The Unholy Three (1930)

Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Remake of a 1925 silent thriller plays more like a comedy. A trio of sideshow performers poses as a family running a pet shop. The shop is a front for robberies they commit in the homes of their customers. Pretty dimwitted thinking, but so be it. Lon Chaney as the leader of the trio poses as a granny and a midget poses as his infant grandson. A strong man basically hides and does the thefts. Complications ensue when Chaney hires a young man to help in the shop, and the guy falls for Chaney's gal pal, who is a veteran pickpocket. The film is ripe for a MT3K reworking, with Chaney a thoroughly unconvincing granny and the midget speaking in a totally garbled manner. Oh, did I mention Chaney keeps a full grown gorilla as a pet? The gorilla is a guy in a suit, the same suit we have seen in about a hundred Z-grade Hollywood movies. The one standout in the cast is Lila Lee as Chaney's mistress. She's sexy and turns in a performance considerably less hammy than her fellow players in this very early talkie. This was Chaney's only talkie, I believe. Try to see the 1925 version. It is better in many ways.

"The Man of a Thousand Faces" might just as well have been labeled "The Man of a Thousand Voices." In his single talkie, he plays a ventriloquist who can throw his voice or completely disguise it (as he does when he dons his "Grandma O'Grady" getup, or when he provides the voice for a "talking" parrot). THE UNHOLY THREE also happens to be a VERY funny movie- thanks in large part to Lon Chaney: his reactions (especially his expressions) to the back-stabbing done by his grifter cohorts are priceless and, more than once, he even manages to outwit himself. His makeup is flawless, as are his mannerisms, his posture, and even his walk. He leaves no stone unturned. Chaney showed signs of great promise here and may very well have been on the verge of redefining himself as well as rewriting the book on acting. Unfortunately, this was "The Man of a Thousand Faces" taking his final bow.

Indeed, Lon Chaney was the man of a thousand faces, a make-up genius so ahead of his time that "three quarters of a century later" well accomplished professionals are still to be awed at the visual effects he compassed. Sadly, for most, he will always be remembered as Erick, the Phantom and Quasimodo. However, Chaney was much than just a horror actor and a pioneer of many stage make-up techniques; he was a gifted actor, as well as, a matchless performer and person. He was an incredibly skilled actor and, thankfully, The Unholy Three (1930) let's us actually see that.In this film, Chaney did five voices; those of a parrot, an old woman, a girl, a ventriloquist, and the ventriloquist's dummy. His voice work was such that he had to sign a notarized statement largely as a publicity stunt, attesting to his versatile voice work in The Unholy Three. While the film is notable as a vehicle for the actor's vocal gymnastics, the story of this talkie version of the 1925 version is pretty much identical to the silent, but with a few exceptions: As a talkie, The Unholy Three is a bit less gripping by the sounds becoming explicit, as well as, lacking much of the macabre horror the silent version featured. Mae Busch is replaced by the far better Lila Lee, who was not only better as the roll of Rosie but much prettier as well. However, Victor Mclagen who played Hercules in the silent version was much better than his replacement, Ivan Linow. As far as, Harry Earles is concerned, his voice is completely incomprehensible. Not to mention, the man sitting behind the chair is no longer Tod Browning, but in fact, Jack Conway. Also, at the climax (differing much from the silent version), Mrs. O'Grady appears in court to testify on Hector's behalf. Under the strain of the cross-examination, Echo's voice cracks, and the prosecuting attorney pulls off his wig. Echo's subsequent confession clears Hector, but Echo is sent to prison. In the tearfully painful final scene, Hector and Rosie wave goodbye as Echo is sent off to prison by train.The question that will forever remain, is if Chaney had lived, what else would he have accomplished? My guess is he would've easily conquered the movement in Hollywood toward more complicated make-up techniques, making any such effects icon look rather amateurish. Perhaps several nominations, maybe even an Oscar winner! He certainly would've played Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If that were the case, what would ever come of such actors like Fredric March, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff who became famous from playing their landmark Monster roll? He undoubtedly could've played anything and been anyone he wanted. His abilities were far beyond any actor of his or any other era. Unfortunately, out of 150+ films Chaney appeared in, less than 50 survived, and all we really have left of this brilliant, phenom of a talent are the monster movies that made him famous. Chaney was known for much more, for comedy and drama. In fact, he was also a highly skilled dancer, director, writer, singer, and comedian. And yet it was cancer that took him from film just as he proved he could successfully speak within the new realm of sound.Lon Chaney could have been, perhaps, the greatest actor of all time, though, with much of his work missing, it's still justifiable that he is and beyond all the thousands of faces, there was one true Chaney: an incredibly gifted artist. Too bad we don't get to see it more often.

Somehow the ape in the silent version was okay. It was kind of an off the wall movie all around, so an ape? Why not. However, the addition of sound made the ape look remarkably out of place. Perhaps like some other silent stars the switch to talkies found it out for lacking talent.Thankfully the same cannot be said of Lon Chaney. His one talkie, and I think choosing to remake The Unholy Three was a sound decision. The scenes with Chaney and Earles, both as Echo and Tweedledee, and as Mrs O'Grady and her grandson, were the highlights for me. Rosie was a far more interesting character in this version, mainly down to the charismatic Lila Lee.Watching Chaney disappear into the night on the back of a train was also surprisingly moving.Not as good as the silent version, but I'm glad it was made.