The talkie version of Tod Browning's 1925 film is competently, if unimaginatively, directed by Jack Conway. Lon Chaney, brilliant in his final role, reprises his role of Echo, the criminal ventriloquist who, along with cronies Harry Earles and Ivan Linow, opens a pet shop specializing in "talking" parrots. Of course, they have nefarious intentions. Things are complicated when Chaney's pickpocket girlfriend Lila Lee falls in love with unsuspecting clerk Elliott Nugent. It's a twisted story, full of humor and suspense. The movie takes on the feel of a macabre bedroom farce as Chaney, in the guise of kindly old lady, frantically tries to dupe his patrons and the police. Lee is terrific (and fetching) as a hard-edged floozy and Nugent is appropriately naive. He looks a little like Harold Lloyd! Earles is effectively creepy but awfully hard to understand. When he dons a baby's gown and is pushed around in a carriage by Chaney, it difficult not to think he was the inspiration for WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT's tough talking Baby Herman. An undeniable classic.
Review of The Unholy Three
