Tonight's Saturday Night Special is just that, a classic Universal movie starring a classic actor as another classic actor in other classic Universal films! Now that's something you can't say about most movies!
"Man Of A Thousand Faces" was made in 1957, and is a biography of one of the world's best actors, Lon Chaney!
Lon Chaney only lived to be 47 years old! His eternal resting place is at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Calif. if you'd like to pay a visit!
In real life, both of Lon Chaney's parents were deaf, and in this movie they were the sweetest people you could ever run into! His pregnant wife had a serious problem with it! If you want to see a movie about real prejudice and anti-tolerance that's not about race, religion, or sexual preference, then you need to see "Man Of A Thousand Faces!" It's a real eye-opener!
I always love a good record player shot!
The amazing actor James Cagney as Lon Chaney is refreshing in a role that has nothing to do with gangsters or mobsters!
I don't really know how much of this story is real, and how much is fiction, but in this movie, Lon Chaney's wife as played by the glorious Dorothy (430 episodes of "Peyton Place") Malone is a total selfish bitch!
This was a casting call list that Lon thought he could take advantage of!
And here he is as a Lascar with a scar! He's joined by the marvelous Marjorie Rambeau in her last onscreen appearance!
This shot of the film making crew is just too classic!
Lon Chaney got the role of Quasimodo in "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame," and that was followed by the still unparalleled classic to this day.......
......."The Phantom Of The Opera!" If you're a fan of the modern musical "The Phantom Of The Opera," and you've never seen this 1925 film, well, then I can only say one thing, you need to!
For me, "The Man Of A Thousand Faces" is not as much about the man himself as it is about his ex-wife, and son Creighton Tull Chaney aka Lon Jr. over the course of a few decades! One of the later versions of Creighton was played by Roger (77 Sunset Strip) Smith. You really can't go wrong with a movie like this. These are times that will never be repeated! It's just that simple!!
There was also, IIRC, a very good performance by Jim Backus as Lon's agent.
ReplyDeleteI saw the 1925 version of Phantom on a PBS station a few years ago. I had seen Man of a Thousand Faces, and I had seen photos of Chaney as Erik in Famous Monsters of Filmland and probably in other horror movie magazines. I even had the Aurora model kit.
And I STILL jumped at the unmasking scene.
Well, TC, it is one of the most horrifying shots in film history. As I read your comment, because of FM, the shot came into my memory immediately! I've probably forgotten more than half of the movies I've written about here, but I will never forget the unmasking!
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