This film is remembered for a scene where Chaney fights a wolf in the darkness with his bare hands. It must be recognized that, still today, it has not completely lost its appeal. According to Brownlow, it was the first American film shot entirely on panchromatic film. Some of Chaney’s close-ups had to be re-shot on orthochromatic because his make-up looked bad on the new emulsion. The narrative fits perfectly with the mythology the actor had built around himself. Gaspard gives love but does not receive it, and all his efforts to change his fate do nothing but make the situation worse. However, the biggest weakness in the script lies in the excessive gratification of the actor’s masochistic tendencies. There are numerous sequences where Chaney does nothing but feel sorry for himself. The justification for his annoying behavior is however a bit too weak, thus it requires a lot of determination to take interest in his misfortunes. In the end, our judgement of the film depends on the judgement we pass on Lon Chaney a priori. Lon Chaney, like Fairbanks and few others, is a phenomenon that could only have developed in silent films. His acting style is essentially conceived of to animate the images. The copy found in Belgium was completed with material from the Cineteca Nazionale di Roma. We thus succeeded in obtaining a copy of approximately the same length as the original.

Jean-Marie Buchet, Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique

The first time the slogan “The Man of a Thousand Faces” was used was in connection with this film. Incredibly, the story was written by Lon Chaney, Irving Thalberg, Lucien Hubbard and Robert Thornby, so it had a flying start. Thornby appears to have been a lack-lustre director; he ceased to work for Universal and went to FBO.

Kevin Brownlow