Lon Chaney playing a simping stage manager? The horror icon was down BAD before he was terrifying.
This melodrama about an actress in love with a playwright and the stage manager blackmailing her for her affections offers a unique glimpse into Chaney’s career before his classic performances in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. Preserved and restored by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
Acting
Chaney's surprisingly vulnerable pre-horror dramatic chops.
Production
Academy Archive rescue of a nearly lost silent.
Director
Joseph De Grasse
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Only 40 minutes survive of the original runtime—most of this backstage melodrama is gone forever.
Made the same year Chaney started his legendary collaboration with Tod Browning, this shows the range that made him 'The Man of a Thousand Faces' before the makeup came out.
US
