Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Oubliette (1914)

All of a very nice movie about true friend ship and love.please watch and enjoy

By The Sun's Rays (1914)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Miracle Man (1919)

THE MIRACLE MAN (1919) is a lost film, all except for a small fragment that was shown in a Paramount "best of" reel. This film has long been considered the major vehicle for the principle stars, Thomas Meighan and Lon Chaney and the segment that survives shows why. The story is about a band of con-men who decide to pull a fast one on a town that believes that their blind priest is a faith healer. All of the crooks end up being cured through miracles of their evil ways and end up doing the opposite of what compelled them to be evil. Chaney's performance in the surviving "healing" scene is quite compelling. I can not recommend this film to anyone since I have not seen it all, but if you do get a chance to see the surviving scene, it's worth a look.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Film Based Appearances


Poor Jake's Demise (1913, Universal/Imp)*
The Sea Urchin (1913, Universal/Powers)
The Trap (1913, Universal/Powers)
Almost an Actress (1913, Universal/Joker)
An Elephant on His Hands (1913, Universal/Nestor)
Back to Life (1913, Universal/Victor)
Red Margaret, Moonshiner (1913, Universal/Gold Seal)
Bloodhounds of the North (1913, Universal/Gold Seal)
The Lie (1914, Universal/Gold Seal)
The Honor of the Mounted (1914, Universal/Gold Seal)
Remember Mary Magdelen (1914, Universal/Victor)
Discord and Harmony (1914, Universal/Gold Seal)
The Menace to Carlotta (1914, Universal/Rex)
The Embezzler (1914, Universal/Gold Seal)
The Lamb, the Woman, the Wolf (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
The End of the Feud (1914, Universal/Rex)
The Tragedy of Whispering Creek (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
The Unlawful Trade (1914, Universal/Rex)
Heartstrings (1914, Universal/Powers)
The Forbidden Room (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
The Old Cobbler (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
The Hopes of Blind Alley (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
Ranch Romance A, (1914, Universal/Nestor)
Her Grave Mistake (1914, Universal/Nestor)
By the Sun's Rays (1914, Universal/Nestor) *
The Oubliette (1914, Universal/101 Bison) *
A Miner's Romance (1914, Universal/Nestor)
Her Bounty (1914, Universal/Rex)
The Higher Law (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
Richelieu (1914, Universal/101 Bison)
The Pipes of Pan (1914, Universal/Rex)
Virtue Its Own Reward (1914, Universal/Rex)
Her Life Story (1914, Universal/Rex)
Lights and Shadows (1914, Universal/Rex)
The Lion, the Lamb, and the Man (1914, Universal/Rex)
A Night of Thrills (1914, Universal/Rex)
Her Escape (1914, Universal/Rex)
The Sin of Olga Brandt (1915, Universal/Rex)
Star of the Sea (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Small Town Girl (1915, Universal/101 Bison)
The Measure of a Man (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Threads of Fate (1915, Universal/Rex)
When the Gods Played a Badger Game (1915, Universal/Rex)
Such is Life (1915, Universal/Rex)
Where the Forest Ends (1915, Universal/Rex)
Outside the Gates (1915, Universal/Rex)
All for Peggy (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Desert Breed (1915, Universal/Rex)
Maid of the Mist (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Grind (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Girl of the Night (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Stool Pigeon (1915, Universal/Victor)
For Cash (1915, Universal/Victor)
An Idyll of the Hills (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Stronger Mind (1915, Universal/United)
The Oyster Dredger (1915, Universal/ Victor)
Steady Company (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Violin Maker (1915, Universal/Victor)
The Trust (1915, Universal/Victor)
Bound on the Wheel (1915, Universal/Rex)
Mountain Justice (1915, Universal/Rex)
Quits (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Chimney's Secret (1915, Universal/Victor)
The Pine's Revenge (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis (1915, Universal/Rex) * (incomplete)
Alas and Alack (1915, Universal/Rex) *
A Mother's Atonement (1915, Universal/Rex) * (incomplete)
Lon of Lone Mountain (1915, Universal/Rex)
The Millionaire Paupers (1915, Universal/Rex) * (fragment)
Under a Shadow (1915, Universal/Rex)
