to the big screen .
although it has strength and undoubtedly sustains the interest ,
the unknown ,
the latest screen contribution from tod browning and lon chaney, is anything but a pleasant story. it is gruesome and at times shocking, and the principal character deteriorates from a more or less sympathetic individual to an arch - fiend. view full article in timesmachine »
lon chaney is a circus performer known as alonzo the armless, and the film’s first scene shows us alonzo in action, throwing knives, with his feet, at joan crawford. now, silent film fans know better, but there are a lot of people in the world who only know crawford from her later work—in other words, as the scary hag of
in our digital age, it’s easy to lose sight of how revolutionary napoleon was. and the many different versions of the film—as late as the 1970, gance was reshooting material for a new cut he called bonaparte and the revolution —have made it difficult to pin down napoleon ‘s place in film history. in my lifetime, brownlow and other historians have managed to tease out much of the majesty and scope of the movie .
in less than two weeks, the magnificent film festival il cinema ritrovato (‘cinema rediscovered’) kicks off in bologna, italy. and yes, i’m going to be the ...
it is the most complete version of the film available, compiled by academy award - winning film - maker, archivist and historian kevin brownlow, who spent more than 50 years tracking down surviving prints from archives around the world since he first saw a 9. 5mm version as a schoolboy in 1954. he worked with the bfi national archive on a series of restorations .
the audio commentary by chaney biographer michael f. blake is packed with little tidbits of production information about the unknown, chaney and tod browning. the information is related by a chaney fan for the benefit of cinema fans, and does not have the sterile feeling of an academic reading. it is a commentary that is worth listening to more than once, unlike the over - intellectulized commentary of other silent era discs .
browning came to hollywood after working in the circus for fifteen years. his knowledge of this milieu enriched many of his films, including freaks, the unholy three (1925), the show (1928), and the unknown. while the circus background is relatively cursory in the unknown, many small details, such as the play of shadows on the carnival canvas when the strongman first attempts to embrace nanon, bring an additional texture to the image. further details, such as the gypsy funeral ritual, add depth to the portrayal of circus life. browning’s non - judgemental view of the gypsy lifestyle runs counter to the stereotypical depiction of ethnic minorities by hollywood, especially a group as misunderstood as the gypsies. browning’s interest in outsiders and the rejected was no doubt nurtured by his time in the circus, and he well understands the audience’s attraction to this image of the dark underbelly of carnival life, hidden by the masquerade of gaiety. his heroes were not the attractive and glamorous found in most movies, but those misbegotten beings normally hidden from our sight and treated in a condescending manner .
just six of the 3, 000 pies thrown in the battle of the century .
shortly after the golden age of comedy was released, the battle negatives decomposed so completely that they were junked. only youngson’s version remained—and he hadn’t printed the first reel at all. it wasn’t until the 1970s, when financier earl glick purchased the rights to the hal roach library before discovering roach didn’t actually have copies of most of the films he’d just bought, that anyone even realized how much had been lost. to make good on his reckless investment, glick funded a global search for prints of the lost film library, but there was no sign of the film’s second reel. in 1979, the first reel did show up: now modern audiences could finally see the part of the film that contemporary audiences didn’t care about, but not the great pie fight of legend .
super spooky and atmospheric silent film from tod browning and the man of 1, 000 faces himself, lon chaney! i really like the atypical horror plot of the unknown focusing on circus performers and their infighting and strange habits and unrequited love. lon gets a lot of mileage out of his craggy world weary face. he' s a knife thrower that' s seen some hardship! the black and white silent treatment really adds to the otherworldy quality of the movie as well. those caravan interiors look positively gloomy, and the stark paleness of a very young gypsy joan crawford pops off the screen like a beautiful phantom! and for a movie almost a century old, the unknown creeps into some surprisingly dark places: deadly foot knife throwing, body horror surgery, a drawn and quartering set piece, those sharp hats. all in a tight 50 minutes? why did i sleep on this macabre gem for so long !
although it has strength and undoubtedly sustains the interest, the unknown... is anything but a pleasant story. it is gruesome and at times shocking, and the principal character deteriorates from a more or less sympathetic individual to an arch - fiend... mr. chaney really gives a marvelous idea of the armless wonder, for to act in this film he has learned to use his feet as hands when eating, drinking and smoking. he even scratches his head with his toe when meditating .
