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The Unknown (1927 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Unknown' is a 1927 American silent horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney as carnival knife thrower "Alonzo the Armless" and Joan Crawford as his beloved carnival girl Nanon. The film was originally to be called 'Alonzo the Armless'. The film was in production from Feb. 7, 1927 until March 18, 1927, and cost $217,000 to make. The worldwide box office gross was $847,000.Blake, Michael F. (1998). "The Films of Lon Chaney". Vestal Press Inc. Page 166. . The film's tagline was "A superb mystery thriller, unusual and startling even for a Chaney film. Lon as "The Unknown" eats, drinks, shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet. Don't miss this startling spectacle!"
Stills exist showing Chaney made up as Alonzo the Armless.http://lonchaney.org/photos/l_unknown1.jpg http://lonchaney.org/photos/l_unknown2.jpg
'The Unknown' is considered the most unique and disturbing of the eight films that Tod Browning and Lon Chaney made together at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in the late silent era.Conterio, 2018: Generally considered to be the pairs best film together, and Brownings masterpiece..."
Eaker, 2016: 'The Unknown' (1927) is one of the final masterpieces of the silent film era...the one film in which the artists obsessions perfectly crystallized.Brogan, year: The Unknown is quite possibly the most unusual...among the Browning-Chaney film collaborations. Lon Chaneys rendering of character Alfonzo and the horrific self-mutilation he endures to win the love of Nanon is reminiscent of the theatre of the Grand Guignol.Diekmann and Knrer, 2006 p. 73: As far as plots are concerned, the proximity of Browning's cinema to the theatre of the Grand Guignol is evident... and Diedmann and Knorer (quoting Mel Gordon Both in silent and sound films, Tod Browning created the films that borrowed most heavily from the Theatre of the Grand Guignol...Brenez,. 2006 p. 100: ...'The Unknown,' the most drastic film in regard to the defects and excess of dismemberment. The fact that Browning managed to get this macabre film greenlighted by a huge studio like MGM shows how much clout the Chaney/Browning team had at the time.
Plot
"Alonzo the Armless" is a circus freak who uses his feet to toss knives and fire a rifle at his partner, Nanon. However, he is an impostor and a fugitive from the law. He actually has arms, but keeps them tightly strapped to his torso, a secret known only to his midget friend Cojo. Alonzo's left hand has a double thumb, which would readily identify him as the perpetrator of various crimes from his past.
Alonzo is secretly in love with Nanon. Malabar, the circus strongman, is devoted to her as well, but she has a strong fear of men's arms and cannot stand being pawed by them, so she shuns him. She only feels comfortable around the armless Alonzo, because she doesn't feel threatened by him. When she embraces and kisses him one day, he is given hope, but Cojo warns him that he cannot let it happen again. If she holds him too tightly, she might feel his arms.
When Antonio Zanzi, the circus's owner and Nanon's father, discovers Alonzo's secret, Alonzo strangles him with his bare hands outside of his circus wagon. Nanon witnesses this through a window, but her view is partially blocked. A flash of lightning reveals that her father's killer has a double thumb on his left hand, but she cannot see the killer's face. Since Alonzo is believed to be armless, he is not a suspect.
When the circus leaves town, Alonzo has Nanon remain behind with him. He takes extreme measures to try to win the woman he loves. He blackmails a surgeon into amputating his arms. While he is away, however, Malabar's persistent love finally enables Nanon to overcome her phobia of arms, and she agrees to marry him.
When Alonzo (now truly armless) returns to Nanon, she excitedly tells him that she and Malabar are getting married. Alonzo is shocked and horrified, first laughing hysterically, then crying, as he realizes he has cut off his arms for nothing. His emotional outburst confuses the couple, but then Nanon tells Malabar "Look! Alonzo is crying because he is so happy for us."
Alonzo then learns that Malabar and Nanon have been practicing a new act, where the strongman's arms are seemingly pulled in opposite directions by two wild horses (who are actually running on hidden treadmills). During the first performance, Alonzo stops one treadmill in an attempt to maim or kill Malabar, hoping the horses will literally tear the strongman's arms from his body. When Nanon starts to intervene, Alonzo threatens her with a knife, telling her to stay back. However, she rushes to calm down one of the horses. Alonzo tries to save her from injury by pushing her out of the way. The horse knocks Alonzo down and fatally stomps him to death. The machine is turned off and Malabar is saved from mutilation.
(Note* - In the original film script, Alonzo murders both the doctor and Cojo to eliminate them as witnesses before he returns to claim Nanon. These scenes never made it to the final print.)