Father and the Boys (1915, Broadway Universal Features)
Stronger Than Death (1915, Universal/Rex)
Dolly's Scoop (1916, Universal/Rex) *
The Grip of Jealousy (1916, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Tangled Hearts (1916, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Gilded Spider (1916, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Bobbie of the Ballet (1916, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Grasp of Greed (1916, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays) * (incomplete)
The Mark of Cain (1916, Universal/Red Feather)
If My Country Should Call (1916, Universal/Red Feather) * (incomplete)
Felix on the Job (1916, Universal/Special Victor)
The Place Beyond the Winds (1916, Universal/Red Feather) * (incomplete)
Accusing Evidence (1916, Universal/Big U-Special)
The Price of Silence (1916, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Piper's Price (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Hell Morgan's Girl (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Mask of Love (1917, Universal/Laemmle)
The Girl in the Checkered Coat (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Flashlight (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
A Doll's House (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Fires of Rebellion (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Rescue (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Pay Me (1917, Universal/Jewel)
Triumph (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays) * (incomplete)
The Empty Gun (1917, Universal/Gold Seal)
Anything Once (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Scarlet Car (1917, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays) *
The Grand Passion (1918, Universal/Jewel)
Broadway Love (1918, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays) *
The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918, Renowned Pictures Corp)
Fast Company (1918, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
A Broadway Scandal (1918, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Riddle Gawne (1918, William S Hart Prod.) * (incomplete)
That Devil Bateese (1918, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
The Talk of the Town (1918, Universal/Bluebird Photoplays)
Danger--Go Slow (1918, Universal/Special)
The Wicked Darling (1919, Universal/Special) *
The False Faces (1919, Paramount-Artcraft) *
A Man's Country (1919, Robertson-Cole)
Paid in Advance (1919, Universal/Jewel) *
The Miracle Man (1919, Mayflower Photoplay Corp) * (fragment)
When Bearcat Went Dry (1919, C. R. Macauley Photoplays) *
Victory (1919, Paramount-Artcraft) *
Daredevil Jack (1920, Robert Brunton) * (fragment)
Treasure Island (1920, Paramount-Artcraft)
The Gift Supreme (1920, C. R. Macauley Photoplays) * (fragment)
Nomads of the North (1920, Assoc. First National) *
The Penalty (1920, Goldwyn Pictures Corp.) *
Outside the Law (1921, Universal/Jewel) *
For Those We Love (1921, Betty Compson Prod.)
Bits of Life (1921, Assoc. First National)
Ace of Hearts (1921, Goldwyn Pictures Corp.) *
The Trap (1922, Universal/Jewel) *
Voices of the City (1922, Goldwyn Pictures Corp.)
Flesh and Blood (1922, Irving Cummings) *
The Light in the Dark (1922, Hope Hampton Prod.) * (incomplete)
Oliver Twist (1922, Jackie Coogan Prod.) *
Shadows (1922, Preferred Pictures) *
Quincy Adams Sawyer (1922, Sawyer-Lubin Prod.)
A Blind Bargain (1922, Goldwyn Pictures Corp.)
All the Brothers Were Valiant (1923, Metro Pictures)
While Paris Sleeps (1923, Maurice Tourneur Prod.)
The Shock (1923, Universal/Jewel) *
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923, Universal/Super Jewel) *
The Next Corner (1924, Paramount)
He Who Gets Slapped (1924, MGM) *
The Monster (1925, Roland West Prod.) *
The Unholy Three (1925, MGM) *
The Phantom of the Opera (1925, Universal/Jewel) *
The Tower of Lies (1925, MGM)
The Blackbird (1926, MGM) *
The Road to Mandalay (1926, MGM) * (incomplete)
Tell It to the Marines (1926, MGM) *
Mr. Wu (1927, MGM) *
The Unknown (1927, MGM) *
Mockery (1927, MGM) *
London After Midnight (1927, MGM)
The Big City (1928, MGM)
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928, MGM) * (incomplete)
While the City Sleeps (1928, MGM) * (incomplete)
West of Zanzibar (1928, MGM) *
Where East is East (1929, MGM) *
Thunder (1929, MGM) * (fragment)
The Unholy Three (1930, MGM) *
Note:Film titles in boldface have a still of the film included with the entry. Films marked with a * exist...and all others are lost :-(

