Well I quite enjoyed this one but it is certainly not the best of Lon Chaney therefore the duration is a bit too short and a few questions remained unanswered which would have made the movie better if they had been answered. The doctor who eventually amputates the arms of Alonzo, what happened in the past between them that Alonzo threatened to blackmail him? What did Alonzo do wrong in the past that he had to pretend he was armless? Anyway if he could play a guy without legs convincingly in The Penalty, Lon Chaney was the ideal candidate to play a man without arms. the scenes where he throws knifes or smokes a cigarettes by means of his feet and toes are great. Its weakest point was the story even though the love triangle between "armless knife thrower" Alonzo, "gypsy girl" Nanon and "strong man" Malabar creates a lot of tension and some great scenes. Some praise Joan Crawford as Nanon but I don't see how her acting was better than other actresses of the silent era. It's Chaney who carries the movie obviously. Strongest scene was when after the amputation of his arms he was ready to confess his love to Nanon but meanwhile she had fallen for Malabar, that expression on his face said more than words could say. John George deserves a mention as Alonzo's sidekick, Cujo the dwarf.
Review of The Unknown
