A Man of a Thousand Faces

Amazon.com

Lon Chaney earned his nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces" with a gallery of grotesque, misshapen characters created through a combination of elaborate makeup, contorted postures, and sensitive performances. After a rich silent-movie career starring in such classics as He Who Gets Slapped, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Phantom of the Opera, he died after completing his first and only sound film, a remake of his silent crime picture The Unholy Three. James Cagney plays Chaney in this glossy Hollywood biography, a reverent, melodramatic tribute that focuses on his turbulent private life and rise from vaudeville clown to hard-working Hollywood extra to movie star. Dorothy Malone costars as his unstable first wife, who flees her husband and their young son after a failed suicide attempt, Jane Greer is the loving showgirl who fills her void, and future real-life superproducer Robert Evans plays legendary MGM producer Irving Thalberg. Cagney is a short, thick pug of an actor where Chaney is tall and lean, but he oddly resembles the star in his craggy face, and his rarely tapped dancing skills are put to good use in the early vaudeville scenes and contorted recreations of twisted Chaney characters. But most importantly, Cagney brings to the role passion and compassion that burn through the indifferent direction and show-biz clichés to create a vivid, energetic portrait of the enigmatic cult star who rarely let audiences see his true face. --Sean Axmaker

Description

James Cagney gives an unforgettable performance as the great film star Lon Chaney. Although successful, the legendary film star led a life of a reclusive nature, earning him the reputation of the man of mystery. "Man of a Thousand Faces" traces this long-suffering talented genius through marriages, children and Chaney's most famous roles.

Customer Reviews:

Is this the only film with Bob in it?.......2007-07-15

Loved the film, loved Bob as Irving Thalberg (I had seen the likelines before I knew the Shearer story), but I ask, "where are all of Bob's old films before he become a producer? I know he said he couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, but come on, what about Ali?

I want to see The Fiend Who Walked the West, and enjoy Bob's wonderful sneer and his crushed glass scene. ANYONE ELSE FEEL THE SAME WAY?

I know he said he was a horrible actor and that's why he went over to production, and that may be, but he's really hard to take your eyes off of....there's just something about that face!

Fantastic.......2006-07-17

A wonderful portrayal of the life of Lon Chaney. You would never expect Cagney to be good in this role, but he is excellent all the way around. The entire cast is strong and the story is interesting even if you are not a fan of the type of movies Chaney was famous for, his life story is certainly interesting. It is incredible that this is out of print. Hopefully they are working on a super special edition, or having it in a future box set. Don't pay the thieves $75+ in the marketplace for this one, it will come back again in print.

MAN OF 1000 FACES.......2005-10-03

THIS MOVIE WENT INTO MY CLASSICS MOVIE COLLECTION. IT SHOWS A DIFFERENT SIDE TO MR. CAGNEY'S GANGSTER IMAGE, AT WHICH HE EXCELLS. IT ALSO SHOWS HIS VERSITILITY. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. DBB.

Strangely miscast Cagney delivers top notch performance!.......2005-09-18

A melodramatic depiction of a high-glossy soap opera version on the life of the incredibly gifted Lon Chaney features corny dialogue, mediocre production values and a distinctly B-list stable of actors. HOWEVER, the offbeat casting of the marvelously talented and committed James Cagney elevates this picture to a five star rating!

He is both tough and touching...and while bearing no real physical resemblance to the legend he portrays, gives a multilayered and thoroughly captivating performance. It's interesting to learn some background on Chaney but the real amazement is in watching Cagney give it his all and "tell" the story.

Would make a great DVD feature for a Chaney collection.

A LOOK AT THE LIFE OF LON CHANEY..........2005-09-18

This is a wonderful bio pic of silver screen great, Lon Chaney, a character actor of great renown during the silent film epoch. All but one of his films were silent. Due to his ability to alter his appearance and play many roles, he eventually became known as "the man of a thousand faces". It is ironic that this man who would forge a meteoric rise in the silent film industry was born to deaf mute parents in 1883.

The film shows the impact that being the son of deaf mute parents would have on his life in those unenlightened times. Lon Chaney (James Cagney)started his acting career as a stage performer in vaudeville, where he was a popular pantomime. His first wife, the beautiful Cleva Creighton (Dorothy Malone), was a chanteuse who had dreams of her own.

Unfortunately, once Lon Chaney and she discovered that she was to have a baby, their happiness would turn to bitterness and anger, due to Cleva's shock at discovering that his parents were deaf mutes. Cleva and Lon Chaney would go on to have a son named Creighton, but she later caused a great scandal early in their son's life with a very public attempt at suicide that would change all their lives forever.

This scandal was to end Lon Chaney's stage career, and it sounded the death knell of his marriage. He ultimately divorced Cleva, who had abandoned both him and their son. The divorce resulted, for a time, in his tragic and heartbreaking separation from his beloved, young son. Chaney was to go on to reclaim his career, as well as his son, but would do so on film, rather than on stage, becoming an extremely popular silent film actor.

Lon Chaney was also a doting father who remarried in order to provide a suitable home for his son. His second wife was a former chorus girl named Hazel (Janet Greer). She was a woman who was to prove to be a loving step-mother to Creighton and a devoted wife to Lon Chaney. Always in the background, however, was the specter of Cleva, who was never to regain any of her former glory as a chanteuse and would live a life reduced in circumstances, as a result. She would live to regret her abandonment of their son.

Meanwhile, Lon Chaney was getting ready to take talking pictures by storm. While still in the prime of his life and at the peak of his film career, he was struck by a terminal illness that was to bring down the curtain for the last time. Bequeathing his acting legacy to his son, Creighton, who would later make his mark in film, renamed as Lon Chaney, Jr., Lon Chaney would leave the world at the relatively young age of forty-seven.

James Cagney is terrific in the role of Lon Chaney, creating a three dimensional portrait of a man whose childhood was to influence him is so positive a way. A veritable chameleon that was able to change his appearance at will, Lon Chaney would infuse the characters that he played with much feeling and emotion. His powerful performances would transcend the silence of the films, making him one of the great character actors of the silent film era. James Cagney sums it up best when he performs a bit of the Chaney role in the silent film, "The Miracle". If Lon Chaney played it half so well, it is little wonder that he was so popular.

Dorothy Malone is excellent as the beautiful but shallow Cleva, a woman who would inflict much suffering on those who loved her, but who would also, as a result, endure much suffering herself, eventually realizing all that she had lost. Janet Greer is perfect in the role of Hazel, Lon Chaney's warm and loving second wife, who would love and raise Creighton as if he were her own son, thereby changing all their lives for the better.

The supporting cast is also excellent with good performances by Jim Backus as Lon Chaney's agent and publicist. A very young Robert Evans, a real life future film mogul, plays the role of studio head Irving Thalberg, a man with whom Lon Chaney would have a long term professional relationship. Evans is surprisingly engaging in the small role. Overall, this is simply a film that those with an interest in Lon Chaney will enjoy, as will those who simply love a good, well-acted film.

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