Directed by Tod Browning
68 minutes
English inter-titles

The great Tod Browning was one of the sharpest directors in Hollywood, but he was a guy who was drawn to unusual and taboo topics. His biggest hit was the original Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. His biggest failure was his legendary flick Freaks which ruined his career, but today it is considered a masterpiece. The Unknown is one of his earliest movies, but already reveals his penchant for bizarre themes.

Here we have the setting of a circus sideshow, and the story of an arm-less knife thrower who falls in love with a carnival girl. That's all I want to say about the story but how it unfolds is absolutely perverse and insane.  The incomparable Lon Chaney plays the lead role, and his object of desire is a very young Joan Crawford, an actress who would later become legendary. This is an early silent film, set to a thrilling piano score. Years later, actor Burt Lancaster said that Lon Chaney's performance in this flick was “one of the most compelling and emotionally exhausting scenes I have ever seen an actor do.”

The end result is absolutely haunting, and it shows how silent films can be more powerful than movies made today. This movie was considered lost for half a century, but as it turns out they couldn't find it because the cans containing the film only had "Unknown" written on them.