The Unholy Three (USA, 1925) 92 min B&W DIR: Tod Browning.PROD: Tod Browning, Irving Thalberg. SCR: Waldemar Young. STY: Clarence Aaron “Tod” Robbins. DOP: David Kesson. CAST: Lon Chaney Sr., Mae Busch, Matt Moore, Victor McLaglen, Harry Earles. (5 Minutes To Live)
Some people think that the greatest actor of the silent film era was Lon Chaney Sr. The more you see of his work, the more you understand such a statement. In his film he plays a ventriloquist who works in a circus troupe with a little person (Harry Earles, later of Browning’s Freaks) and a strong man (Victor McLaglen) who get tired of life on the road. He gets a great idea for a scam- he opens a parrot store and poses as an old grandma, his girlfriend (Mae Busch) acts as his granddaughter, and full grown Earles poses in a pram! The scheme is to get people to buy these parrots, as Chaney the ventriloquist makes the birds seem like they’re talking in the store. (Because this is a silent film, we see little comic strip balloons appear on screen from where we’re supposed to be hearing the birds talking!) Then when the customers call to complain that the birds aren’t saying anything at home, Chaney as grandma goes over there to make them seem like they’re speaking, and while there, he cases out the place for him and his cohorts to rob at a later date!
Meanwhile, Chaney’s girl is getting mighty tired of this racket, and she becomes attracted to this doofus Hector (Matt Moore), whom they have hired on for administrative duties in the parrot shop. After a robbery attempt at a house of a parrot owner goes horribly wrong, the police begin sniffing around the store, and before long Hector is held culpable in the robbery!
This great, enjoyable melodrama is full of the “Oh come on” plot that would only have worked in the days of yore, but that is part of its appeal. Naturally, the film is valuable for seeing Chaney at work, however a role in drag is comparatively normal in relation to his work in The Penalty or West of Zanzibar, in which he contorted his body to unbelievable degrees. Chaney and Earles would reprise their roles in a 1930 remake directed by Jack Conway. (This would be Chaney’s only sound film, as he passed away that year.)
The print that 5 Minutes offers is hardly pristine quality, naturally, but the film is diverting enough to keep you watching even in this state. The disc also features White Tiger (1923), in what appears to be a far less impressive effort, also made by Browning. (Its subpar visual quality makes it even harder to evaluate.)
Originally published in Vol. #1, Issue #16.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.