Throughout his years at Universal director Joseph Pevney did the best he could with some distinctly mediocre material but was occasionally assigned a more ambitious project and this bio of Lon Chaney certainly falls into that category. He was an obvious choice as he had started off as a song and dance man in Vaudeville where Chaney also performed until breaking into films.
Although seemingly miscast as the title character James Cagney more than compensates by bringing his charisma and customary intensity to the role as well as employing his trademark physicality. Also miscast but alas unable to compensate is Robert Evans as Irving Thalberg. Evans was a much better producer than he was an actor which would not be difficult based upon his lamentable performance here. The casting of handsome hunk Roger Smith as Lon Chaney Jr is bizarre to say the least. The women fare far better notably Dorothy Malone who impresses in the underwritten role of Chaney's wife who suffers from what is nowadays politely referred to as 'mental health issues' whilst the Viennese Celia Lovsky, once married to Peter Lorre, gives a standout performance as Chaney's mother.
Suffice to say that true to the traditions of Hollywoodland there are glaring biographical inaccuracies and fictions with an emphasis on the melodramatic. We are however treated to reproductions of three scenes from Chaney's films and Mr. Cagney is particularly impressive as the cripple in 'The Miracle Man'. The scenes from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'Phantom of the Opera' do not work quite as well but this is down to Mr. Cagney's rather cherubic features being encased in Bud Westmore's immobile Halloween latex masks whereas Chaney's own make-ups comprising glues, adhesives and monofilament lines allowed for far greater facial flexibility.
The script by Cagney staples Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts is okay as far as it goes whilst an orchestration of Chopin's melancholic E flat prelude is especially effective.
In Thalberg's eulogy which opens the film he refers to Chaney as one of those artistes whose 'magic' sets them apart from the rest. That also applies in no uncertain terms to James Cagney.
Although seemingly miscast as the title character James Cagney more than compensates by bringing his charisma and customary intensity to the role as well as employing his trademark physicality. Also miscast but alas unable to compensate is Robert Evans as Irving Thalberg. Evans was a much better producer than he was an actor which would not be difficult based upon his lamentable performance here. The casting of handsome hunk Roger Smith as Lon Chaney Jr is bizarre to say the least. The women fare far better notably Dorothy Malone who impresses in the underwritten role of Chaney's wife who suffers from what is nowadays politely referred to as 'mental health issues' whilst the Viennese Celia Lovsky, once married to Peter Lorre, gives a standout performance as Chaney's mother.
Suffice to say that true to the traditions of Hollywoodland there are glaring biographical inaccuracies and fictions with an emphasis on the melodramatic. We are however treated to reproductions of three scenes from Chaney's films and Mr. Cagney is particularly impressive as the cripple in 'The Miracle Man'. The scenes from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'Phantom of the Opera' do not work quite as well but this is down to Mr. Cagney's rather cherubic features being encased in Bud Westmore's immobile Halloween latex masks whereas Chaney's own make-ups comprising glues, adhesives and monofilament lines allowed for far greater facial flexibility.
The script by Cagney staples Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts is okay as far as it goes whilst an orchestration of Chopin's melancholic E flat prelude is especially effective.
In Thalberg's eulogy which opens the film he refers to Chaney as one of those artistes whose 'magic' sets them apart from the rest. That also applies in no uncertain terms to James Cagney.