#1194b: BROWNING, Tod: The Unknown (1927)

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BROWNING, Tod (United States)
The Unknown [1927]
Spine #1194b
Blu-ray


The most celebrated and exquisitely perverse of the many collaborations between Tod Browning and his legendary leading man Lon Chaney, The Unknown features a wrenchingly physical performance from “the Man of a Thousand Faces” as the armless Spanish knife thrower Alonzo (he flings daggers with his feet) whose dastardly infatuation with his beautiful assistant (Joan Crawford)—a woman, it just so happens, who cannot bear to be touched by the hands of any man—drives him to unspeakable extremes. Sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, disfigurement, and a spectacular Grand Guignol climax—Browning wrings every last frisson from the lurid premise.

67 minutes
Monaural
Black and White
1:33:1
Criterion Release 2023


Director/Writer

Tod Browning was 47 when he directed The Unknown.

Other Browning films in the Collection:

#1194a: Freaks (1932)
#1194c: The Mystic (1925)

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Commentary

Video tribute

Documentary 1

Documentary 2

Documentary 3

Controversial altered ending

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

By Spine #

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