Mockery (1927)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Extremely disappointing effort between star Lon Chaney and director Benjamin Christensen (Haxan). Set during the Russian Revolution, a dimwitted peasant (Chaney) takes a woman (Barbara Bedford) through the dangerous forrest only to later learn that she is Countess who is blamed by other peasants for their bad living environment. The dimwitted peasant must then put his love for the Countess behind and fight for the peasants. This is a really bad film that doesn't work on any level dealing with the actual story. The story is incredibly dull, confusing and most of the time it's hard to care for either side of the fight. It seems Christensen had some sort of message but this never gets across. Even Chaney is rather dull here as he just lumbers around various scenes not doing much. Apparently he and the director had several battles over the director not "fixing" the story and this is apparent in his weak performance. The visuals of the film are quite good, especially the opening shot of dead bodies lying on the ground.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Extremely disappointing effort between star Lon Chaney and director Benjamin Christensen (Haxan). Set during the Russian Revolution, a dimwitted peasant (Chaney) takes a woman (Barbara Bedford) through the dangerous forrest only to later learn that she is Countess who is blamed by other peasants for their bad living environment. The dimwitted peasant must then put his love for the Countess behind and fight for the peasants. This is a really bad film that doesn't work on any level dealing with the actual story. The story is incredibly dull, confusing and most of the time it's hard to care for either side of the fight. It seems Christensen had some sort of message but this never gets across. Even Chaney is rather dull here as he just lumbers around various scenes not doing much. Apparently he and the director had several battles over the director not "fixing" the story and this is apparent in his weak performance. The visuals of the film are quite good, especially the opening shot of dead bodies lying on the ground.