Both films this week are from the age of silent movies. For the modern viewer, particularly someone who is just beginning to explore movies, silent films take a bit of an mental adjustment. While some “dialogue” is presented through cards in the movie, the vast majority of the story telling is done through movement and facial expressions. To do this the actors often exaggerate. This can feel very artificial (because it is) and awkward. My recommendation is to simply accept that it will feel strange at first but pay attention and it will quickly feel comfortable. Watching silents also requires a more focused attention than some may be accustomed to bringing to our movie watching. The tempo of story telling is slower in those days and every movement or expression may be vitally important. These movies are often brilliant motion pictures and worth our time and effort to explore.
Both star the brilliant actor Lon Chaney. That will give you more than enough reason to explore.
Ace of Hearts (1921) – A secret, revolutionary society is divided by romance and an assassination.
Chaney plays another of his many unrequited love characters here (just as he does in the movie below and “Phantom of the Opera“). He and a fellow revolutionary have fallen for the only woman in their secret organization. Sadly for them, she is in love with “The Cause”.
The story is very much a product of its time. The rash of anarchist bombings and a “Red Scare” had swept the nation in the two years prior to the movie’s release. It offers an interesting, if naive, argument that love can challenge fanaticism. The group that gathers to determine the fate of the “men who had lived too long” (because they were “evil”) is conquered by love.
My biggest problem with the movie is the visual storytelling. Even allowing for the difference in styles between then and now (see note at top), I’m sure that the reaction to many of the melodramatic scenes will be to giggle for modern audiences. It’s far too “over the top” to be able to take seriously. Even Chaney falls prey to it. In several scenes you can see Eric, the Phantom, presaged in Chaney’s acting. While it works brilliantly four years later, it just looks strange here.
An interesting piece if you commit to slogging through the lesser bits.
Rating – *** Worth A Look
Laugh Clown Laugh (1928) – Two travelling clowns discover a little girl who has been abandoned and adopt her. After Simonetta (Loretta Young) has grown one of the two, Tito (Lon Chaney), discovers he has fallen in love with her. Meanwhile a rich young man has also fallen for her. Eventually Simonetta will have to choose.
Chaney always listed this movie as one of his favorite roles. He is certainly at the peak of his powers here. There is a wonderful subtlety to the performance as Tito battles between his love for the girl and the realization that having raised her as a parental figure there is a profound wrongness to that love.
That aspect is probably the most disturbing for the modern viewer. Such a relationship, between a mad in his 40s or 50s and a teenager, would be the subject of outrage. Young was only 14 at the time of the filming, playing a character a few years older than that. The movie dances along the edge of the issue (which at the time would have focused much more on the parent/child issue rather than the ages). In the end the story arrives at a conclusion that lets us off that hook
That allows you to fully focus on the amazing performance by Chaney. Young is utterly charming as well, but it is the star of the show who is the star of it all. His clown explores the broken heart beneath the grease paint of the acclaimed clown. It is a performance of depth and nuance.
“Laugh, Clown, Laugh” has an unfortunate history, in that the ending is missing. The movie as it has come to us comes to a rather abrupt end. The final scenes have been lost and to this day remain gone. It leaves us with a sad but perfectly appropriate ending, although some historians claim the lost ending gives a much more “Hollywood ending” (meaning happy). The loss doesn’t affect the amazing quality of the movie.
If you only have the attention span for one of these two movies, this would be the one to choose.
Rating – **** Recommended
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