Friday, March 12, 2010

Lon Chaney -The Ever Unforgettable


Lon Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930), nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema. He is best remembered for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with film makeup.

Buy Immortal Lon Chaney DVDs Blu-Ray Discs For 5$ only

TITLES AVAILABLE
1.By the Sun's Rays (1914)
2.The Oubliette (1914)
3.The Scarlet Car (1917)
4.The Wicked Darling (1919)
5.False Faces(1919)
6.Victory (1919)
7.The Gift Supreme (1920)
8.Nomads of the North (1920)
9.The Penalty (1920)
10.Outside the Law (1920)
11.The Ace of Hearts (1921)
12.The Trap (1922)
13.Flesh and Blood (1922)
14.The Light in the Dark (1922)
15.Oliver Twist (1922)
16.Shadows (1922)
17.The Shock (1923)
18.The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
19.He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
20.The Monster (1925)
21.The Unholy Three (1925)
22.The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
23.The Blackbird (1926)
24.The Road to Mandalay (1926)
25.Tell It to the Marines (1926)
26.Mr. Wu (1927)
27.The Unknown (1927)
28.Mockery (1927)
29.London After Midnight (1927)
30.Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
31.While the City Sleeps (1928)
32.West of Zanzibar (1928)
33.Where East is East (1929)
34.The Unholy Three (1930)

How to get: Just select The Title from above list.
select The disc type DVD or Blu-Ray(same price for any format)
then contact kumar.chaney@gmail.com

Brief Life History Of Legendary Actor

Lon Chaney was born Leonidas Frank Chaney in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Frank H. Chaney and Emma Alice Kennedy; his father had mostly English and some French ancestry, and his mother was of Irish descent.[2] Both of Chaney's parents were deaf, and as a child of deaf adults Chaney became skilled in pantomime. He entered a stage career in 1902, and began traveling with popular Vaudeville and theater acts. In 1905, he met and married 16-year-old singer Cleva Creighton (Frances Cleveland Creighton) and in 1906, their first child and only son, Creighton Chaney (a.k.a. Lon Chaney, Jr.) was born. The Chaneys continued touring, settling in California in 1910.

Marital troubles developed and in April 1913, Cleva went to the Majestic Theater in downtown Los Angeles, where Lon was managing the Kolb and Dill show, and attempted suicide by swallowing mercury bichloride. The suicide attempt failed and ruined her singing career; the ensuing scandal and divorce forced Chaney out of the theater and into film.

The time spent there is not clearly known, but between the years 1912 and 1917, Chaney worked under contract for Universal Studios doing bit or character parts. His skill with makeup gained him many parts in the highly competitive casting atmosphere. During this time, Chaney befriended the husband-wife director team of Joe De Grasse and Ida May Park, who gave him substantial roles in their pictures, and further encouraged him to play macabre characters.

Chaney also married one of his former colleagues in the Kolb and Dill company tour, a chorus girl named Hazel Hastings. Little is known of Hazel, except that her marriage to Chaney was solid. Upon marrying, the new couple gained custody of Chaney's 10-year-old son Creighton, who had resided in various homes and boarding schools since Chaney's divorce in 1913.

Incomparable Career

As it dawned for 1917 Chaney was a prominent actor in the studio, but his salary did not reflect this status. When Chaney asked for a raise, studio executive William Sistrom replied, "You'll never be worth more than one hundred dollars a week."

After leaving the studio, Chaney struggled for the first year as a character actor. It was not until 1918 when playing a substantial role in William S. Hart's picture, Riddle Gawne, that Chaney's talents as a character actor were truly recognized by the industry.

In 1917 Universal presented Chaney, Dorothy Phillips and William Stowell as a team in The Piper's Price. In succeeding films both men alternated playing lover, villain or other man to the beautiful Phillips. They would occasionally be joined by Claire DuBrey nearly making the trio a quartet of recurring actors from film to film. So successful were the films starring this group that Universal produced fourteen films from 1917-1919 with Chaney, Stowell and Phillips. The films were usually directed by Joseph De Grasse or his wife Ida May Park, both friends of Chaney's at the Universal. When Chaney was away branching out on films such Riddle Gawne or The Kaiser, Beast of Berlin, Stowell and Phillips would continue on as a duo until Chaney's return. Stowell and Phillips made The Heart of Humanity(1918) bringing in Eric von Stroheim in a part as the villain that could of easily been played by Chaney in character. "Paid in Advance"(1919) was the group's last film together for the chiseled featured Stowell was sent to Africa by Universal scouting locations for a movie. En route from one city to another Stowell traveling in the caboose of his train was hit by the locomotive from another train and instantly killed. The majority of these films are lost but a few ie "Triumph" and "Paid in Advance" survive in private collections or unrestored in European or Russian archives.[4] [5]

In 1919, Chaney had a breakthrough performance as "The Frog" in George Loane Tucker's The Miracle Man. The film not only displayed Chaney's acting ability, but his talent as a master of makeup. Critical praise and a gross of over $2 million put Chaney on the map as America's foremost character actor.


Chaney is chiefly remembered as a pioneer in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. His ability to transform himself using self-invented makeup techniques earned him the nickname of "Man of a Thousand Faces." In an autobiographical 1925 article published in Movie magazine, Chaney referred to his specialty as "extraordinary characterization."

