Universal Studios Vice President Irving Thalberg felt veteran movie director Tod Browning would have good chemistry with rising actor Lon Chaney when he paired them up in February 1919's "The Wicked Darling." Thalberg's intuition was spot-on as the two clicked right away, delivering a powerful performance by Chaney as a small-time pickpocketer. Chaney, who wouldn't become a household name until later in the year, dialed into his devious character by presenting a scary portrayal of a thief who would kill for a pearl necklace.
Actress Priscilla Dean, who had worked with Browning in the past and be one of the director's favorite actresses in the future, plays a guttersnipe who spots a pearl necklace a lady has accidentally dropped, and proceeds to scope it up and run. Trouble is, Chaney sees her performance, setting off a one-man hunt for the necklace.
Most viewers know Browning as the director of the Beli Lugosi's 1931 "Dracula," cinema's first talkie horror film. "The Wicked Darling" falls under Browning's "crooked melodramas," a grouping of his movies involving petty thieves and swindlers. His fluid editing and camera angles stands in contrast to Chaney's other film released in February 1919, "The False Faces," directed by Irvin Wallit.
Chaney plays a familiar role in "The False Faces" which he had played in the past: an evil, murderous German intelligent agent during World War One. At the time "The Faces" was produced, movie studios didn't feel a need to hire full-time makeup artists. Actors had to rely on either theater makeup personnel to apply their cosmetics or learn to do it themselves. Chaney was one of the few who had learned the craft of sophisticated makeup: in all his roles he did his own characters' cosmetics. His marketability increased by the knowledge he could apply different, convincing disguises.
There's a scene in "The False Faces" where he makes himself in the guise of a bearded professor-type person, the only time in his career showing him applying make-up on himself on camera. Chaney also lent his expertise with other cast members: he made up actress Jane Daly to look like a "sea-corpse" when she springs up in the scene to scare the bejesus out of the haunted U-Boat captain.
Actress Priscilla Dean, who had worked with Browning in the past and be one of the director's favorite actresses in the future, plays a guttersnipe who spots a pearl necklace a lady has accidentally dropped, and proceeds to scope it up and run. Trouble is, Chaney sees her performance, setting off a one-man hunt for the necklace.
Most viewers know Browning as the director of the Beli Lugosi's 1931 "Dracula," cinema's first talkie horror film. "The Wicked Darling" falls under Browning's "crooked melodramas," a grouping of his movies involving petty thieves and swindlers. His fluid editing and camera angles stands in contrast to Chaney's other film released in February 1919, "The False Faces," directed by Irvin Wallit.
Chaney plays a familiar role in "The False Faces" which he had played in the past: an evil, murderous German intelligent agent during World War One. At the time "The Faces" was produced, movie studios didn't feel a need to hire full-time makeup artists. Actors had to rely on either theater makeup personnel to apply their cosmetics or learn to do it themselves. Chaney was one of the few who had learned the craft of sophisticated makeup: in all his roles he did his own characters' cosmetics. His marketability increased by the knowledge he could apply different, convincing disguises.
There's a scene in "The False Faces" where he makes himself in the guise of a bearded professor-type person, the only time in his career showing him applying make-up on himself on camera. Chaney also lent his expertise with other cast members: he made up actress Jane Daly to look like a "sea-corpse" when she springs up in the scene to scare the bejesus out of the haunted U-Boat captain.