BY HANK REINEKE
It’s not very often that one gets the opportunity to
review a film one hundred year’s old. But such is the case with the Tod Browning crime-melodrama Outside the Law, a Universal-Jewel
photoplay first released in January of 1921. Now offered on Blu-ray for the first time from the folks at Kino-Lorber,
the film is presented here in as a “sensational-as-can-be-expected†transfer. The picture quality of the last two reels of
this eight-reeler suffers from considerable damage due to the deterioration of existing
elements, but considering the staggering number of Chaney’s films that are - sadly
- believed lost for all time, we’re lucky to have this one at all. If the elements suffer badly toward the end,
this should hardly be a concern to admirers of the Tod Browning and Lon Chaney
collaborations. We’re lucky to have the
film to enjoy at all.
This is not a lost film that recently resurfaced. If I don’t count the several bootleg VHS
versions of Outside the Law that have
sat on my collection shelf since the 1980s, this is my third dip on subsequent official releases of this title. The first was the 1995 VHS release by Kino
Video, one volume of their eight title (and handsomely packaged) Lon Chaney Sr.
silent series. Image Entertainment and
Blackhawk Films would offer the best of the DVD versions that were to later emerge,
but this new Blu-ray from Kino Lorber has made these earlier digital versions
as redundant as… well, as my early collection of Chaney VHS bootlegs.
Chaney was not yet one of Hollywood’s major players when Outside the Law was released. His iconic roles as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and as Erik
in The Phantom of the Opera were
still a few years away. Though he is not
the bona fide star of this melodrama, in a film that lists only seven actors in
its credits, Chaney is twice billed. He’s
fourth billed as Ah Wing, the devoted servant of Chang Low, a servant and “ardent
disciple of the ancient creed.†(Chaney is one of two Caucasian actors
portraying Asian characters in the film: the other is Virginian actor E.A.
Warren as Low). Chaney is additionally billed in the fifth credit as the
villainous “Black†Mike Sylva, a particularly villainous thug. Sylva is described
on an introductory inter-title as “A rat, a vulture, and a snake.†I’m guessing
the card was added should anyone confuse his sly, conniving smile as suggestive
of anything otherwise.
This film was the first that Chaney would, through the
magic of his famed make-up kit, transform himself into a character of Asian
features. He would do so again in any
number of subsequent films such as Bits
of Life (1921), Shadows (1922)
and Mr. Wu (1927). Chaney does a convincing job it, though one
has to accept that in 2020 such ethnic appropriation would be frowned upon. Some
of the old inter-titles might also make some contemporary viewers groan, such
as the one that describes the city of San Francisco - circa 1920 – in the
“Crest of a Yellow Torrent.â€
Despite his working dual roles throughout Outside the Law, Chaney is really not
the principal star of this vehicle. That
honor would go to the beautiful actress Priscilla Dean. Dean plays “Molly Madden,†a tough, no-nonsense
dame and the daughter of underworld mastermind “Silent†Madden (Ralph
Lewis). Molly’s father, who operates a
gambling parlor in San Francisco, is trying to go straight, having accepted to
receive the moral tutelage and philosophical wisdom dispensed by the benevolent
Low Chang. Madden’s rehabilitation is thwarted
by the evil machinations of Chaney’s Sylva. The thug deviously frames the underworld kingpin on a phony murder
rap. There’s a lot of double-crossing in
play throughout Outside the Law. Hoping to see her father exonerated, Molly
puts her trust in a former compatriot and c-conspirator of Sylva’s, “Dapperâ€
Bill Ballard (Wheeler Oakman). But Ballard’s
a softie: he immediately takes a shine to Molly and regrets his role in Sylva’s
heartless set-up of the father.
Dean was a formidable motion-picture star of her time,
often playing rough girls with hearts of gold. This is the second film she would make with Chaney who, again, was cast
as the villain in Browning’s The Wicked
Darling (1919). “I shall go down in
the annals of the Dean’s as the family crook,†Dean would laughingly tell Picturegoer magazine in January of
1922. She went on to offer, “The Los
Angeles Detective Bureau took a print of my fingers when we were filming.†Dean’s dubious remembrance ties in with a similar
tidbit shared by Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake. The author recounts a similarly doubtful news
item that Chaney had been arrested by a San Francisco policeman during the
filming of Outside the Law. The officer was reportedly convinced that the
actor - still mostly unknown and uncelebrated - was somehow mixed up in some
real-life mischief. That story was also
likely untrue, especially when coupled with Dean’s fanciful “fingerprinting†anecdote. Such myth-spinning makes one suspect that these
tales were merely examples of early Hollywood ballyhoo, both items intended to bolster
a sense of credible realism to what’s an otherwise pretty stagey criminal drama.
Browning’s film (the scenario is penned by Lucien Hubbard
from a Browning original story) admittedly doesn’t make great use of San
Francisco’s gritty exteriors. This is
disappointing as such visuals would surely have enhanced the gritty atmosphere
of the film. Most of the film’s segments
are shot in such interior locations as gambling parlors and the claustrophobic
apartments of Nob Hill. That said, Browning’s
film is still somewhat successful in conveying some of the seedier elements
surrounding the San Francisco underworld. There are several suspenseful, well-edited sequences, and most of the contemporary
reviews suggested the film’s realistic plot line was its primary asset. In fact, the film was a bit too real for one Billboard critic who would lament upon its release, “Crime, CRIME, CRIME! Here is a picture that simply reeks with
lawlessness and is a poor example to set for the young and impressionistic…
Delicate women and children should not be permitted to see it.â€
Putting aside the film’s effect on delicate women and
children, Outside the Law actually works
as a morality play of sorts: there’s a moment of Christian imagery that allows
for the possibility of salvation for anyone who chooses to walk the righteous
path, even if belatedly. One introductory inter-title even offers a pretty
liberal view on crime and punishment circa 1920. The card suggests that corrupt lawmakers are as
much part of the problem as the criminals themselves: “If a
country had none but good rulers for a hundred years, crime might be stamped
out and the death penalty abolished.†Amen to that, Mr. Browning.
This Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray of Outside the Law is presented here in a
1.33:1 aspect ratio and in 1920x1080p with English intertitles. The set also includes several bonus features
including an audio commentary by American Film Institute archivist and historian
Anthony Slide, a fresh musical score by Anton Sanko, footage comparisons, and
even Browning’s alternate ending to the film which has also somehow survived
the rages of nitrate and time. This set
is an essential package for aficionados of Browning, Chaney, Dean and American
silent films.
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