Horrorfest 2011: The Unknown

Now we go back to the silents for THE UNKNOWN, starring the actor most synonymous with silent horror, Lon Chaney. THE UNKNOWN was directed by Tod Browning, who later went on to define the first wave of American talkie horror with the Bela Lugosi version of DRACULA, and gained a cult following for daring to film the controversial FREAKS.

THE UNKNOWN actually has a lot in common with FREAKS, since they both take place in a circus setting and feature circus freaks as main characters. They also both involve love triangles that lead to violence. Comparing the films, it's interesting to note that although THE UNKNOWN does not have the controversial reputation of FREAKS and is not as viscerally terrifying because of its slick, polished, big studio feel, on paper it actually contains a more despicable and horrifying villain.

Lon Chaney stars as Alonzo the Armless, a circus freak with no arms who performs in an act where he uses his feet to throw knives and fire a gun at a pretty showgirl (Joan Crawford). Meanwhile, the strong man (Norman Kerry) is hopelessly in love with the showgirl and can't keep his hands off of her, much to her dismay. Even though she's kind of into him, she's sick of dudes pawing her all throughout her life and has developed an aversion to that kind of attention. This is why she hangs out with Alonzo, who, not having any arms, is "safe." Of course, Alonzo's in love with the showgirl, too, but he's strictly in the friend zone.

Interestingly, both the strongman and the showgirl are shown to be fairly innocent, good-hearted people. Alonzo is a sympathetic character as well, early on, though we get glimpses that he harbors deep resentment and anger and there are early hints that he is capable of violence. This is a perfect dichotomy for Chaney, known as the man of 1,000 faces, to play, because although he doesn't wear crazy makeup in this film as he was known to do in several of his roles, he does go through a magnificent range of emotions before our eyes, smoothly transitioning from a puppy dog face one moment to a grimace of violent rage the next.

I feel a little repetitive since in almost every review I say, "Not to give too much away. . .," or something along those lines, but I have to say it again here because one of the things I liked about this movie was how unpredictable it was. So, I'm not really going to be able to tell you how awesome this movie is -- because of the slim chance that you might actually go watch it, I don't want to ruin the good parts for you. Within 10 minutes of the movie starting I was already surprised by a twist, and the twists kept coming. A few of the later twists that were more obvious weren't really let downs because they show a knack for storytelling that inspires awe and respect rather than coming off as contrived as they really are.

Aside from throwing knives and shooting guns, there are a few pretty neat tricks here where Chaney seems to light cigarettes and smoke them with his feet. Apparently this is a bit of trickery and it's really the top half of Chaney interacting with the bottom half of armless foot double Paul Desmuke. Still, its totally convincing and just adds to the overall weirdness of the whole story.

THE UNKNOWN is short, simple and direct, densely packed with intense scenes and entertaining twists. Tod Browning and Lon Chaney really knew what they were doing.