Cast
* Lon Chaney as Alonzo the Armless
* Norman Kerry as Malabar the Mighty
* Joan Crawford as Nanon Zanzi (Estrellita in the original script)
* Nick De Ruiz as Antonio Zanzi (Nanon's father)
* John George as Cojo the dwarf
* Frank Lanning as Costra
* Polly Moran as Landlady (scenes deleted)
* Bobbie Mack as Gypsy (scenes deleted)
* Louise Emmons as Gypsy Woman (uncredited)
* Julian Rivero as Man in Audience (uncredited)
* Billy Seay as The Little Wolf (uncredited)
* John St. Polis (John Sainpolis) as Surgeon (uncredited)
* Italia and Venetia Frandi as undetermied
* Tom Amandares as Gypsy
Production
Brownings genesis for the story emerged from his reflection upon an individual who suffers a multiple amputation of limbs and its dramatic personal repercussions. Browning describes this process beginning with the spectacle of traumatic disfigurement, rather than plot:Diekmann and Knrer, 2006 p. 69: The Browning universe presents itself very much as a world of spectacles [among these] 'The Unknown' (1927)...
Conterio, 2018: Browning's emotionally complicated interest in human abnormality and the severely disabled.
Actor and collaborator Chaney developed his characterization of Alonzo on the same premise: I contrived to make myself look like an armless man, not simply to shock and horrify you but merely to bring to the screen a dramatic story of an armless man.Brogan, 2019: As 'The Unknown' proves, Chaney didnt need to rely on heavy make-up to transform himself for a role. And see here for quote.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer originally sought to pair new Swedish property Greta Garbo with Chaney the man of a thousand faces who was emerging as the studios top box office draw in 1927, but the female lead went to the eighteen-year-old Joan Crawford, another M-G-M starlet Brogan, year: : Chaney was already The Man of a Thousand Faces when he appeared in The Unknown. And: Chaney was voted the number-one box office star of 1928 and 1929. And: Joan Crawford was a starlet...striving for recognition... The Unknown gave it to her.
Sobchack, 2006 p. 26: Originally conceived as a vehicle for Chaney and Greta Garbo [to suit] their special and unique talentsEaker, 2016: Nanon, (an 18 year old Joan Crawford).
Chaney did collaborative scenes with real-life armless double Paul Desmuke (sometimes credited as Peter Dismuki), whose legs and feet were used to manipulate objects such as knives and cigarettes in frame with Chaney's upper body and face.Stafford, 2003 TCM: It was widely believed at the time that Chaney really had learned to throw knives with his feet and light cigarettes with his toes for 'The Unknown'. In some wide-angle scenes, he does use his own feet but for medium and close-up shots Browning used a double named Dismuki who was born without arms. Later, Dismuki went on to tour with the Al G. Barnes Circus and Sideshow where he was billed as "The Man Who Doubled for Lon Chaney's Legs in 'The Unknown'."
Critical appraisal
'The Unknown' is widely regarded as the most outstanding of the Browning-Chaney collaborations and a masterpiece of the late silent film era.Brogan, 2008:When they made 'The Unknown' in 1927, star Lon Chaney and director Tod Browning were among the biggest names in Hollywood...The Unknown is now considered by many to be the best of the Chaney/Browning collaborations...the sixth of ten collaborations between Chaney and director Tod Browning.
Conterio, 2018: Generally considered to be the pairs best film together, and Brownings masterpiece..."
Eaker, 2016: 'The Unknown' (1927) is one of the final masterpieces of the silent film era...the one film in which the artists obsessions perfectly crystallized.
Stafford, 2003 TCM: the character of Alonzo in 'The Unknown' is one of his most disturbing creations and the most twisted film in his ten-year association with director Tod Browning. Film critic Scott Brogan regards 'The Unknown' worthy of cult status. Brogan, 2019: The Unknown is quite possibly the most unusual, and the most deserving of cult film status among the Browning-Chaney film collaborations.Eaker, 2016: The Unknown is...an entirely idiosyncratic work of art, which has never been remotely mimicked, nor could it be.
Film historian Ken Hanke considers the film to be in many respects the best of Browning's films with Lon Chaney.Hanke, Ken. 1991. 'A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series'. New York: Garland Pub. p. 9. . Burt Lancaster said that Chaney's portrayal in 'The Unknown' featured one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes I have ever seen an actor do. (referring to the scene where Chaney realizes he has cut off his arms in vain.)[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/lon-chaney/the-man-of-a-thousand-faces/552/ "Lon Chaney: The Man of a Thousand Faces"], 'American Masters', pbs.org. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
It is listed in the film reference book '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', which stated, "Drawing a remarkable and haunting performance from Chaney and filling the plot with twists and unforgettable characters, Browning here creates a chilling masterpiece of psychological (and psychosexual) drama."
