Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000) (TV)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Kevin Brownlow

Release Date:

24 October 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

Lon Chaney, the silent movie star and makeup artist, renowned for his various characterizations and celebrated for his horror films, becomes the subject of this documentary.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Interview | Monster Makeup | Motion Picture | Deafness

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Kenneth Branagh	...	Himself / Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Forrest J Ackerman	...	Himself
Michael F. Blake	...	Himself
Teresa Blake	...	Herself
Ray Bradbury	...	Himself
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lon Chaney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ron Chaney	...	Himself
Jackie Coogan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Arthur Gardner	...	Himself
Mary Hunt	...	Herself
Sara Karloff	...	Herself
Patsy Ruth Miller	...	Herself
Edward Montagne	...	Himself
Malcolm Sabiston	...	Himself
Budd Schulberg	...	Himself
Will Sheldon	...	Himself
Orson Welles	...	Himself (archive footage)
Loretta Young	...	Herself (voice)
Tod Browning	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Joan Crawford	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Erté	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Irving Thalberg	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Waldemar Young	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Kevin Brownlow

Produced by
Hugh M. Hefner	....	executive producer
Patrick Stanbury	....	producer

Original Music by
Nic Raine

Film Editing by
Christopher Bird
Kevin Brownlow

Sound Department
Donna Bertaccini	....	sound designer
Ed Colyer	....	sound recordist
Peter Jones	....	sound recordist
John Rogerson	....	dubbing mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
John Ames	....	lighting assistant
Graham Latter	....	camera operator
Mark Molesworth	....	camera operator
Gerald Saldo	....	camera operator
Michael Wren	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Nick Adams	....	telecine operator
J.R. Broadwater	....	telecine operator
Alan Jones	....	on-line editor
Michael Peatfield	....	on-line editor
Colin Peters	....	colorist
Charles Ware	....	post-production consultant

Music Department
Carl Davis	....	composer: additional music "The Phantom of the Opera"
Chris Dibble	....	music recordist (as Christopher Dibble)

Other crew
Dal Bahtia	....	title designer
Michael F. Blake	....	source: films
Michael F. Blake	....	special consultant
Kevin Brownlow	....	source: films
Rusty Casselton	....	source: films (as Harold Casselton)
David Kenten	....	source: films
Ted Larsen	....	source: films
Jon Mirsalis	....	source: still images
Patrick Stanbury	....	source: films
Lynne Wake	....	additional stills researcher
Lynne Wake	....	production coordinator
Michael Yakaitis	....	source: films

Thanks
Kathie Aguilar	....	grateful thanks
Karen Alters	....	grateful thanks
Lesley Applebee	....	grateful thanks
Elaina Archer	....	grateful thanks
Linda Blake	....	grateful thanks
Serge Bromberg	....	grateful thanks
Lawrence Stephen Butler	....	grateful thanks
Nancy Cassady	....	grateful thanks
Ron Chaney	....	special thanks
Margie Compton	....	grateful thanks
James Cozart	....	grateful thanks
Jim Curtis	....	grateful thanks
James D'Arc	....	grateful thanks (as James V. D'Arc)
Gary Dartnall	....	grateful thanks
Dick Fisher	....	grateful thanks
Alexa Foreman	....	grateful thanks
David Fuentes	....	grateful thanks
Gene Hatcher	....	grateful thanks (as T. Gene Hatcher)
Sara Hill	....	grateful thanks
Frank Holland	....	grateful thanks
Peter Jones	....	grateful thanks
James Karen	....	grateful thanks
Richard Kozarski	....	grateful thanks
Don Krim	....	grateful thanks
Peter Langs	....	grateful thanks
Tim Lanza	....	grateful thanks
Scott MacQueen	....	grateful thanks
Roger Mayer	....	grateful thanks
Richard P. May	....	grateful thanks
Jon Mirsalis	....	grateful thanks
Lisa Mitchell	....	grateful thanks
Anita Page	....	grateful thanks
Kenneth Parker	....	grateful thanks
Philip J. Riley	....	grateful thanks
Ron Ruthberg	....	grateful thanks
Elias Savada	....	grateful thanks (as Eli Savada)
George S. Shelps	....	grateful thanks
David H. Shepard	....	grateful thanks (as David Shepard)
Judy Singer	....	grateful thanks
David J. Skal	....	grateful thanks
Meade Strother	....	grateful thanks
Tamar Thomas	....	grateful thanks
Vanessa Timms	....	grateful thanks
Arianne Ulmer	....	grateful thanks
Jeffrey Vance	....	grateful thanks
Ken Weissman	....	grateful thanks
Beth Werling	....	grateful thanks
Peter Westervoorde	....	grateful thanks
Bret Wood	....	grateful thanks

Production Companies

• Photoplay Productions
• Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

Distributors

• Turner Classic Movies (TCM) (2000) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Berkeley Art Museum  film source
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)  film source
• British Film Institute (BFI)  film source
• Chaney Family Archives  photograph source
• Cinematique Royale de Belgique  film source
• Colorado Historical Society  photograph source
• Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind Archives  photograph source
• Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind  grateful thanks
• Douris Corporation  film source
• Forest Lawn Memorial Park  grateful thanks
• Gosfilmofond  film source
• Kevin Brownlow Collection  photograph source
• Library of Congress  film source
• Lobster Films: The Blackhawk Collection  film source
• Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History  photograph source
• Michael E. Blake Collection  photograph source
• Nederlands Filmmuseum  film source
• Pacific Film Archives  film source
• Pearson Television International  film source
• Philip Masheter Rare Discs  photograph source
• Photoplay Productions  film source
• Ron Haver Collection, Motion Picture Archives, Brigham Young University  film source
• Second Line Search  film source
• Turner Entertainment  film source

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Company:

Photoplay Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Laugh, Clown, Laugh!

An excellent documentary about the Godfather of horror movies

An excellent documentary about the Godfather of horror-film make-up, horror-movie monsters, and horror-movies period, if you ask me. This study of the "man of a thousand faces" was extremely well done and satisfying. A TCM original, it features many elderly folks who are surprisingly still alive today, and a few who aren't (Coogan and Chaney Jr. are seen in clips from the 1970s), reminiscing either about having worked with this great man, or even, like one sweet old lady, just remembering going to the movies to see Chaney during the times his movies were coming out. Probably the two most interesting things for me here were: 1, that alot of things I'd read about this man previously, in horror-movie book chapters and magazine articles, was that he "may" have been some kind of masochist, because of the pain he had to endure with his elaborate make-ups, particularly in his filmic pinnacle, "Phantom Of The Opera." According to experts and Chaney scholars of today, nothing could be further from the truth. Examples were even given, showing how easy it was to have done some of the things he did, particularly in his early film work, where he did most of his "contortionist" stunts. And 2, the myth of the greatness of the most sadly lost Chaney silent, "London After Midnight," which we've all seen photos from, where he played a vampire with cloak and top-hat, and some very big and bizarre-looking teeth. According to two different now-elderly folks who remember seeing that film, it was actually not very successful at all, and laughable at best! One of them said that Chaney had come up with a certain distinctive walk for this character, and was convinced that Groucho Marx must've seen it, and was inspired by it to come up with his famous crouching Groucho-walk! Many other surprises and interesting facts adorn this documentary; a must for any fan or anyone the least bit interested. ***