Review(s): DVD The Lon Chaney Collection (The Ace of Hearts/Laugh, Clown, Laugh/The Unknown/Lon Chaney - A Thousand Faces)
Truly Great Acting
Let me just go on record of saying that the closest equivalent to Lon Chaney that we have working today is Robert DeNiro. Think about it - Chaney went to extraordinary lengths to achieve authenticity (60 pound hump on his back to play Quasimodo, wires to pull his face back in the Phantom's death's-head grin, DeNiro gains weight for Raging Bull, etc), Chaney had a tough, strong, solid physical presence that lends his every appearance a weight and reality that most other actors lack, he often played the darker side of human nature but did so with sensivity, realism, and pathos, and Chaney was a hard working professional, a non-nonsense person who was dedicated to his craft. I've associated Chaneyt and DeNiro in my head for a long time now and have never read or heard that comparrison, so I figured I would hereby make a public positing of that comparrison. By the way, these films are great, essential silent movies that any true film buff MUST see.
BUY IT !!!!
Are you wondering if this disk is worth $40? So was I. This collection is GREAT. You get two disks. There are three actual movies, one biography and one very special treat. Thios makes a total of five features for a mere $40. The lost film London After Midnight was a high-grossing popular film of the silent era. There are no known copies of the actual film itslef. BUT this collection contains a reconstruction of the film made from still photos. It's a slideshow with occasional title cards. All in all, if you like Lon Chaney, get this set. All of the films are clean, and very very very clear.
The Zenith of Lon Chaney
I didn't like silent films until I saw this movie. This movie is perhaps one of the best silent films in American history! Lon Chaney is excellent as a sad clown whose love for his 'daughter' is unrequited. Loretta Young is just ravishing! Even if the storyline is a little strange, it will captivate you, I guarantee it!
Related DVD's The Lon Chaney Collection (The Ace of Hearts/Laugh, Clown, Laugh/The Unknown/Lon Chaney - A Thousand Faces)
The silent PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has probably been available in dozens of VHS and DVD editions over the years. Virtually all are based on the very heavily re-worked 1929 reissue, the version almost everyone knows--probably even unaware that it isn't the original release and how unlike the original film it is. In fact, the original 1925 version doesn't seem to exist any longer in a decent print: only scratchy, blurred, grainy "play-at-home" 16mm prints survive. Sadly, the original version contained better camera set-ups, better editing, a more coherent story, more consistent acting and direction, and it runs 107 minutes to the reissue's 92 (at the same 20 frames-per-second projection speed of the period).
Lon Chaney, the Man of a Thousand Faces, was no mere makeup wizard, as this dark, deviant crime drama shows. Strapping his legs into a painful leather harness to play a double-amputee underworld kingpin, Chaney scrambles through the film like a human spider weaving his criminal web across San Francisco with equal parts seduction and terror. Crippled as child by an incompetent doctor, he dedicates his life to vengeance in a double-barreled plot that will bring both the city and the doctor (now an honored physician) to their knees. Director Wallace Worsley (who later collaborated with Chaney on his legendary Hunchback of Notre Dame) peppers the busy plot with bizarre touches of sexual menace and sadism, and he creates a wicked atmosphere of corruption and murder that implicates every... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Wallace Worsley DVD Release Date: Released the 09 October 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Val Lewton's name is synonymous with the subtlest, most mysterious brand of horror filmmaking in Hollywood's golden age, and the nine horror classics he produced at RKO between 1942 and 1946 constitute the most remarkable cycle of creativity in B-movie history. (For the record, the Lewton/RKO legacy also includes two non-horror entries, Youth Runs Wild and Mademoiselle Fifi.)
Before becoming a film producer, the Russian-born Lewton was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, nonfiction, and a couple of pornographic novels. He also worked for years as assistant to David O. Selznick, a legendary producer with a distinctive personal signature--and a flair for grandiosity Lewton himself never emulated. It's ever so revealing that, on Selznick's Gone With the Wind, it was... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Boris Karloff DVD Release Date: Released the 04 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Everyone has already said it better than I, so simply drop everything...and purchase this remarkable film.
And thank you, again, KINO, for allowing us the chance to behold these masterworks. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Leni DVD Release Date: Released the 30 September 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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THE BELA LUGOSI COLLECTION, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, is the first Universal DVD I have bought in a while that was a dual density single disk with no technical problems. After having to return two different copies of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS to Amazon.com because of technical glitches from two-sided printing, this technically flawless disk is a most welcome addition to the home of anyone who loves Mr. Lugosi. But I am still knocking it down one star because of laziness on the part of Universal in not having Sara Karloff or Bela Lugosi, Jr. chatting about their fathers. Or not having any real bonus material. Boris Karloff stars in three of these five movies, including one that has Lugosi in only a small role. Visual and sound quality are outstanding on all... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Boris Karloff - Bela Lugosi - David Manners - Julie Bishop Director(s): Edgar G. Ulmer DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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