"There is no gainsaying the fact that this story is exceptionally tense melodrama that grips the interest and fascinates the spectator, but it is decidedly gruesome. Chaney's large following, however, has been educated to expect him in such roles, and certainly he has never given a finer performance. The manner in which he is shown using his feet as normal persons do their hands is remarkably well done and his facial expressions are wonderful--he uses no eccentric make-up in this role." ---Moving Picture World
"Although it has strength and undoubtedly sustains the interest, THE UNKNOWN...is anything but a pleasant story. It is gruesome and at times shocking, and the principal character deteriorates from a more or less sympathetic individual to an arch-fiend...Mr. Chaney really gives a marvelous idea of the Armless Wonder, for to act in this film he has learned to use his feet as hands when eating, drinking and smoking. He even scratches his head with his toe when meditating." ---The New York Times
"A good Chaney film that might have been great. Chaney and his characterizations invite stories that have power behind them. Every time Browning thinks of Chaney he probably looks around for a typewriter and says 'let's get gruesome.'" ---Variety
"(The Chaney) picture fascinates us, but then they make it so short that it left us bewildered and unsatisfied. But there is nothing that one can say of Mr. Chaney. His performances are always perfect." ---New York herald Tribune
"Like other Chaney pictures directed by Tod Browning, this has a macabre atmosphere. If you wince at a touch or two of horror, don't go to 'The Unknown'....It has a finely sinister plot, some moments with a real shock and Lon Chaney." ---Photoplay
"A gruesome and unpleasant picture....it is artistically acted and skillfully directed. But those facts do not atone for the offence given by the feature to every normal-minded movie-goer. Of Mr. Chaney's acting, it is enough to say it is excellent of its kind. Similar praise might be given the work of a skilled surgeon engaged in ripping open the abdomen of a patient. But who wants to 'see' it??" ---Harrison's Reports
Themes
Based on a story by director Tod Browning and a scenario by Waldemar Young, this tale of sexual obsession involving physical and emotional disfigurement unfolds in a circus settinga setting that comports with Brownings penchant for the lower forms of spectacle and theatrical performance.Diekmann and Knrer, 2006 p. 69: ...'The Unknown' (1927)...deals explicitly with circus or vaudeville betray[ing] Brownings preference for the supposedly lower forms of spectacle and theatrical performance.
Brenez, 2006 p. 96: Lon Chaneys most famous creations portray scenarios of dismemberment and mutilation: no arms (The Unknown, 1927)...
Sobchack, 2006 p. 26: The Unknown (1927) [as in Brownings The Show, also 1927] takes place in a circus. And p. 34-35: Browning was involved in writing the scenarios for most of his films...only one screenwriter figures prominently in Brownings career...Waldemar Young...primarily as Brownings collaborator.
Conterio, 2018: Fixated on human disfigurement and underworld figures, the films are marked by a stark, obsessive aesthetic and themes of compulsion.
'Illusion and deception': Browning, demonstrating his delight in demystifying the spectacles of show culture opens 'The Unknown' with the exposure of a simple carnival illusion: The Gypsy knife-thrower Alonzo the Armless masquerades as a double amputee who expertly hurls his projectiles with his feet. Browning quickly disabuses moviegoers of his deformity, as Alonzo, a fully intact man, uses a corset to bind his arms during performances to appear as a freak. Alonzos faux disability has a more sinister and practical purpose: as a criminal on the run from the law, his armless condition places him above suspicion by authorities.Soloman, 2006 p. 51: Alonzo masquerades as an armless freak one of Brownings portrayal of elaborate deceptions that take place on the level of mise-en-scene (italics, accent)
Alonzos only genuine abnormality is a congenital bifid thumb on his right hand. This minor deformity is a key element that leads Alonzo to submit to a surgical enormity.Rosenthal, 1975 p. 32: He not only has his hands, but one of his hands has a double thumb. And: p. 32-33: See here for explanation for Alonzos amputation.
'Sexual Frustration and Self-mutilation': The object of Alonzos tender and secret affectionNanon (Joan Crawford) his dare-devil partner harbors a neurotic phobia, an obsessive, hysterical revulsion to the embrace of a mans arms. Her dysfunction (perhaps instilled by her pathological father, ringmaster Zanzi (Nick De Ruiz)) undermines any sexual intimacy with the highly virile Alonzo, his sexual prowess symbolized by his knife-throwing expertise and his double thumb.Rosenthal, 1975 p. 32-33: Chaneys character is infatuated with Crawford who has a neurotic aversion to being handled by men, and naturally, an armless man is the only lover she can abide. And: Alonzos heightened sexual prowess [represented by] his supernumerary thumb and his high-functioning performance without arms.Eaker, 2016: Nanons sadistic father, Antonio Zanzi (Nick De Ruiz), hinted at being the abusive source for Nanons hatred of a mans touch). A violent dispute with Zanzi leads Alonzo to strangle him to death. The only witness to the murder is Nanon, who discerns only a single feature of the assailant: a double thumb.Eaker, 2016: But, Alonzo must have, marry, and own Nanon, [but] she would certainly hate the hands of the double-thumbed murderer.Rothenthal, 1975 p. 33: ...if [Alonzo] proceeds to marry Nanon, his wife will discover his secret as the killer of her father.
