DVD : Outside the Law/Shadows
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9786305871354
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 6305871353
Label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Image Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 27, 2000
Running Time: 143 minutes
Sales Rank: 16103
Studio: Image Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: January 06, 1921
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Editorial Review:
Description:
The masterful Lon Chaney stars in these two classic silent films. "Outside the Law" (1920, 75 min.) - In this early collaboration with director Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks), Chaney delivers a dual performance of dramatic intensity, starring as Ah Wing, a kind-hearted student of Confucian philosophy, and Black Mike Sylva, a murderous rake of the San Francisco underworld. Like night and day, Ah Wing and Sylva are physical representations of the opposing factions of light and dark that weigh upon the moral conscience of the film's protagonist, Molly Madden (Priscilla Dean), who must choose between lives of crime and domesticity. "Shadows" (1922, 68 min.) - In one of the most challenging performances of his illustrious career, Chaney stars as a Chinese laundryman caught in a web of small-town jealousy and extortion. Both films features new orchestral scores.
Amazon.com:
Lon Chaney is not the star of Tod Browning's Outside the Law (the second of 10 pictures they made together), but he practically steals the film. Browning cast the man of a thousand faces in two roles, as the despicable gangster Black Mike ("a rat, a vulture, and a snake," according to the titles) and as the devoted Chinese servant to a Confucian Chinatown teacher. Priscilla Dean stars as Molly, the daughter of a San Francisco underworld leader lured back to a life of crime by Mike, who frames her father for murder and then plots to double-cross her as well. Hard-bitten kewpie doll Dean underplays her gangster-moll part beautifully, and Chaney's Mike is dastardly and dangerous, a sneering hard case with a scar running down his cheek. Browning pours on the syrup in the film's middle section as Molly's hard heart is slowly melted by her gangster lover and the cloyingly cute kid from next door. Then he twists it back from melodrama with an escalating series of taut confrontations that build to an exciting, well-staged climactic shootout. The Kino print, taken from the Blackhawk Collection, shows some serious deterioration near the end, but it clears up in time for the fireworks. The orchestral score is edited together from other music and enhanced with sound effects. --Sean Axmaker
Average Rating: 
Rating: -
Born Leonidas Frank Chaney in 1883, Lon Chaney was one of the genuine superstars of silent cinema.
Both of his parents were deaf, so Chaney learned early on how to pantomime-- it was a skill that served him well in the pre-sound movie era. He went on the stage in 1902, toured vaudeville beginning in 1905 and acted in his first film in 1912. Chaney was a master of disguise, as so many of his movies illustrate. He appeared in 162 photoplays; the last of these, THE UNHOLY THREE (his only talkie), was released the year of Chaney's death, 1930.
In SHADOWS (1922), "The Man of a Thousand Faces" portrays Yen Sin, a Chinese cook who washes ashore at the New England fishing village of Urkey after his ship sinks. The locals consider him an undesirable heathen, but Yen Sin chooses to stay among them despite their rejection. He lives on a houseboat and becomes a laundryman.
A minister named John Malden comes to town, befriends Yen Sin and tries to convert him to Christianity. Malden marries a widow (Sympathy), which earns him the wrath of the wealthiest man in town, Nate Snow who also loves the lady. Snow interferes in their marriage by sending anonymous letters to the preacher claiming Mrs. Malden's first husband is still alive. Yen Sin is able to help the couple.
TCM ARCHIVES - THE LON CHANEY COLLECTION contains three of his silent features: "The Ace of Hearts" (1921), "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (1928) and "The Unknown (1927).
