Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000) (TV)

Director:

Kevin Brownlow

Release Date:

24 October 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

Lon Chaney, the silent movie star and makeup artist, renowned for his various characterizations and celebrated for his horror films, becomes the subject of this documentary.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Historical | Interview | Motion Picture | Silent Film

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Kenneth Branagh	...	Himself / Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Forrest J Ackerman	...	Himself
Michael F. Blake	...	Himself
Teresa Blake	...	Herself
Ray Bradbury	...	Himself
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lon Chaney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ron Chaney	...	Himself
Jackie Coogan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Arthur Gardner	...	Himself
Mary Hunt	...	Herself
Sara Karloff	...	Herself
Patsy Ruth Miller	...	Herself
Edward Montagne	...	Himself
Malcolm Sabiston	...	Himself
Budd Schulberg	...	Himself
Will Sheldon	...	Himself
Orson Welles	...	Himself (archive footage)
Loretta Young	...	Herself (voice)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Company:

Photoplay Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Laugh, Clown, Laugh!

Lon Chaney: The Man of a Thousand Faces

As much as I love all the silent stars no actor or director has ever appealed to me as great as Lon Chaney Sr was. I'm 14 years old and I absolutely love Chaney!

Lon Chaney was the greatest actor ever in my opinion. When I watch his films as diverse as Tell it to the Marines (1926) & The Unknown (1927), it always sends chills down my spine, good chills. He was magnificent in other silent film classics such as While The City Sleeps (1928), West of Zanzibar (1928) & Laugh, Clown Laugh (1928). He is just amazing. Chaney was born in 1883 and his parents who were both deaf-mutes probably helped Chaney to become a good actor in the future. In 1912 he began acting at Universal in bit parts, later in Romantic roles and finally in the late 1910s he began perfecting, the terrifying stranger character used in several of his later feature films. His most famous films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) & The Phantom of the Opera (1925) have sometimes been ignored as great films although Chaney is great in both of them. Several of his films are lost and that's another reason why Chaney is still so popular today. His last silent film Thunder (1929) is also believed lost but a few minutes have been discovered and show that Chaney was really good in it too. He was such a devoted actor that the lead role of Thunder (1929), he plays Grumpy Anderson a railroad engineer and in fact, he went to a real engineer and made him a deal that he'll buy the engineer a new pair of overralls and Chaney would get his old ones so that it looked worn in. In 1926 Chaney made Tell it to the Marines where Chaney proved that he didn't need make-up to be a good actor and his performance was so superb that he was the first ever motion picture actor to be honored with a special award from the Marine Corps. Chaney followed with his amazing film The Unknown (1927) where he played Alonzo the Armless and his performance in that film is his greatest and I think it's one of the top 10 silent films of all time. Going back to the film Thunder (1929) Chaney had gone location shooting and he caught pneumonia and it proved to be very serious later although no one knew of the consequences just yet. In 1930 Irving Thalberg chose Chaney's first sound film for he did not want to talk but he did and it was his last film. The film was The Unholy Three (1930) a re-make of his earlier film of the same name in 1925. Chaney again gave a stunning performance and the scene at the end for many is very sad. Chaney farewells his 2 co-stars and he's on the end of the train as it rides on along and away into the distance slowly as the camera fades to black and that was Chaney's last appearance on the Silver Screen and one month later he died. Chaney will always be remembered as The Man of a Thousand Faces and his films will always be pleasurable to watch.

It's great that once again, his films are being admired and it's good that a good friend of mine, Kevin Brownlow, has put together this truly amazing documentary on the life and films of Lon Chaney. A Must See!