- - - the new york times
while very short at just 50 minutes, this film packs an emotional punch and is macabre in a way that is unique to the genre of horror movies. i won' t spoil the big moments, but the tone is set from the beginning as we find ourselves at the circus performance with an armless man (lon chaney) hurling knives and firing a rifle at his partner (a young joan crawford). as we later see chaney (and a real - life armless double) manipulate objects and do things like smoke with this feet, we' re reminded of the film director tod browning would make five years later,' freaks'. chaney' s performance throughout the film is brilliant, and he dramatically captures angst, jealousy, and pain. john george turns in a strong performance as the little person in the circus who is chaney' s friend, and the two of them create a striking pair. while the overall tone of the movie is deliciously creepy, the romance joan crawford warms up to with a circus strong - man (norman kerry) is sweet, and browning uses a piece of gauze over the camera lens to create an idyllic, dreamy feel to some of their scenes. the uncredited score that was used on the tcm showing was also fantastic. great film, especially for 1927 .
today, we are going to be looking at one of the most famous and popular of the chaney - browning collaborations. the duo spread their creepy pall over sunny spain and indulged themselves shamelessly in the bizarre, grotesque and macabre. let’s see if the film lives up to its reputation .
founded by fritzi kramer, movies silently’s mission is to make silent film fun and accessible with reviews, articles, animated gifs and daily updates .
a re - watch of one of my favorite films with one of my favorite silent film actors: the hands of orlac with conrad veidt. a concert piani ...
another typically morbid chaney film has him working as a circus freak and trying to win the heart of his assistant. alas, she does not want him so he must kill the object of her intentions .
it may not be browning' s best silent film, but it is certainly his most fascinatingly perverse - - and that' s saying something in the world of tod browning .
it was the last of the great silent films, as just 4 months later the first talkie opened: the jazz singer .
the historian was backed by the fiaf (the international federation of film archives), which appealed to archives around the world to send materials to london. “these prints came pouring in, ” brownlow said, “every one of them with different elements. it was unbelievably exciting. ”
browning’s great strengths as a director lay in his ability to draw memorable performances from his cast and to create a believable world despite the mounting absurdities of the plot and the world in which his characters lived. he has the audience believe in the fantastic possibilities of the cinema. bela lugosi gave his definitive and arguably only real performance in browning’s dracula. when the simultaneously filmed spanish language version of dracula was rediscovered ten years ago, a number of viewers, in their excitement, considered this latino version, directed by george melford the better film, for its libidinous content. however, a comparison between the two is instructive since it reveals browning’s skills as a director. his film has lugosi’s memorable performance while the spanish version features uniformly inept performances by its cast, lead by the excruciating carlos villarias as count dracula. browning has a sympathy for his material, and the film, although encumbered by a static expressionism, is replete with remarkable cinematic vignettes that make it unforgettable. consider lugosi’s “creatures of the night” speech, missing from the spanish version, or the striking imagery of the ‘one hundred and twenty five step’ staircase where the climax of the film occurs. this was further refined in the minimalist decor of universal’s frankenstein films .
it is these skills that also make the unknown great. the film relies on a finely balanced performance from chaney to succeed. chaney had been mesmerised by clowns from an early age, fascinated by the potential duality of their personae. it is this that he brought to the fore in his acting, especially in the unknown. alonso is a hate - filled, fear - inspiring creature who has an all - consuming, obsessive passion for his assistant. chaney is required to display a credible balance of psychosis towards the world and believable emotion for nanon. frequently he is required to do this within the same scene without detracting from either aspect of his performance. for the amputation scene to work, one needs to feel compassion for alonso, to understand his motivation, and once the scene is over, the horror of what alonso has done only has its full impact if one sympathises with the character, even if paradoxically, he is a loathsome thug, unworthy of our compassion. the scene when nanon asks alonzo if he is thinner, before her disclosure of her love for the strongman, is tinged with perversity, dread, misunderstanding and ultimately extreme pain .
