Lon Chaney plays a brilliant scientist whose work is completely stolen by a supposed friend and his wife leaves him for that person. Totally humiliated and in contempt he becomes a clown who allows himself to be slapped--and laughs when it's done. However tragedy follows him even when he does that.
I caught this on TCM. I was expecting a horror movie--Chaney Sr. did plenty of those. What I got was a good, strong melodrama. Plotwise it's nothing new but the direction is excellent (especially the things they do with the turning globe/ball) and all the performances are superb (Chaney in particular). It's disturbing to watch at times (Chaney's circus show as a clown borders on sadism), but always fascinating. It shows how a man is totally destroyed yet, in the end, has the last laugh. Well worth catching.
I caught this on TCM. I was expecting a horror movie--Chaney Sr. did plenty of those. What I got was a good, strong melodrama. Plotwise it's nothing new but the direction is excellent (especially the things they do with the turning globe/ball) and all the performances are superb (Chaney in particular). It's disturbing to watch at times (Chaney's circus show as a clown borders on sadism), but always fascinating. It shows how a man is totally destroyed yet, in the end, has the last laugh. Well worth catching.