The Monster

Lon Chaney is known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces," and known for make-up magic and for playing monster parts, but too little is he recognized as a actor -- at least too little in my opinion.

In "The Monster," he is frequently understated and even almost charming, considering the part.

Johnny Arthur, this time, is a star!

This must be his best part and he too showed he is by gosh an actor.

His character changes, with a little chemical help, but he comes across as believable in every characterization. His face, his gestures, his bodily movement are all just perfect.

Turner Classic Movies showed "The Monster" as part of its Halloween line-up in 2016 and as its Sunday night silent on 30 October, although in the Eastern time zone I guess it was actually Monday, 31 October.

It is a treat, at least once, with some funny situations and funny characters, and some generally excellent acting.

There are some directing or at least editing problems, and you can't take the story too seriously, but mostly it is a lot of fun.

This is a bizarre little horror/comedy, mostly a comedy, the horror aspects almost parody. Lon Chaney has the top billing, but he's the evil adversary to a group of three, the leader being an amateur detective far too reminiscent of the previous year's Sherlock Jr. by the great Buster Keaton. He carries around a book called How to Be a Detective, and there are frequent zoom-ins which underline certain passages in the book. This is the ancestor to the type of film where a group of normal people are abducted into a strange house with a strange owner.

As for the film's quality, its humor is generally on target, but it is never all that funny. A lot of giggles, but I never laughed out loud. It is often very slow moving, but it has a few wonderful set pieces and suspense scenes. Lon Chaney's villain is pretty entertaining; I really wish they would have had more of him. There's much more footage of his evil henchman. The climactic scene is excellent.

A meek store clerk (and aspiring detective) investigating a man's disappearance winds up at a creepy old sanitarium with the girl he loves and his rival. They find the supposedly abandoned place is inhabited by weird Dr. Ziska (Lon Chaney) and his cronies. After the strong opening, I was really expecting this to be a great one. While it is good and I did like it, I couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed by it. For starters, it's part horror-mystery and part comedy. The horror-mystery parts are good; a precursor to the many mad scientist and old dark house movies to come. But the comedy is pretty weak. The lead character appears to be a rip-off of Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr, which was released a year prior. Still, the comedy is the minor part of the movie. Most of it is old dark house/mad scientist craziness with Lon Chaney. That's pretty cool, no matter how you slice it. Also love the sets, gadgets, and special effects.

This 1925 silent film starring Lon Chaney and Johnny Arthur and directed by Roland West ("The Bat", "The Bat Whispers") is a harmless little horror-comedy about two men and a woman who get trapped in an old dark house with a mad scientist (the always excellent Chaney) and go through a series of perilous events caused by the scientist and his never ending supply of creepy servants. The acting is good and the production values are superb. Most of the comedy is funny and the creepy parts still hold up reasonably well. All in all, "The Monster" is no classic and certainly one of Lon Chaney's less remarkable films but it's still a decent, harmless film.

A belittled clerk uses his ingenuity as an amateur detective to track down THE MONSTER responsible for some rather eerie recent disappearances.

This is a wonderfully creepy silent film. With very good acting & excellent production values courtesy of MGM, it is too bad this movie is not better known. The large amounts of humor help to lighten the load considerably and are very welcome.

The Master, Lon Chaney, adds another portrait to his gallery of grotesques. Slyly underplaying his character and letting his marvelous face act for him, Chaney more than makes up for the fact that his role is rather small. It is certainly ironic that this gentle man & terrific actor should be remembered principally for his bizarre & monstrous creations.

Comic Johnny Arthur receives co-star billing with Chaney and he deserves it, since he carries the bulk of the action. He does a fine job with his character, giving him backbone & spunk rather than allowing any milquetoast tendencies to ever predominate. With the coming of sound, Arthur would perfect a nervous, whiny persona. He made his last screen appearance in 1951, the year of his death at the age of 68.

Special kudos should be given to Walter James, Knute Erickson & George Austin for their strong support as a trio of very odd lunatics, all quite different & memorable.

THE MONSTER is considered by many to be the first in a long line of Mad Doctor films. It is also a prime example of the Old Dark House genre of spook stories. It certainly has many of the elements: a crumbling edifice, a distressed young lady, escaped madmen, bony hands appearing from hidden panels, secret passageways and sudden death. The Old Dark House has for long years been a respected avenue in literature & movies to maximize suspense & tension. Indeed, it's only a short walk from the Edwards Sanitarium in this film to Wuthering Heights, Baskerville Hall, Manderley & the Bates House...