edison didn' t have anything to do personally with frankenstein' s first film adaptation, which was thought lost for years, but hi ...
chaney’s collaboration with director tod browning was a successful one for both artists. working together at universal studios in 1919, the duo hit their stride while both were under contract to mgm studios. browning, a former sideshow performer and vaudevillian, crafted stories that were a combination of the macabre and tragic romance. with chaney, browning often came up with an idea of a character and then used that character to fashion a story, as he did for what is considered to be one of the best films the two artists ever made, “the unknown” (1927). chaney plays alonzo, an armless knife thrower, who hides out from the police in a local circus. actor burt lancaster once commented on chaney’s performance that in one particular scene, chaney gave “one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes i have ever seen an actor do. ”
the oakland dates will be the most complete and lavish screenings of napoleon ever shown in this country, with an orchestra of 46 playing “the finest score i’ve ever heard for a picture, ” brownlow enthused. “carl davis made the decision to use composers who were alive at the time of napoleon, and that gives the film an incredible sense of authenticity. ”
until this weekend. all these years, a copy of the second reel was apparently sitting unnoticed in the personal collection of gordon berkow, a film collector and an amateur preservationist. at the time of his death in 2004 his collection included more than 1, 400 prints, which eventually made their way into the hands of jon mirsalis in the summer of 2014. mirsalis began slowly working through the canisters, cataloging and logging the state of each print and deciding which to keep and which to sell. almost certainly destined for the sell pile: a canister labeled “battle of the century r2. ” prints of youngson’s edit were common—in fact, mirsalis already owned one—and the complete second reel, as everyone knew, had crumbled to dust in the ’60s. mirsalis only recently got around to inspecting the film, an experience he described over email. when he opened the canister, he found twice as much film as he’d expected wound around the reel :
youngson, who won several academy awards for his short films, specialized in compilations made with old stock and newsreel footage— daredevils, firemen, failed airplane designs, and the like. for his first feature, the golden age of comedy, he was stitching together scenes from the silent film comedies and wanted the battle of the century’s legendary pie fight. he had footage transferred from volatile nitrate to safety stock—but, according to every report, only printed the specific footage he wanted, not the entire second reel. once he was done re - editing it for his film, he threw out what he didn’t use. so when audiences were finally reintroduced to the film, it was with new cuts and wipes, and a hokey 1950s documentary voiceover .
yes, i have to agree that it’s a very refreshing change. west of zanzibar is still my favorite but i definitely see the appeal of this film. i hadn’t seen it in ages .
the most famous of napoleon ‘s special effects is polyvision, a three - camera widescreen process gance used to close the film. like cinerama, polyvision required three projectors running in synchronization. they expanded the screen image dramatically. gance used the process sometimes to show broad landscapes, but also to break the screen into complementary or discordant images .
the battle of the century opened in december of 1927 and for a few happy months could be seen in theaters, randomly paired with anything from lillian gish’s “throbbing drama of love and sacrifice” the enemy at the hippodrome in murphysboro, illinois, to henri fescourt’s 1925 adaptation of les misérables —original running time 359 minutes—at the bentley theatre in monongahela, pennsylvania. in those days, when films left theaters, they were done: no revival screenings, no television, just a pile of prints melted down to recover the base metals. the last theatrical screenings happened in the summer of 1928, at the kinds of second - rate theaters that pointedly didn’t advertise air conditioning. audiences who braved the heat were, with a vanishing few exceptions, the last to see the battle of the century in its entirety .
chaney and browning would ultimately collaborate on ten films, and while it’s often remarked upon that each of their greatest works were outside of that collaboration, this is undoubtedly the best film they made together .
it took some political infighting, but laurel eventually sold hal roach on the idea. the studio bought an entire day’s output of the los angeles pie co. and, that october director bruckman staged the greatest pie fight in history: 3, 000 pies soaring gloriously through the air. and yet the secret of the film’s success, as laurel told scheuer, turned out to be not volume, but pacing :
the love triangle is handled so well in this one. one issue with many of the chaney films is that the other two ends of the romantic triangles he finds himself in aren’t as interesting as he. but here, everything is so perfect. such a twisted little film, definitely my favorite chaney picture .
