Outside the Law marks the second time Todd Browning and Lon Chaney teamed together to make a film and it shows both of their great talents. Chaney was by no means a star when Outside the Law was made but he was considered the premiere character actor in Hollywood, and his turn as gangster "Black" Mike is one of his finest character driven roles.
Chaney's characters all ways had a quality of redemption or sadness to them that we as an audience could relate to. The villains like The Blackbird, Alonso the Armless, and Echo all had a soul that the audience could find and relate to and all though we didn't agree with their methods or actions we understood what made them tick. With "Black" Mike none of that is there. Chaney plays a villain that the audience despises. There is nothing even remotely worth liking in this character. Chaney is outstanding in this role. We need to remember that Outside the Law isn't Chaney's picture, Priscilla Deann is the star and Chaney is here to be an antagonist.
Priscilla Dean deserves great credit as well. She offers a terrific performance as Molly. We have to identify with her for the picture to work and she more than succeeds. Molly offers the different convictions to her character. She has to go from being a dislikeable villain to trying to find that conscience. Dean excels at portraying every end of the spectrum. I wish her transition from being a crook to a moral woman wasn't so fast because I would have liked to have seen what more Dean could have done with the thoughts and emotions of this character. I like her a great deal as the villainous crook. She is the one who wants to go through with the heist despite the fact Black Mike has set her up. Dean is very spunky and sexy as the crook but when she finds her morality hugging that child we see real tenderness. Ahe was a fine actress.
What I was most impressed with was the fact that both Chaney and Browning have essentially created a blueprint for the Cahney gangster films of the 30's. Outside the Law in it's visuals and in Chaney's performance is a 30's gangster film. I imagine the remake got lost in the shuffle but it looks as if this picture was truly ahead of it's time.
Here is what brings it down, the Chinatown subplot with Chang Low. It isn't needed whatsoever. The setting to the story is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and E. Alyn Warren is painfully unconvincing as an Asian wise man. Chaney gets the opportunity to try out his Asian make-up and it is impressive and very realistic. If Browning felt he absolutely had to have this aspect of the story, Chaney should have played Chang Low. In the long run, the morality and Confuscisim could have easily been substituted by Christianity and Chang Low could have been a Reverend or a Catholic priest. The boy's kite takes the form of a cross not a Daoist symbol.
Chaney's characters all ways had a quality of redemption or sadness to them that we as an audience could relate to. The villains like The Blackbird, Alonso the Armless, and Echo all had a soul that the audience could find and relate to and all though we didn't agree with their methods or actions we understood what made them tick. With "Black" Mike none of that is there. Chaney plays a villain that the audience despises. There is nothing even remotely worth liking in this character. Chaney is outstanding in this role. We need to remember that Outside the Law isn't Chaney's picture, Priscilla Deann is the star and Chaney is here to be an antagonist.
Priscilla Dean deserves great credit as well. She offers a terrific performance as Molly. We have to identify with her for the picture to work and she more than succeeds. Molly offers the different convictions to her character. She has to go from being a dislikeable villain to trying to find that conscience. Dean excels at portraying every end of the spectrum. I wish her transition from being a crook to a moral woman wasn't so fast because I would have liked to have seen what more Dean could have done with the thoughts and emotions of this character. I like her a great deal as the villainous crook. She is the one who wants to go through with the heist despite the fact Black Mike has set her up. Dean is very spunky and sexy as the crook but when she finds her morality hugging that child we see real tenderness. Ahe was a fine actress.
What I was most impressed with was the fact that both Chaney and Browning have essentially created a blueprint for the Cahney gangster films of the 30's. Outside the Law in it's visuals and in Chaney's performance is a 30's gangster film. I imagine the remake got lost in the shuffle but it looks as if this picture was truly ahead of it's time.
Here is what brings it down, the Chinatown subplot with Chang Low. It isn't needed whatsoever. The setting to the story is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and E. Alyn Warren is painfully unconvincing as an Asian wise man. Chaney gets the opportunity to try out his Asian make-up and it is impressive and very realistic. If Browning felt he absolutely had to have this aspect of the story, Chaney should have played Chang Low. In the long run, the morality and Confuscisim could have easily been substituted by Christianity and Chang Low could have been a Reverend or a Catholic priest. The boy's kite takes the form of a cross not a Daoist symbol.