Lon Chaney silents

Today marks the birthday of Loretta Young, which reminded me of one of her earliest movies, the 1928 silent Laugh, Clown, Laugh, made when Young was a young 13. It's part of a two-disc collection of three of the great Lon Chaney's silents. Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a pretty good movie, although slightly melodramatic. Chaney plays a clown who adopts the orphan Young, only to fall in love with her, with tragic consequences. It's interesting to see Loretta Young at souch an early age; however, Lon Chaney is much more interesting, simply because he always made his movies interesting.

Another interesting in the set is The Unknown, where Chaney plays an armless man who throws knives with his feet. One of the things that makes The Unknown so interesting is the female lead -- a young Joan Crawford. The other is director Tod Browning, who made his movies both shocking and controversial. I won't go into the details of The Unknown largely because I don't want to give away the shock.