Il ferroviere

I actually haven't seen this film, so i won't offer a fantasy review like some create for lost films, though there is a small piece showing a scene where Chaney is in the engine cab, running the locomotive through the wintery landscape, He is snarling at his son, also in the cab, along with the haughty singing star that has forced herself aboard to get to Chicago on time, very much against Chaney's wishes. That's the only bit of the film that so far as anyone knows exists. The reviews at the time were great. TIME magazine cited a scene where Chaney, now broken down to mechanic at the round house, lovingly, sensitively stroked the metal monster as he sadly remembered better times. Sounds like it could be a masterpiece, especially if it might also be matched with it's vitaphone/movietone score, which made so many of 1928-9 MGM features thrilling. How could it be bad?

... because MGM's rate of surviving silents is far better than the other studios. If Lon Chaney hadn't worked for MGM the last six years of his career, we might not hardly have any of his work remaining. For example, Paramount actually managed to lose one of the two films ("Way of All Flesh") that won Emil Jannings the first Best Actor Oscar.

This would have been interesting to see because, like in Tell It To the Marines, Chaney is without makeup or gimmick. He plays a railroad engineer that, due to a fight with one of his sons on the train, causes a crash and is demoted to mechanic in the railroad yard. It was his last silent film. Also interesting is that this was one of the few appearances of James Murray of "The Crowd" outside of that film, and it was the second to the last filmed appearance of Phyllis Haver before she retired from the screen due to marriage.

In the documentary "A Thousand Faces" it was mentioned that Chaney went to an actual railroad engineer and made a deal with him. He would trade the engineer's old worn out work coveralls for a brand new set. Chaney then used these old coveralls in the film for authenticity.