He also exhibited this adaptability with makeup in more conventional crime and adventure films, such as The Penalty, in which he played an amputee gangster. Chaney appeared in 10 films directed by Tod Browning, often portraying disguised and/or mutilated characters, including carnival knife-thrower Alonzo the Armless in The Unknown (1927) opposite Joan Crawford. In 1927 Chaney co-starred with Conrad Nagel, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran in the Tod Browning horror film, London After Midnight, considered one of the most legendary lost films. His final cinema role was a sound remake of his silent classic, The Unholy Three (1930), his only "talkie" and the only film in which Chaney displayed his versatile voice. The actor signed a sworn statement declaring that five of the key voices in the film (the ventriloquist, the old woman, a parrot, the dummy and the girl) were his own.

In Quasimodo, the bell ringer of Notre Dame, and Erik, the "phantom" of the Paris Opera House, Chaney created two of the most grotesquely deformed characters in film history. However, the portrayals sought to elicit a degree of sympathy and pathos among viewers not overwhelmingly terrified or repulsed by the monstrous disfigurements of the characters, who were victims of fate.

"I wanted to remind people that the lowest types of humanity may have within them the capacity for supreme self-sacrifice," Chaney wrote in Movie magazine. "The dwarfed, misshapen beggar of the streets may have the noblest ideals. Most of my roles since The Hunchback, such as The Phantom of the Opera, He Who Gets Slapped, The Unholy Three, etc., have carried the theme of self-sacrifice or renunciation. These are the stories which I wish to do."

"He was someone who acted out our psyches. He somehow got into the shadows inside our bodies; he was able to nail down some of our secret fears and put them on-screen," Ray Bradbury once explained. "The history of Lon Chaney is the history of unrequited loves. He brings that part of you out into the open, because you fear that you are not loved, you fear that you never will be loved, you fear there is some part of you that's grotesque, that the world will turn away from."

Chaney's talents extended beyond the horror genre and stage makeup. He was also a highly skilled dancer, singer and comedian. Many who did not know Chaney were surprised by his rich baritone voice and his sharp comedic skills.

Chaney and his second wife Hazel led a discreet private life distant from the Hollywood social scene. Chaney did minimal promotional work for his films and for MGM Studios, purposefully fostering a mysterious image, and he reportedly purposely avoided the social scene in Hollywood.

In the final five years of his film career (1925-1930), Chaney worked exclusively under contract to MGM, giving some of his most memorable performances. His portrayal of a tough-as-nails marine drill instructor in Tell It to the Marines (1926), one of his favorite films, earned him the affection of the US Marine Corps, who made him their first honorary member from the motion picture industry. He also earned the respect and admiration of numerous aspiring actors, to whom he offered mentoring assistance, and between takes on film sets he was always willing to share his professional observations with the cast and crew.

Sad Demise

In the filming of Thunder in the winter of 1929, Chaney developed pneumonia. In late 1929 he was diagnosed with bronchial lung cancer. This was exacerbated when artificial snow, made out of cornflakes, lodged in his throat during filming and quickly created a serious infection.[6] Despite aggressive treatment, his condition gradually worsened, and seven weeks after the release of the remake of The Unholy Three, he died of a throat hemorrhage. His death was deeply mourned by his family, the film industry and by his fans. The US Marine Corps provided a chaplain and Honor Guard for his funeral. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California, next to the crypt of his father. His wife Hazel was interred there upon her death in 1933. For unknown reasons, Chaney's crypt has remained unmarked.

Legacy

Lon Chaney has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994, he was honored by having his image designed by noted caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, placed on a United States postage stamp. The stage theater at the Colorado Springs Civic Auditorium is named after Lon Chaney.

In 1929, Chaney built an impressive stone cabin in the remote wilderness of the eastern Sierra Nevada, near Big Pine, California, as a retreat. The cabin (designed by architect Paul Williams) still stands, and is preserved by the Inyo National Forest Service.

Chaney's son Creighton, renamed Lon Chaney, Jr., became a film actor after his father's death, and is best remembered for roles in horror films, especially The Wolf Man. The Chaneys appeared on US postage stamps as the Phantom of the Opera and the Wolf Man, with the set completed by Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy. He and his son are mentioned in the Warren Zevon song "Werewolves of London".

Many of Chaney's colleagues held him in high regard and he would often give advice and help actors who were just beginning their careers. He was also greatly respected by the film crews and studio employees with whom he worked.

Following his death, Chaney's famous makeup case was donated by his wife Hazel to the Los Angeles County Museum, where it is sometimes displayed for the public. Makeup artist and Chaney biographer Michael Blake considers Chaney's case the central artifact in the history of film makeup.

In 1978, Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS wrote a song about Lon Chaney called "Man of 1,000 Faces" for his first solo album. Simmons had been influenced by the old black and white classic horror movies growing up in New York City.

Filmography