Lon Chaney
A Thousand Faces
(2000)
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Lon Chaney is among the most-popular of silent era stars, largely for the lasting appeal of his wide-range of character roles. This documentary by the respected author and filmmaker Kevin Brownlow is on par with his other first-class productions on silent era films and people.
Chaney’s private life and public career is examined through still photos, clips from films, and interviews with family members, coworkers, and Chaney fans who saw his films in their original runs. Among the people interviewed are Patsy Ruth Miller (costar), Jackie Coogan (costar), Willard Sheldon (assistant director), Ron Chaney (great-grandson), Sara Karloff (Boris’ daughter), Michael F. Blake (biographer), Ray Bradbury (modern author) and Forrest J. Ackerman (publisher).
While no feature-length documentary can impart as much information as a book-length biography, we think that this production does a fine job of introducing Lon Chaney to silent film neophytes and of reviewing Chaney’s career for enthusiasts. — Carl Bennett
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 2003 Warner Home Video edition
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000), black & white and color, 85 minutes, not rated, with The Ace of Hearts (1921), black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, The Unknown (1927), black & white, 49 minutes, not rated, and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), black & white, 73 minutes, not rated.
Warner Home Video, 65791, UPC 0-12569-57912-5.
Full-frame 4:3 NTSC, two single-sided, dual-layered DVD discs, Region 1, 5 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, French and Spanish language subtitles, 24 chapter stops, dual digipak in cardboard slipcase, $39.98.
DVD release date: 28 October 2003.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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 The documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000) is visually well presented in the collection. The modern footage is pristene, and the contemporary footage is crisply transferred from the best possible materials. Among the rare Chaney clips is brief footage from Alas and Alack (1914), The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis (1915), The Scarlet Car (1917), Riddle Gawne (1918), The Wicked Darling (1919), The Miracle Man (1919), The Trap (1922), Mr. Wu (1927), While the City Sleeps (1928) and Thunder (1929).
Among the revelations in the documentary are the first-hand accounts of the actual mundane quality of the most sought after of Chaney’s lost films, London After Midnight (1927). Thought by many to be a vampire film, it is instead a detective film that was played tongue-in-cheek.
We love each documentary that Kevin Brownlow produces, and this Chaney piece is no exception. We are very pleased that it has been included in this DVD collection and recommend it highly.
USA: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.com. |
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Canada: Click the logomark at right to purchase
a Region 1 NTSC DVD of this edition from Amazon.ca. |
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