THE UNKNOWN (1927)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Tantalizing, magnetic intensity fills every frame of Tod Browning's powerful and incendiary "The Unknown." Contributing to its power is no less than the legendary Lon Chaney, the Man of a 1000 faces who uses his own chiseled face, free of extreme makeup changes, to denote every note of his armless knife thrower "Alonzo the Armless."
Wait a minute, so how can an armless man throw knives and shoot a rifle with precision and never hit the woman, his partner? With his feet, of course, except Alonzo has a little dark secret. You see, he is not actually armless. Alonzo is a fugitive, a criminal whose crimes remains a mystery, and he has a different kind of disfigurement; a double thumb! Alonzo is a fantastic knife thrower working at a carnival where he has a deep love for Nanon (Joan Crawford), his partner who adores and cares for him but is not in love with him (she's also unaware that he really does have arms). Nanon's own devotion to Alonzo is put to the test by Malabar (Norman Kerry), the circus strongman who clearly has an affection for her. Nanon, though, has a fear of men's arms but she eventually gives in. This drives Alonzo crazy with jealousy and when Lon Chaney is the actor to drive home his character's deteriorating mental state, you know you are in for one rollercoaster ride.
"The Unknown" holds you in a vise-like grip from the first frame to the last, and you are left with a man of unsuppressed rage who can give you discomfort and the heebie-jeebies. Yet the fiercely captivating Lon Chaney shows humanity in his Alonzo - he really loves Nanon and you somehow hope she will see him as more than just a circus partner despite what we know of his unspoken criminal past. Then there is a haunting, devilishly gory twist that you will not see coming - let's just say, Alonzo opts to prove his love for Nanon in a way that might give you nightmares. Heavy, dark themes for a 1920's flick.
