Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There was a time when movie bios were a mix of fact and invention -- and 1957's "Man of a Thousand Faces" typifies the genre. Yes, Chaney was the son of deaf mutes but there's no evidence that he hid the fact from his pregnant wife or that she demanded an abortion when she heard the news. And while it's true that she was suicidal, she didn't try to kill herself on stage. Their bitter relationship makes for a series of mawkish moments, backed by dire music, when the movie ought to be focusing on Chaney's talent. When it occasionally does, thanks to James Cagney's splendid performance, it suddenly springs to life. His re-enactment of moments from "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" are amazing. But just when you think you're getting a sense of what "the man of mystery" was really like, it's back to sludgy soap opera. And all you can do is groan.

Sometimes it's best not to know too much about a subject if it's going to ruin your movie viewing experience. This picture is panned by a lot of the reviewers here because of the historical inaccuracies and Cagney's lack of resemblance to Lon Chaney. None of this however ruined my enjoyment of the picture, as Cagney does a superb job of recreating some of Chaney's famous silent film characters along with portraying the actor's conflicted private life. As a kid growing up in the Fifties, I never knew there was a Chaney 'Senior', and the only one I could relate to was the 'Wolf Man' Chaney from his horror films and later, his TV and movie Western roles.For Cagney, this was a natural in more ways than one. One of the things the movie touches on is the major transition of moving pictures from the silent film era into the talkies. Cagney's portrayal shows how Chaney made the move from vaudeville into the silents in the first place, and later on into the new medium that film executive Irving Thalberg (Robert Evans) characterized as the 'bell tolling for silent pictures'. Cagney himself lived through the passing of these eras, starting out as a dancer and catching his very first break in talking pictures in 1930 with impressive performances in "Sinner's Holiday" and "Doorway to Hell".The most emotional scenes in the picture deal with Chaney's personal life - the first meeting of Cleva Creighton (Dorothy Malone) with Chaney's deaf mute parents, the agonizing wait for the birth of their 'normal' baby, and Cleva's despondency over being sequestered from a life of her own outside the home. Later on the story delves into Creighton Chaney's newly discovered relationship with Cleva and the attendant conflict it creates with his father.The one thing I would have handled differently I think most movie fans would agree with. By 1957 when this film came out, Lon Chaney Jr. was already a known commodity with his 1941 portrayal of the iconic Wolf Man character, followed by more monster portrayals and other homely characters like Lennie in 1939's "Of Mice and Men". Having not only a handsome but a stunningly handsome actor like Roger Smith portray the adult (Lon) Creighton Chaney was a major disconnect, so I have to remind myself to re-read my own first paragraph.

Sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Lon Chaney Jr. made an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. During the interview, Johnny asked about the accuracy of this flick. Lon replied, (agreeing with Johnny),'close enough'. Johnny also asked about Lon Jrs. favorite film role. Lon asked,'what do you think'? Johnny replied,'I would think, Of Mice and Men'. Lon Jr. replied,'thank you'. He was getting along in years at this time. I would like to think that Of Mice and Men was his favorite role. My late father, who didn't particularly care for actors, loved movies. He said that Lon Jr. was FANTASTIC in the role of Lenny. My dad saw it as a first run, back in the days.

What were the members of the Motion Picture Academy thinking when James Cagney was not nominated for his outstanding performance as Lon Chaney in 1957's "Man of A Thousand Faces."?Cagney was at his best portraying the masquerade man whose personal life was such a heartbreak. This was certainly an outstanding follow-up after the wonderful "Love Me or Leave Me" two years before.Fresh from her Oscar win for "Written on the Wind," Dorothy Malone pulled off another great performance.Cagney's acting toward his deaf mute parents was a sight to behold. Celia Lovsky, a veteran Hollywood matron, was his loving mother. Her bold eyes spoke of the love that she could not blurt out due to deafness. Always a sympathetic woman, Lovsky was the real life live in girlfriend of actor Peter Lorre.Who can forget Cagney during his terminal cancer scenes? Unbelievable.