DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Joseph Pevney
Starring James Cagney, Dorothy Malone, Jane Greer, Robert Evans
Release date Out now (region 1); 26 January 2009 (region 2)

Hollywood melodrama biopic of Lon Chaney, the “man of a thousand faces”, famous for his roles in silent versions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera…

This is a great movie, even if its depiction of Lon Chaney’s life and films is little more than a fiction and James Cagney was a very odd choice to play the legendary Man of a Thousand Faces.

Chaney was famous in the silent era for his portrayal of grotesques, usually creating and applying his own make-up or devising his own physical takes on the characters he embodied. He played the Hunchback and the Phantom to perfection, torturing himself in the interest of presenting something on screen never seen before. He also had an interesting and colourful private life. He died in 1930, just as sound arrived and he was pencilled in to play Dracula and Frankenstein’s creature. Those roles would make others famous, and Chaney’s career was seen as one of lost opportunity.

Almost 30 years later, in 1957, Hollywood put together this rather hagiographic biopic starring the short, rotund Cagney as the tall, thin Chaney. This casting works, though, because Cagney was an accomplished song-and-dance man outside of his famous gangster roles, while Chaney had been an adept circus performer. Both knew the adoration of crowds.

The most touching parts of this film feature Chaney’s deaf parents: they shaped the man he was to become, and also gave him an understanding of those whose lives were different from the norm. These people would become Chaney’s cinematic stock-in-trade. The best scenes are those that see the inexperienced Chaney hanging out at Hollywood open casting calls, winning extra work through the magic of his make-up box. Nice recreations of the making of The Hunchback and The Phantom films are also included. These are fleeting, but there’s no depth. There’s little clue to how or why Chaney developed his make-up expertise, except for a perfunctory vaudeville act. Towards the end, Cagney coughs once or twice to indicate Chaney’s suffering at the mercy of throat cancer, and then he’s dead.

This is a typical 1950s melodrama, albeit one lacking the tinge of Technicolor excess that these things usually have. It’s enjoyable: just don’t go looking for any facts about Chaney’s life or Hollywood history. Opening and closing with Chaney’s funeral - that brought Hollywood to a standstill - the film has notable irony as it features the future producer of The Godfather, Robert Evans, as wunderkind moviemaker Irving Thalberg. If only he could have looked ahead…Brian J. Robb

VERDICT: 7/10
Enjoyable melodrama biopic, but one lacking in depth and facts.