The great Lon Chaney plays an on-the-lam criminal hiding out in a Spanish circus pretending he has no arms. Alonzo the Armless, as he is known, manages to smoke cigarettes, drink wine, use a handkerchief, throw knives, and fire a gun using only his feet. It is a testament to Chaney’s legendary talents that it takes only a moment or two of watching him perform before we fall into an unshakable belief that he truly does lack his upper limbs. (Rumor has it, however, that Chaney was doubled by an actual armless man for some of the more complicated foot manipulation scenes.) But of course, Alonzo is not actually armless, a fact which hinders his attempts to woo the lovely Nanon (a young Joan Crawford), a woman who has vowed never to abide a man’s hands on her body.
Years before Freaks, Tod Browning crafted this equally bizarre, and equally gripping, tale of the circus, a riveting saga of the lengths to which a man will go for love. Though not quite as unnerving or ambitious as Freaks, The Unknown, thanks in large part to the presence of the astonishing Chaney, does share that film’s respectful intimacy with the world of traveling performers, and once again showcases Browning’s ability to craft an affecting and relatable human drama out of the most unusual of circumstances, in this instance without a word of spoken dialogue.
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: TCM Broadcast
27 Jun 2008 7:15 PM | Submit Comment