a version of napoleon sponsored by francis ford coppola, and with a score by his father, composer carmine coppola, toured the united states in 1981. i was lucky enough to see the film at new york city’s radio city music hall. the polyvision finale drew gasps and applause from the sold - out audience .
despite the south american discovery of 2008, fritz lang' s metropolis no longer exists in the form as originally created by the german director, due not only to the contemporary cutting, re - editing, and censoring of the film, but also as a result of the vagaries of time and history which have, until recently, placed little value on preserving copies of films such as metropolis. since the late 1960s efforts have been made both within germany and without, to restore and revive the film, and produce a copy which is as close as possible to lang' s original conception. these efforts continue to this day .
nanon and malabar’s relationship is handled with more care than many romances of the silent and classic film era. often, older films would reward the male suitor who least respected the heroine’s boundaries, described as the “caveman” approach in the silent era. (however, this was nothing compared to the oh - so charming 1950s. that decade wins the icky - patooey “romance” prize but that’s okay, apparently, because poodle skirts! )
heather stewart, creative director at the bfi, said :
several generations of staff at the bfi have worked on this project. napoleon is a landmark in the history of cinema and we are grateful to all of the great talents who have helped us along the way but especially, of course, kevin brownlow for his indefatigable championing of the film and carl davis for his amazing score .
the critical consensus seems to be that the film was acted extremely well but its sordid subject matter was a bit much for some. of course, critics and audiences do not always align so take that with a grain of salt. i really love the penalty, another absolutely crazy story .
mirsalis is handing the film over to restorationist serge bromberg at paris - based lobster films for preservation and an eventual theatrical or home video release. after nearly a century, the battle of the century may finally be seen again. but these occasional victories against entropy don’t just happen; without preservationists and collectors, the battle of the century would have disappeared forever. and for every film saved, more are well and truly gone. mirsalis has his own list of lost films he’s still searching for: lon chaney in a blind bargain and the chimney’s secret, ernst lubitsch’s the patriot, josef von sternberg’s the case of lena smith, f. w. murnau’s 4 devils. when a film like the battle of the century miraculously re - emerges, it gives a sense that the teacup, despite what hawking and hannibal say, will occasionally reassemble itself. that’s sometimes true, but as every version of the battle of the century, no matter how mangled or incomplete, makes hilariously clear, the process is usually one - way: you can’t unthrow a pie .
this table has been arranged from shortest down to longest, with details relating to the longest known version of the film - i. e. fritz lang' s director' s cut at 4189 metres - given on the bottom row. the times under the frames per seconds headings (16, 18... 26) are in minutes. it is telling that the many extant versions of the film - including the 9608 feet long 1995 german restoration - are still less than the channing pollack edition of 10, 400 feet, and substantially below the original german and australian editions. this suggests that not only are whole reels missing, but that editing within extant reels has also occurred on a widespread basis. such practises are mentioned in the literature, indicating that individual theatre managers and projectionists had no qualms in cutting such films in order to accomodate time and other constraints of local programs. they would even go so far as to locally censor the film according to personal taste and beliefs .
the movie also works well when the three points of the triangle share the stage. one of the best scenes in the film is nanon’s engagement announcement when she announces that her phobia is cured and she loves hands now. malabar paws at nanon’s body and she giggles as alonzo laughs, his mind quite gone. the happy couple assumes that their friend is laughing with delight and so they laugh along with him. it’s glorious, sick dramatic irony .
a criminal on the run hides in a circus and seeks to possess the daughter of the ringmaster at any cost .
i cannot emphasize how much i respect kevin brownlow and his work. he received a governors award from the motion picture academy of arts and sciences in 2010 for making, writing about and restoring movies. he is the author of landmark books like the parade’s gone by… and the war, the west, and the wilderness, works that helped draw attention to the artistry of a generation of silent filmmakers. alone or with partners, brownlow also directed groundbreaking documentaries on charlie chaplin (the unknown chaplin), harold lloyd (the third genius), and buster keaton (a hard act to follow). his photoplay restorations of films like raymond bernard’s the chess player are among the most complete and beautiful works of their kind. he is also a generous friend to anyone seeking to learn more about the history of movies .
