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List Price: $7.98 | | Label: Alpha Video
Salesrank: 134123
Released: January 21, 2003 |
| Our Price: $1.94 |
| Used Price: $1.15 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Shadows Reviews:
Yen Sin and other sins 
2009-09-17 - ALPHA VIDEO offers bargain priced movies for those willing to skip DVD extras. Their transfers show no evidence of restoration, so quality varies from one title to the next, with "fair to good" being the average.
Born Leonidas Frank Chaney in 1883, Lon Chaney was one of the genuine superstars of silent cinema.
Both of his parents were deaf, so Chaney learned early on how to pantomime-- it was a skill that served him well in the pre-sound movie era. He went on the stage in 1902, toured vaudeville beginning in 1905 and acted in his first film in 1912. Chaney was a master of disguise, as so many of his movies illustrate. He appeared in 162 photoplays; the last of these, THE UNHOLY THREE (his only talkie), was released the year of Chaney's death, 1930.
In SHADOWS (1922), "The Man of a Thousand Faces" portrays Yen Sin, a Chinese cook who washes ashore at the New England fishing village of Urkey after his ship sinks. The locals consider him an undesirable heathen, but Yen Sin chooses to stay among them despite their rejection. He lives on a houseboat and becomes a laundryman.
A minister named John Malden comes to town, befriends Yen Sin and tries to convert him to Christianity. Malden marries a widow (Sympathy), which earns him the wrath of the wealthiest man in town, Nate Snow who also loves the lady. Snow interferes in their marriage by sending anonymous letters to the preacher claiming Mrs. Malden's first husband is still alive. Yen Sin is able to help the couple.
TCM ARCHIVES - THE LON CHANEY COLLECTION contains three of his silent features: "The Ace of Hearts" (1921), "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (1928) and "The Unknown (1927).
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.
(6.3) Shadows (silent-1922) - Lon Chaney/Marguerite De La Motte/Harrison Ford/John St. Polis/Walter Long/Buddy Messenger/Priscilla Bonner/Frances Raymond
Lon Chaney's silent film about Yen Sin, "The Heathen"
2003-11-04 - Lon Chaney's performance in "Shadows" is really the only thing that makes this 1922 silent film worth preserving. Chaney plays Yen Sin, known as "The Heathen." Set in in the sea side fishing town of Urkey, the story focuses on Sympathy Gibbs (Marguerite De La Motte), who marries Daniel Gibbs (Walter Long), a violent seaman who supposedly dies at sea. She then marries the new parson, the Reverend John Malden (Harrison Ford). However, Sympathy has also caught the eye of the rich man in town, Nate Snow (John St. Polis). After the Maldens celebrate the birth of a daughter, the Reverend is told that his wife's first husband is still alive, and is blackmailed with the information, which leads him to reject his wife's bed.
Directed by Tom Forman (who would commit suicide in 1926 when suffering from an illness), "Shadows" was scripted by Hope Loring and Eve Unsell from the Wilbur Daniel Steele story, "Ching, Ching, Chinaman." Yen Sin is a Chinese laundryman, who came to town after he was washed ashore in the wake of the same shipwreck that killed Daniel Gibbs. Having put up with the prejudice of this community that prides itself on its Christian piety, he learns of the blackmail plot. The idea of the title is that he can no longer hide in the shadows, which puts him on a collision course with the ironically named Mr. Snow. The irony, of course, is that Yen Sin is the most Christian soul in Urkey. There is even a deathbed conversion just to set everything to rights in the end.
Chaney plays a relatively minor but pivotal role in the proceedings, which is rather odd given he is the star of "Shadows." His make up is pretty good, which is what you would expect from the legendary "Man of a Thousand Faces." This is not a classic Chaney film, being an overblown melodrama once you get away from Chaney's understated performance. If you are interested in getting beyond the obvious classic Chaney performances in "Phantom of the Opera" and "Hunchback of Notre Dame," then you should check out "Unholy 3," "The Unknown" or "He Who Gets Slapped" before you get around to second level Chaney films like "Shadows."
