A film with several of director Tod Browning's favorite things - actor Lon Chaney, human oddities in a carnival sideshow, unusual disguises, and a killer animal. The first half of the film is interesting, starting with the establishing shots in the carnival, where we see the usual sorts of things, a sword swallower and a pair of conjoined twins, as well as some surprises, a burlesque dancer shaking her bosoms with the promise of more inside, and a little person (Harry Earles) kicking a child in the audience in the face out of anger.
A ventriloquist (Chaney) has the idea of forming a gang of thieves with the little person and a strongman (Victor McLaglen) to make up an "unholy three", and we soon see them in disguise, Chaney dressed as an old woman and Earles as a baby, in order to operate out of a bird shop. Both actors are excellent throughout the film, and the cigar-smoking baby scene is memorable. The sound bubbles appearing over the parrots when Chaney throws his voice to make them seem like they're talking is also pretty cute.
The love triangle subplot (with the shop owner played by Matt Moore and girlfriend played by Mae Busch) is less interesting, and unfortunately the film lags in the second half, particularly during a trial scene. The film tries for tenderness, committing breaches of logic along the way, when it should have remained dark.
Aside from a giant chimp attack being a little ridiculous, it also seems tacked on. The chimp was made to appear larger by filming with smaller sets and Earles substituted for Chaney with his back turned; it's the same technique Raoul Walsh and Douglas Fairbanks had used the previous year in 'The Thief of Bagdad.' As in two other Browning/Chaney films ('He Who Gets Slapped' and 'Where East is East'), the animal is deliberately uncaged in order to attack someone (in those films it's a lion and a gorilla, respectively).
The film is one of ten that Browning and Chaney made together before the actor's untimely demise in 1930, and while it's not their best, it's entertaining. I'm still deciding who looked better in drag as an old woman for Browning, Lionel Barrymore in 'The Devil-Doll' or Lon Chaney here.
A ventriloquist (Chaney) has the idea of forming a gang of thieves with the little person and a strongman (Victor McLaglen) to make up an "unholy three", and we soon see them in disguise, Chaney dressed as an old woman and Earles as a baby, in order to operate out of a bird shop. Both actors are excellent throughout the film, and the cigar-smoking baby scene is memorable. The sound bubbles appearing over the parrots when Chaney throws his voice to make them seem like they're talking is also pretty cute.
The love triangle subplot (with the shop owner played by Matt Moore and girlfriend played by Mae Busch) is less interesting, and unfortunately the film lags in the second half, particularly during a trial scene. The film tries for tenderness, committing breaches of logic along the way, when it should have remained dark.
Aside from a giant chimp attack being a little ridiculous, it also seems tacked on. The chimp was made to appear larger by filming with smaller sets and Earles substituted for Chaney with his back turned; it's the same technique Raoul Walsh and Douglas Fairbanks had used the previous year in 'The Thief of Bagdad.' As in two other Browning/Chaney films ('He Who Gets Slapped' and 'Where East is East'), the animal is deliberately uncaged in order to attack someone (in those films it's a lion and a gorilla, respectively).
The film is one of ten that Browning and Chaney made together before the actor's untimely demise in 1930, and while it's not their best, it's entertaining. I'm still deciding who looked better in drag as an old woman for Browning, Lionel Barrymore in 'The Devil-Doll' or Lon Chaney here.