both stan laurel and oliver hardy had been appearing in films throughout the 1920s, occasionally together, but had only been officially paired together since that june. although they’d shot the first three laurel and hardy films, none had yet been released. nobody at the hal roach studios knew it at the time, but they were at the center of a unique confluence of cinematic talent: not just laurel and hardy, but directorial legends leo mccarey, george stevens, and clyde bruckman. mccarey and stevens had their greatest successes ahead of them; bruckman, the most successful of the group in 1927, hadn’t yet begun his spectacular implosion. the first reel of the new feature seemed like a surefire hit: a parody of the jack dempsey and gene tunney “ long count fight, ” which had just happened in september of 1927. no one had any particular reason to believe laurel could pull off the tired pie throws he planned for the second reel. but he had an improvement in mind, as philip k. scheuer explained in a los angeles times profile two years later: “his method would consist, simply and directly, of throwing more pies. not one, not two, not ten or twenty, but hundreds, even thousands. ”
the unknown is a 1927 american silent horror film directed by tod browning and featuring lon chaney as carnival knife thrower alonzo the armless and joan crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry . film historian ken hanke considers the film to be in many respects the best of browning 's films with lon chaney . burt lancaster said that chaney 's portrayal in the unknown featured “ one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes i have ever seen an actor do . ” chaney did remarkable and convincing collaborative scenes with real-life armless double paul desmuke ( sometimes credited as peter dismuki ) , whose legs and feet were used to manipulate objects such as knives and cigarettes in frame with chaney 's upper body and face . as with browning 's later sound film freaks ( 1932 ) , contemporary reviewers were sometimes less appreciative . " a visit to the dissecting room in a hospital would be quite as pleasant , " opined the new york evening post , " and at the same time more instructive . " modern viewers can discern the same macabre style of this film ( and other browning-chaney collaborations ) in later productions ranging from the 1930s universal studios horror films to the 1960s twilight zone and alfred hitchcock presents programs . 
the unknown is a 1927 american silent horror film directed by tod browning and featuring lon chaney as carnival knife thrower alonzo the armless and joan crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry. film historian ken hanke considers the film to be in many respects the best of browning's films with lon chaney. burt lancaster said that chaney's portrayal in the unknown featured “ one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes i have ever seen an actor do. ” chaney did remarkable and convincing collaborative scenes with real-life armless double paul desmuke (sometimes credited as peter dismuki), whose legs and feet were used to manipulate objects such as knives and cigarettes in frame with chaney's upper body and face. as with browning's later sound film freaks (1932), contemporary reviewers were sometimes less appreciative. " a visit to the dissecting room in a hospital would be quite as pleasant, " opined the new york evening post, " and at the same time more instructive. " modern viewers can discern the same macabre style of this film (and other browning-chaney collaborations) in later productions ranging from the 1930s universal studios horror films to the 1960s twilight zone and alfred hitchcock presents programs.
the unknown is a 1927 american silent horror film directed by tod browning and featuring lon chaney as carnival knife thrower alonzo the armless and joan crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry. film historian ken hanke considers the film to be in many respects the best of browning's films with lon chaney. burt lancaster said that chaney's portrayal in the unknown featured “ one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes i have ever seen an actor do. ” chaney did remarkable and convincing collaborative scenes with real-life armless double paul desmuke (sometimes credited as peter dismuki), whose legs and feet were used to manipulate objects such as knives and cigarettes in frame with chaney's upper body and face. as with browning's later sound film freaks (1932), contemporary reviewers were sometimes less appreciative. " a visit to the dissecting room in a hospital would be quite as pleasant, " opined the new york evening post, " and at the same time more instructive. " modern viewers can discern the same macabre style of this film (and other browning-chaney collaborations) in later productions ranging from the 1930s universal studios horror films to the 1960s twilight zone and alfred hitchcock presents programs.