Why should  a man whose career was spent in silent pictures – he only made one talkie – have such a devoted following  today?  Many people revere Chaney for his work as a pioneer horror star – in Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom of the Opera. But Chaney was far more than a horror star – he was Hollywood finest character actor. His early career was almost wiped out. Universal Studios had a policy of incinerating silent prints to recover the silver. Of more than 100 pictures he made for them from 1915, only four survive complete. Fortunately, both archives and private collectors have tried hard to recover whatever they can of this period – even the odd sequence. And Chaney subsequently worked for perhaps the finest studio in Hollywood – one that made an effort to preserve its past – MGM.  We have had full access to the surviving MGM films, making this the first ever comprehensive tribute to Chaney. What comes across is a man totally dedicated to his art. And it has taken a man equally dedicated to research Chaney’s career. Michael Blake is a well-known makeup man in Hollywood, and he has written no less than three books on Chaney spending the best part of twenty-five years on the task. We were so impressed by his knowledge, his eloquence – not to mention his amazing Chaney collection – that we structured the film around him.

Kevin Brownlow, Patrick Stanbury, Photoplay Productions