Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

Documentary on silent film star Lon Chaney. It shows his start in the movies back in the 1910s It seems he was born and raised by two deaf mutes...this goes a long way to explaining how he was able to convey so many emotions with his face and gestures. It chronicles his marriages (one produced his only child--Lon Chaney Jr.) and start in show business.

The docu is OK. It does stress that Chaney only did a few horror movies--although that is what he's known for today. It shows rare clips from his many lost films (over 100!) and from virtually all of his surviving ones. It's a great opportunity to see what a great actor Chaney was--but this is lacking. There's VERY little info about his personal life--some people say he was happy go lucky but all accounts I've heard of said he was a very cruel, violent man. There is some interview footage from Chaney Jr.s son talking about his grandfather but that's about it.

The movie consists mostly of footage from Chaney's films or talking heads--people like Ray Bradbury, Forrest Ackerman, Lon Chaney Jr. (in an old interview before his death), various cameraman and such who worked with him.

It's a good chronicle of Chaney's movies but VERY little about his personal life. I give it an 8.

An excellent documentary about the Godfather of horror-film make-up, horror-movie monsters, and horror-movies period, if you ask me. This study of the "man of a thousand faces" was extremely well done and satisfying. A TCM original, it features many elderly folks who are surprisingly still alive today, and a few who aren't (Coogan and Chaney Jr. are seen in clips from the 1970s), reminiscing either about having worked with this great man, or even, like one sweet old lady, just remembering going to the movies to see Chaney during the times his movies were coming out. Probably the two most interesting things for me here were: 1, that alot of things I'd read about this man previously, in horror-movie book chapters and magazine articles, was that he "may" have been some kind of masochist, because of the pain he had to endure with his elaborate make-ups, particularly in his filmic pinnacle, "Phantom Of The Opera." According to experts and Chaney scholars of today, nothing could be further from the truth. Examples were even given, showing how easy it was to have done some of the things he did, particularly in his early film work, where he did most of his "contortionist" stunts. And 2, the myth of the greatness of the most sadly lost Chaney silent, "London After Midnight," which we've all seen photos from, where he played a vampire with cloak and top-hat, and some very big and bizarre-looking teeth. According to two different now-elderly folks who remember seeing that film, it was actually not very successful at all, and laughable at best! One of them said that Chaney had come up with a certain distinctive walk for this character, and was convinced that Groucho Marx must've seen it, and was inspired by it to come up with his famous crouching Groucho-walk! Many other surprises and interesting facts adorn this documentary; a must for any fan or anyone the least bit interested. ***

This is a welcome addition to my DVD collection. Here is an opportunity to learn a lot about the silent screen actor and the man who gave birth to the horror film genre in America - Lon Chaney. Whilst it's true that the man himself isn't revealed very much (he fiercely protected his privacy at all times), we are still enlightened as to how Lon Chaney the actor worked and struggled his way to the top of his profession. There haven't been that many documentaries about this talented individual but Lon Chaney certainly hasn't fallen into obscurity (unlike a lot of people from the silent film era). We are fortunate to witness interviews with people who happen to remember watching Chaney's movies when they were first released - an exceptional rarity. The interview excerpts with Lon Chaney Jnr. could have more frequent but they were informative all the same. Via this tribute, I was introduced to films like "The Unholy Three," "Tell It to the Marines," "HE Who Gets Slapped," amongst others. There are excepts from quite a few of his existing films and some rarely seen home movie footage. With regards to Lon Chaney shunning any kind of publicity, the documentary highlights this account: at one stage, some footage shows some of M.G.M's biggest names as they all stand next to each other outside. At the end of this line of people, stands a man who has his back to the camera as it moves in his direction. He is wearing a cap and glasses and he turns to look at the camera for a split second and resumes his former position. That person was Lon Chaney. This clip sums up his feelings about anything relating to publicity. The same applied to attending any film premieres: the actor avoided these occasions at all times. A rare exception, was when he and his wife attended the premiere of "Tell It to the Marines," due to the film being a personal favourite of Chaney. It is a case of wondering what might have been, if the actor had lived to experience success in talkie films. His only one - the remake of "The Unholy Three" - was deemed successful with regards to Chaney's vocal ability. He had a good, strong voice and I am convinced he would have adapted to sound satisfactorily. Thanks to this documentary and to the books written by devout follower Michael F. Blake, Lon Chaney's existing work can be enjoyed by a new generation of fans (me included).

I highly recommend this one!

... and yet the man still remains an enigma, because that seems to be the way he wanted it. He always said that between movies there is no Lon Chaney and always eschewed the Hollywood lifestyle.

His entire life is discussed - being born to two deaf mute parents, the apparent divorce of those parents, having to care for his bedbound mother when her arthritis advanced, and then the beginning of his acting career on the stage at age 19. Apparently his first marriage was fraught with jealousies and arguments, and when his wife took poison on stage - she lived but her singing voice was wrecked - in tune with the Victorian values of the time, somehow it was Chaney's stage career that was ruined, and that took him to film acting.

There are clips and stills from his surviving films in the 1910s. Only four of his Universal films remain intact because the films were deliberately destroyed to extract the silver. His good relationship with Irving Thalberg translated into him moving to MGM when the studio was founded, and as a result of MGM making a deliberate effort to preserve its film history, we have a pretty good record of Chaney's work there. Only a few of his MGM films are lost, and these are discussed. There are actually people who saw the lost "London After Midnight" (1927), a kind of holy grail to film preservationists. These witnesses say that they think modern audiences would be disappointed and they mention specifics about the production.

Chaney's favorite film - "Tell It To The Marines". Without makeup or a gimmick Chaney gives a great performance as a Marine Corp drill sergeant, trying to whip recruit William Haines into shape. His performance was so genuine he was named an honorary marine.

Chaney only made one talking film, and there are excerpts. There is speculation that because of his skill with makeup he would likely have gone back to Universal, had he lived, and played Dracula and Frankenstein and just been a big part of the Universal Horror years. But we'll never know. So many big stars with perfectly good voices just didn't make that transition to sound films for reasons that are not clear. As it is, Lon Chaney is frozen in time at age 47, his age at his death, at the top of his career.

If you want the details of Chaney's life and career this is a great documentary, as is anything Kevin Brownlow did. It was an extra on the Warner Bros. DVD set of Lon Chaney silents, but it is absent from the MOD set that replaced it. And unfortunately quite a few of the Lon Chaney DVD sets produced from 2006-2009 were subject to the DVD rot that plagued Warner Bros. DVDs manufactured during that time. But the documentary does pop up from time to time on youtube.

This was a great documentary with excellent interviews and clips; could have done without Branagh though. This docu seems to finally remove the taboo labeling of horror star from Lon; showing the casual viewer that he made many, many , many more films that merely Phantom & Hunchback; and that a horror star he WAS NOT. Can't wait for it to come out on DVD. A