If you are still on the fence about whether silent films will interest you, then a Lon Chaney flick is a good place to start. Phantom of the Opera is a film that appeals to many people and is one that you may want to see first. That was all I knew of Lon Chaney for a long while until I saw He Who Gets Slapped, The Unholy Three and The Penalty, and truly developed an appreciation for his fine work. I confess that I have not yet seen the 1923 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is another highly praised film of his, and on my list of films to acquire.
This movie is one of ten that Chaney did with Tod Browning, the director known for Dracula and Freaks. Tod Browning worked at one time in the circus, which is the setting for quite a few of his movies, including this one. Chaney's first movie with Browning as director was The Wicked Darling, which I hope to watch soon.
This movie also has Joan Crawford in an early role before her flapper films, and she reportedly said that she learned more about acting from seeing Lon Chaney at work than from anyone else. They work very well together.
The musical score was composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra. It's serviceable and plays well to the action on screen. Quite a few people enjoy their scores, but I am not a big fan. I find them completely competent, it's just that I prefer a more traditional sounding score that's more in keeping with what may have been presented at the time the movie was released.
The picture quality is pretty fair, though there are some scenes that look as though we're seeing them through a burlap sack, and quite a few lines and debris are running through much of the film. I didn't find that it hampered my enjoyment of the film or obscured the action on screen too much. Most of the time I didn't notice these imperfections as I was too busy looking at Chaney's face.