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Rating: -
Although both these silent films feature the legendary Lon Chaney, they both stand up on their own as interesting stories with an ethical point or message to make, and both are nicely presented on this DVD with good musical accompaniment. Lon Chaney fans might be a bit disappointed by "Outside the Law" because he only plays a supporting role, albeit a dual one - as a rough gangster and as a mild-mannered Chinese man - while Priscilla Dean actually has the starring role. There is also some deterioration at the end of the film, but otherwise both films have nice, clear picture quality. "Shadows" stands out as one of Chaney's typical best characterizations as he convincingly plays the part of Yen Sin, an elderly Chinese man washed up in a small fishing village after a storm. Being "the man of a thousand faces", Chaney is surely one of the screen's most fascinating characters of all time, being able to not only use make-up (which he applied himself) to create dozens of different faces, but he also played double amputees in films like "The Penalty" and "The Unknown". He had great physical strength and agility, which is evident especially in "The Unknown", but here in "Shadows" he convinces the audience with mostly body language that he is a feeble, hunchbacked hard-working laundry "Chink", as they were called in those days. In fact, when the film was released in 1922-23, producers wondered how audiences would take to a Chinaman playing a good, even the pivotal heroic role, because ... Read More
Rating: -
'Outside the Law' (1920), which was directed by Lon Chaney's favorite director, Tod Browning, is rather typical of the features Lon made pre-1923, when he became a big star in his own right. Though he had achieved fame in 1919, it was as a character actor, not really so much a starring actor just yet. Here he plays a dual role as secondary characters Ah Wing, a good guy, and Black Mike Sylva, a really nasty crime lord of the San Francisco underworld. The true main characters of this film are Priscilla Dean (at the time Universal's top female star) and Wheeler Oakman as Molly Madden and her boyfriend Bill Ballard. Black Mike frames Molly's father for murder, and while he's in jail, Molly is tipped off by Bill that Mike is planning to double-cross her in another crime he's plotting. She and Bill in turn double-cross Mike, and hide out in an apartment with the jewels they stole, constantly afraid the police (or, worse yet, Mike and his cronies) are going to discover their whereabouts. Meanwhile Chang Lo, a wise Confucian friend of Mr. Madden's, warns the police that even though he's innocent, he's going to emerge from jail with murder in his heart because of the injustice that was done to him (in line with how the film opens with a quote from Confucius, "If a country had none but good rulers for a hundred years, crime might be stamped out and the death penalty abolished"). He also predicts that Molly and Bill will voluntarily turn themselves in and hand over the jewels to the police, ... Read More
Rating: -
I have now seen 10 of Lon Chaney's films and I would say that they are nearly all enjoyable. The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are masterpieces, the rest vary in quality, but Chaney's varied performances always make them interesting. The two films on this DVD are relatively minor works. Strangely, the one by the more famous director Tod Browning, Outside the Law, is the lesser of the two. This is, in part, because it is not really a Chaney feature at all. He plays two roles, one a sympathetic Asian character, the other an evil criminal out to destroy the leading characters. This is the problem, for Chaney's supporting characters disappear for long stretches of the film. The main story is thus a rather dull affair about two somewhat colourless lovers trying to go straight and return the jewels they have stolen. The film only really comes alive with Chaney. The biggest difficulty with this film however, is the print quality. It is a black and white print which, for the most part is fine, but towards the end there is some serious damage, so much so that at times the picture all but disappears. There are furthermore some frames missing so that sometimes the story jumps rather abruptly. The second film on this DVD, Shadows, is much better. The story is interesting and keeps the viewer guessing, so it is best not to read any synopses before hand. Chaney has a major role as a Chinese laundry man and shows how he could contort his body and face into a role. Some people might ... Read More
Rating: -
This film packs more of a punch than I assume it did when it was first released. In the film, Lon Chaney plays a Chinese laundry man, who literally washes ashore during a violent storm. The (mostly white) community at first looks upon this outsider with distrust, but eventually somes to see the error of their ways. Of note: this is the FIRST portrayal of a Chinese character in a favorable role in Hollywood history. They were previously shown as opium smoking layabouts, dealing in white slavery. Lon had to fight the studio, who thought the public wouldn't accept this!
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