34: The Unknown

USA  50m  Dir: Tod Browning  Key Cast: Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford

Original Screenplay

The Unknown was lost for many years and the main reason for this is because hundreds of film cans were marked "l'inconnu", which is French for 'unknown', and this is a lesson in giving your film a more interesting title.

The plot of this film is extremely bizarre. Lon Chaney plays Alonzo the Armless, a circus performer who throws knives with his feet. He's in love with the circus owner's daughter Nanon (a young Joan Crawford in her first major role) who has a strong fear of men's arms. The problem is that Alonzo is only pretending to be armless so he decides to have them amputated. He returns from the surgery only to discover Nanon has got over her fear. 

It all sounds utterly ridiculous but on screen it somehow works. It turns out Alonzo has a double thumb and it's inferred he's a habitual thief so it makes some sort of sense that he'd hide his distinguishing feature. Nanon's fear of men's arms actually makes a lot of sense in context- it derives from regularly being touched inappropriately by men. The one thing that didn't really work was how no-one seemed to notice that Alonzo actually had arms because as a viewer watching a ninety year old film of limited visual quality I could clearly see his arms were tucked under his clothes so surely everyone else would too? I think the oddness of the story works in it's favour as even now it feels like an original and fresh plot.

It has a lot in common with The Phantom of the Opera, also played by Lon Chaney. Both characters obtain a certain amount of sympathy from the audience, there's a tragic nature to them, but it's undone by their creepy desire to have a relationship with a woman that drives them to incredible lengths and a path of serious crime. Chaney is superb at playing the character and expertly knows when he's trying to get sympathy and when that moment has passed. 

Director Tod Browning actually ran away to join the circus as a teenager and it's undoubtedly this time which inspired the story and means he was able to really bring the circus atmosphere to life. He directs the film excellently, largely keeping it close and intimate but ending in with a bombastic climax which concludes in the earliest gruesome death I've seen on screen. 

It's certainly a bit odd in terms of plot but I thought that this is a decent silent horror film with an excellent central performance from Lon Chaney.