Author Archive: Retro

The only remaining footage (5 minutes) of THE MIRACLE MAN, a film about a gang of misfits, one of which can dislocate his limbs, who terrorize Chinatown sightseers. *PLUS* The earliest existing Chaney film, a version of the life of Francois Villon.

Tod Browning’s tale of San Francisco underworld crime and Lon Chaney’s dual role as Black Mike Sylva, a murderous thug, and Ah Wing, a small-time Chinese pacifist. Co-starring Priscilla Dean as a tough moll, this hard-edged film is a pinnacle among the Browning-Chaney crime dramas. We recommend the film itself as a required excursion into the dark world of director Browning.

Sick woman is cured when she touches the Holy Grail. Dir. Clarence Brown.

Underworld crime boss is driven by an overwhelming desire for revenge on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs as a young boy.

Scarred fiend haunts an opera house and kidnaps Philbin as his singing protege in this adaption of the Gaston Leroux classic. Unmasking sequence still packs a punch! Contains hand-colored masked ball sequence. Dir. Phil Rosen.

Crippled gunman working for a heartless crime boss falls in love with a banker’s daughter and must save her father from a scandal. Dir. Lambert Hillyard.

Unjustly imprisoned lawyer is released to find his wife has died. Enraged, he assumes the guise of a crippled beggar to seek revenge on those who framed him.

In the film Chaney portrays another of the character roles that dubbed him The Man of a Thousand Faces, a Chinese laundry worker who is caught in a tangle of extortion and small-town prejudice.

For the love of one woman, two men are willing to give their lives, leaving the holder of the Ace of Hearts to lose.