The logic of Alonzos dilemma serves as the rationale for Brownings and Chaneys most outrageous literary conceit: Alonzo, in order to make himself appealing to Nanon and eliminate the tell-tale bifid thumb, has both is arms amputated by a back alley surgeon, an act of symbolic self-castration, satisfying Nanons need for a sexless man.Rosenthal, 1975 p. 33: The amputations take on the significance of castration...[Nanon] aroused only by sexless men.
Brenez, 2006 p. 100: ...'The Unknown,' the most drastic film in regard to the defects and excess of dismemberment.
Sobchack, 2006 p. 29: The Unknown shares a common element of [Brownings] bizarre melodramas...a hint of perverse sexuality...Estrellita (Nanon) Joan Crawford is horrified at being touched by mens hands Alonzos [Chaney] surgery for love of her is to say the least, excessive.Conterio, 2018: The Unknown is a sublime fusion of sadomasochism imagery, male self-loathing, misandry, castration symbolism and nightmarish irony.Rosenthal, 1975 p. 11: Alonzo [Chaney], in The Unknown is among the most rabid and instinctive of Brownings protagonists And p. 32-33: The Unknown defines a sexual basis for the frustration theme of the entire Browning-Chaney cycle and relates it to the stars inevitable physical deformity.
'Animal Attributes in Humans': Brownings male protagonist frequently exhibits the instinctual and impulsive behavior of animals, arising from a physical abnormality. Examples include Dead Legs in 'West of Zanzibar' (1928), who communes with a chimpanzee, Tiger Haynes a wildlife trapper in 'Where East is East' (1929) and Dan The Black Bird Tate in 'The Black Bird' (1926). Biographer Stuart Rosenthal points out this theme in 'The Unknown':
Lon Chaneys simian-like use of his feet is directly linked to his physical deformity, anticipating the primal ferocity of his reaction to Nanons betrayal in marrying circus strongman Malaber (Norman Kerry).Rosenthal, 1975 p. 11-12: Alonzo...chooses animals dash horses dash as his means for disarticulating his nemesis, Malibar the Strongman. Alonzos death beneath the horses hooves, therefore, occurs in his own element. And: ...a lust for retribution...for those who have made them outcasts.Eaker, 2016: The Unknown ends with a startling, ferociously driven, symbolic finale.
Restoration
For many years the film was considered lost, until a 35 mm print was located at the Cinmathque Franaise in 1968. In 1973, at a lecture given at George Eastman House, Cinmathque Franaise director Henri Langlois said the delay in finding the print of 'The Unknown' was because they had hundreds of film cans marked 'l'inconnu' (French for "Unknown") in their collection. Several early scenes may be missing, but if so, they do not affect the story continuity.Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. . The film runs 62 minutes, but there is apparently a condensed version also circulating that only runs about 50 minutes.
Soundtrack
In 1994, the Welsh composer and recording artist John Cale wrote a score to accompany the film, and performed it himself live for a screening at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. A later performance was later released as an album.Footnotes
References
*Brenez, Nicole. 2006. 'Body Dreams: Lon Chaney and Tod Browning- Thesaurus Anatomicus' in The Films of Tod Browning, Bernd Herzogenrath, editor. Black Dog Publishing, London. pp. 95113.
*Brogan, Scott. 2008. 'The Unknown.' https://silentfilm.org/the-unknown/ Retrieved 20 March 2021.
*Conterio, Martyn. 2018. 'Where to begin with Tod Browning.' https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/where-begin-tod-browning Retrieved 15 January 2021.
*Diedmann, Stefanie and Knrer, Ekkehard. 2006. 'The Spectators Spectacle: Tod Brownings Theatre in The Films of Tod Browning', Bernd Herzogenrath, editor. Black Dog Publishing. London. pp. 6977
*Eaker, Alfred. 2016. 'Tod Browning Retrospective' https://alfredeaker.com/2016/01/26/todd-browning-director-retrospective/ Retrieved 26 February 2021.
*Herzogenrath, Bernd. 2006. 'The Films of Tod Browning'. Black Dog Publishing. London.
*Sobchack, Vivian. 2006. 'The Films of Tod Browning: An Overview Long Past in The Films of Tod Browning' in The Films of Tod Browning, editor Bernd Herzogenrath, 2006 Black Dog Publishing. London. pp. 2139.
*Rosenthal, Stuart. 1975. 'Tod Browning: The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 4.' The Tantivy Press.
*Stafford, Jeff. 2003. 'The Unknown.' Turner Classic Movies. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2297/the-unknown#articles-reviews?articleId=516 Retrieved 20 March 2021.
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