The Trap

...from director Robert Thornby. Chaney plays French-Canadian miner Gaspard, an illiterate but good-natured fellow who hopes to strike it rich with his gold mine and marry his sweetheart Thalie (Dagmar Godowsky). Things go south when slick city-boy Benson (Alan Hale Sr.) comes to town, swindling Gaspard out of his mine and stealing his girl, too. Gaspard swears revenge and has Benson sent to prison after a set-up. Gaspard then kidnaps Benson's young son (Stanley Goethals) in order to engineer his final vengeance, a horrifying trap set for Benson upon his return.

I won't reveal the details of the end trap, but it's typically bizarre, like a lot of stuff in Chaney's movies. The whole thing only runs an hour, which seems about right. Chaney is good, although his French patois title cards get old.

Last night, was another silent, bizarre and Teutonic night in the Schloss, a soirée in which "The Trap", a film directed by Herr Robert Thornby in the silent year of 1922 was shown.

This German count, thanks to his aristocratic breeding, knows very well elegant languages such as German or Teutonic but that wasn't enough to comprehend the strange language in which were written the majority of the inter-titles of this film (set in the surroundings of Canadian Northwest).

Thanks to an elderly and learned unit specializing in dead Amerikan languages whose specialty it is to decipher such strange and enigmatic letters, the film plot was revealed to this German Count. It depicts the story of Gaspard (Lon Chaney), an innocent and ignorant fur trapper. He owns a mine and loves Thalie (Dagmar Godowsky). However, he will be ultimately fooled by Benson (Alan Hale) who keeps the mine and the girl.

From that moment on, Gaspard only lives for taking revenge on both of them.

In spite the strange language that Gaspard speaks, it wasn't a problem for this German Count to enjoy another brilliant and classic Herr Lon Chaney performance. "The Trap" is a film in which his many facial expressions and body language are brilliantly displayed.

Gaspard, a good and simple man will be transformed in a fiend with no limits to accomplish his vengeance. As he said to his enemy, again according to the Amerikan dead languages experts unit: "wen you steal my mine, an' my gal, I t'ink firs' to keel you, but I know if I keel you quick, you not suffaire lak me." It seems that inner human transformation is not a problem to Herr Chaney, it's so easy for the audience to watch his acting merits. Paradoxically, Gaspard finally will be the avenged avenger, the trap trapped.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count doesn't talk the same language.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

Trap, The (1922)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Incredibly far-fetched and melodramatic film has Lon Chaney playing Canadian miner Gaspard, a good-hearted man who has his mine and love of his life (Dagmar Godowsky) stolen by the no good Benson (Alan Hale). Years later Benson shoots a man in self defense but Gaspard testifies that it was a planned so that Benson gets sent off to prison while at the same time his wife, Gaspard's ex, dies and her son just happens to go to Gaspard. Things take an even stranger twist as Gaspard begins to have feelings for the boy just as his father is about to be released from prison. All of this "plot" happens in a 45-minute span so needless to say there's really not too much development and in the end this melodrama is mainly going to be for those who must see everything Chaney has done. Fans of Chaney will enjoy his performance here even if it's certainly not one of his best. Chaney had a remarkable talent to make you feel pity for his characters and that's the case here. This character is almost too nice and then too mean to be believable but Chaney is able to pull it off. Hale is also good in his role as the bad guy but Godowsky doesn't have too much to do. Stanley Goethals is pretty good as the child Chaney falls for. The IMDb lists Lon Chaney, Jr. has having a small part playing "a boy's hands" but I wasn't able to spot such a scene. The story itself is just way too far-fetched for one to really have any emotional connection to. It takes a matter of ten-minutes for Chaney's character to turn from a great man to a bitter one and then back to a great man and this simply isn't enough time for his character to grow on you. Another problem is that everything seems extremely rushed from the plot to the silly conclusion, which just comes off very badly. I'm really not sure if this was originally longer or not but there appears to be something missing. THE TRAP isn't a very good movie and there's really nothing too memorable about it so those interested in Chaney will be the only ones willing to stick around till the end.

Anybody who complained that Lon Chaney was too monotonously jolly in the earlier 'Nomads of the North' (1920) can seek refuge in this astonishing old school melodrama in which he starts out playing a superficially similar character of very similar appearance; but which then proceeds to cram several eventful years sometimes reminiscent of 'Silas Marner' into just 60 minutes (did the film really race through its incredible plot so quickly when it first opened?) and Chaney hurtles from one emotion to another from vengeful rage to tenderness.

I don't know how much of the plot stands up to more measured consideration - and the way some of the characters evolved and their interrelationships shifted didn't even convince me at the time - but, like Chaney's hammy but compelling performance as Gaspard the Good, sweeps you along and keeps your attention right up to the equally unconvincing but satisfying conclusion.

In the happy French-Canadian village of Grand-Bellaire, simple-minded miner Lon Chaney (as Gaspard) leads an idyllic life. In the spring, he works his mine and plays with children; Mr. Chaney is "filled and thrilled at the joy of being alive, with trust and love for all mankind in his heart." Chaney's radiant life comes to an abrupt halt, however, when greedy Alan Hale (as Benson) steals both his mine and his girl, Dagmar Godowsky (as Thalie).

For seven years, Chaney is consumed with hate; he is lonely, crushed, and beaten. Meanwhile, Mr. Hale and Ms. Godowsky fall on hard times; he is unable to profit in mining, and she becomes terminally ill. The unhappy couple's only success is their cute five-year-old son Stanley Goethals (as "The Boy"). Obsessed with revenge, Chaney gets his chance when he declines to back-up Hale during a barroom incident; and, Hale is sent to prison. After Godowsky dies, Chaney gets custody of "The Kid" (Goethals), whom he plans to abuse…

This formulaic film combines themes found in Lon Chaney's own "The Penalty" (1920) with Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid" (1921). It is, understandably, not as good as its film cousins; but, Chaney's great performance and its excellent production values, handled by Robert Thornby (director) and Virgil Miller (photographer), make "The Trap" worth getting into.

******* The Trap (5/9/22) Robert Thornby ~ Lon Chaney, Alan Hale, Stanley Goethals