Mockery, while not at all on the level of Benjamin Christensen’s finest Hollywood work (especially Seven Footprints to Satan), is one of the more honorable pseudo-Russian films of the 20s and a good variation on the beauty and the beast theme. It is also a good representation of Chaney’s characteristics as formulated by Gaylyn Studlar: “…he portrays a man who by virtue of age or appearance is an inappropriate, inadequate match for the woman he loves […] In film after film Chaney becomes the substitute father and would-be lover whose disappointment in desire seems inevitable, even before the appearance of a youthful and handsome rival suitor.” For fans of The Mysterious X, Night of Revenge and Witchcraft Through the Ages, who bear in mind Christensen’s spiritual proximity to both Stroheim and Browning, Mockery is an evident anticlimax. There is still, however, tough grasp of the humiliation theme, both general and private, as well as some brutal insights into the bitter birthbangs of the revolution, some unforgettable moments of wounded humanity, and some nice touches of eroticism and even foot fetishism.

Peter von Bagh