Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

Admirable film.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There was a time when movie bios were a mix of fact and invention -- and 1957's "Man of a Thousand Faces" typifies the genre. Yes, Chaney was the son of deaf mutes but there's no evidence that he hid the fact from his pregnant wife or that she demanded an abortion when she heard the news. And while it's true that she was suicidal, she didn't try to kill herself on stage. Their bitter relationship makes for a series of mawkish moments, backed by dire music, when the movie ought to be focusing on Chaney's talent. When it occasionally does, thanks to James Cagney's splendid performance, it suddenly springs to life. His re-enactment of moments from "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" are amazing. But just when you think you're getting a sense of what "the man of mystery" was really like, it's back to sludgy soap opera. And all you can do is groan.

Cagney plays Lon Chaney in this film about the great imitator's life. Chaney himself was a very private person, preferring the quiet of hearth and home to the wild Hollywood night life. Hollywood was where he worked, not a way of life. In this way both he and the man who plays him (James Cagney) have much in common.Cagney and Chaney looked totally different, yet Cagney makes this role work. In Cagney's biography "Cagney on Cagney", he admits that the story takes certain liberties with Chaney's life as most biopics do, but there are many actual events in Chaney's life that are in the movie. Chaney was indeed the child of two deaf mute parents - he got his gift for pantomime in communicating with them. His first marriage was a rocky one, just as the film portrays. Whether the trouble started over his first wife believing that their child would be deaf and being horrified by the possibility as is portrayed in the film I don't know, but given early 20th century attitudes toward disability it is entirely possible.The film whether accurate or not, was a loving tribute to Chaney that was instrumental in a revival of interest in his films. I consider this to be possibly Cagney's best performance in a mature role with maybe the exception of 1956's "These Wilder Years", which is seldom televised nor on VHS or DVD.

Other reviewers have knocked the film because it is not historically accurate and I can't dispute that. But for me, James Cagney's performance makes this a film that is a must-see. True, the film is short on depicting Lon Chaney's film characters and although we do get to see Cagney in makeup as the Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, the scenes are extremely brief. Most of the film depicts Chaney's conflict with his first wife, wonderfully played by the stunning Dorothy Malone - whew, what a knockout!- and the stormy relationship with his son.The film is a soap opera but Cagney is wonderful showing that he can play drama, comedy and even dance and mime.

What were the members of the Motion Picture Academy thinking when James Cagney was not nominated for his outstanding performance as Lon Chaney in 1957's "Man of A Thousand Faces."?Cagney was at his best portraying the masquerade man whose personal life was such a heartbreak. This was certainly an outstanding follow-up after the wonderful "Love Me or Leave Me" two years before.Fresh from her Oscar win for "Written on the Wind," Dorothy Malone pulled off another great performance.Cagney's acting toward his deaf mute parents was a sight to behold. Celia Lovsky, a veteran Hollywood matron, was his loving mother. Her bold eyes spoke of the love that she could not blurt out due to deafness. Always a sympathetic woman, Lovsky was the real life live in girlfriend of actor Peter Lorre.Who can forget Cagney during his terminal cancer scenes? Unbelievable.