☆ ☆ ☆
Man
of a Thousand Faces (1957) – J. Pevney
James Cagney plays Lon Chaney (Sr.) in
this biopic of the silent film star.
Cagney excels in the early scenes from Chaney’s vaudeville days (given
his own tendency toward being a song-and-dance man) but we see fewer of the
performances and more of the tense life story as the picture progresses. Interestingly,
it turns out that both of Chaney’s parents were deaf and the family
communicated with sign language (his three siblings could also hear), which the
film tries to relate to his success in pantomime. But Chaney had significant troubles with his
first wife (played by Dorothy Malone) who yearned for her own career instead of
being weighed down by the responsibilities of motherhood. Chaney is less than
sympathetic and when she leaves him and their young son, Creighton (later Lon
Chaney, Jr.), he is denied custody by the courts who think that his Hollywood
career is far from stable. Eventually, when he becomes famous (as a result of
the Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1923, and the Phantom of the Opera, 1925) and
remarries (to Jane Greer), his son comes to live with them (often spending time
in a remote cabin, given Chaney’s unsociable nature) until he discovers his mother
is still alive and leaves to be with her. Of course, he returns when Chaney begins to
have signs of the heart trouble that killed him at only 47. Overall, a solid, though glum, effort by
Cagney and his costars -- but it can’t overcome the clichés of the genre. I had hoped for some insights into the actual
making of films, but alas.
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