Sometimes it's best not to know too much about a subject if it's going to ruin your movie viewing experience. This picture is panned by a lot of the reviewers here because of the historical inaccuracies and Cagney's lack of resemblance to Lon Chaney. None of this however ruined my enjoyment of the picture, as Cagney does a superb job of recreating some of Chaney's famous silent film characters along with portraying the actor's conflicted private life. As a kid growing up in the Fifties, I never knew there was a Chaney 'Senior', and the only one I could relate to was the 'Wolf Man' Chaney from his horror films and later, his TV and movie Western roles.
For Cagney, this was a natural in more ways than one. One of the things the movie touches on is the major transition of moving pictures from the silent film era into the talkies. Cagney's portrayal shows how Chaney made the move from vaudeville into the silents in the first place, and later on into the new medium that film executive Irving Thalberg (Robert Evans) characterized as the 'bell tolling for silent pictures'. Cagney himself lived through the passing of these eras, starting out as a dancer and catching his very first break in talking pictures in 1930 with impressive performances in "Sinner's Holiday" and "Doorway to Hell".
The most emotional scenes in the picture deal with Chaney's personal life - the first meeting of Cleva Creighton (Dorothy Malone) with Chaney's deaf mute parents, the agonizing wait for the birth of their 'normal' baby, and Cleva's despondency over being sequestered from a life of her own outside the home. Later on the story delves into Creighton Chaney's newly discovered relationship with Cleva and the attendant conflict it creates with his father.
The one thing I would have handled differently I think most movie fans would agree with. By 1957 when this film came out, Lon Chaney Jr. was already a known commodity with his 1941 portrayal of the iconic Wolf Man character, followed by more monster portrayals and other homely characters like Lennie in 1939's "Of Mice and Men". Having not only a handsome but a stunningly handsome actor like Roger Smith portray the adult (Lon) Creighton Chaney was a major disconnect, so I have to remind myself to re-read my own first paragraph.
For Cagney, this was a natural in more ways than one. One of the things the movie touches on is the major transition of moving pictures from the silent film era into the talkies. Cagney's portrayal shows how Chaney made the move from vaudeville into the silents in the first place, and later on into the new medium that film executive Irving Thalberg (Robert Evans) characterized as the 'bell tolling for silent pictures'. Cagney himself lived through the passing of these eras, starting out as a dancer and catching his very first break in talking pictures in 1930 with impressive performances in "Sinner's Holiday" and "Doorway to Hell".
The most emotional scenes in the picture deal with Chaney's personal life - the first meeting of Cleva Creighton (Dorothy Malone) with Chaney's deaf mute parents, the agonizing wait for the birth of their 'normal' baby, and Cleva's despondency over being sequestered from a life of her own outside the home. Later on the story delves into Creighton Chaney's newly discovered relationship with Cleva and the attendant conflict it creates with his father.
The one thing I would have handled differently I think most movie fans would agree with. By 1957 when this film came out, Lon Chaney Jr. was already a known commodity with his 1941 portrayal of the iconic Wolf Man character, followed by more monster portrayals and other homely characters like Lennie in 1939's "Of Mice and Men". Having not only a handsome but a stunningly handsome actor like Roger Smith portray the adult (Lon) Creighton Chaney was a major disconnect, so I have to remind myself to re-read my own first paragraph.