The Unknown
Alonzo the Armless: No one will get her... no one but me!
While Freaks is Browning's masterpiece, (for many of us) The Unknown is very much a preliminary sketch work with a similar setting and story points regarding a love triangle.
I was hooked from the get-go til the very end.
Unlike other silents so far, the soundtrack to this was perfect and needed no substitution and added just the right mood and intensity to what occurs on film.
With other films, under heavy makeup, from the Phantom of the Opera to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this very well may be the first time I've seen Lon Chaney's face in a film and all of those sublime emotions in other films, are stark and bold, here. Pretty amazing stuff.
Also, there was one scene with Joan Crawford, with her head slightly back and her eyes wide, did I actually recognize her. Otherwise, if I didn't see her name in the opening, there was no way I would have known.
Surprisingly, I don't have much to say, but, believe me, I fully enjoyed this film.