It's the perfect crime. The man of a thousand faces being outside the law. What could, go wrong with a movie, like that? Surprising, a lot! Directed by Tod Browning, this movie is under arrest, for being pretty mediocre. Made, during the height of Browning's alcoholism depression, and made before Lou Chaney's crowning achievement in 1923's The Hunchback of Notre Dame & 1925's The Phantom of the Opera, this movie, in my opinion, wasn't as good as their previous work in 1919's Wicked Darling. Don't get me wrong, it's not a horrible movie, at all. Honestly, I like that Outside the Law is considered to be one of the first psychologically driven films in the gangster genre. However, it also pretty forgettable to the point, that Browning had to remake it in 1930, just to make it, profitable. Outside the Law tells the story a gangster's daughter, Silky Moll AKA Molly Madden (Priscilla Dean), being forced back into a life of crime, after her reform mob-father, Silent Madden (Ralph Lewis) was put to jail, for a crime, he didn't commit. Driven by revenge, and with no money to support herself, she goes on a daring jewelry heist, against her father's rival, crime boss, Morgan Spencer (Melbourne MacDowell) and his henchman, Black Mike Sylva (Lon Chaney). She does all this, in order to marry the man, she loves, Dapper Bill Ballard (Wheeler Oakman), and start a new life with him. Can, Silky Moll, achieve her goal or will Black Mike Sylva gain the upper hand? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I found the plot to be, somewhat interesting, but really slow at parts. The film is also pretty jarring for its overall tone. One minute, the film is very violent with gunshots and blood being spill; the next minute, you got cute little kids and puppies trying to make warm the criminal's cold hearts. It really comes out of nowhere and never truly explain. It was so distracting. Every time, I saw the child on screen, I was left, wondering where is the kid's parents? Also, I was thinking, why does the little boy acted like the robbers, are his parents? How did this relationship, between the criminals and the neighbor kid, started? It's more confusing, than Confucius. There has to be, a different way to show, character arch than introducing a kid into the story, with little to no backstory. For a movie that preach a lot of Confucius teachings. It rather used, much of it. It wasn't really needed, whatsoever, in my opinion, since the movie would rather, put Christianity imagery, instead. A good example of this, was the scene where boy's kite takes the form of a cross in the shadows, rather than a Daoist symbol. It was pretty clear by that, that any of the Confucius subplot with Chang Lo (E. Alyn Warren) was going to take, an irrelevant backseat, to the main plot of the stolen jewels. Warren did alright with his limited screen time. He really looks the part, I have to say, but Lon Chaney as his Chinese henchman, Ah Wing wasn't that impressive with the make-up. The 'slant eye' effect with the over the top, buck tooth was a little too much for me, too handle. He looks very stereotypical offensive goofy, here, rather than looking convincing. He looks more realistic in 1922's Shadows, as a Chinese immigrant than he does as Ah Wing. Honestly, the whole Ah Wing character should had been cut from the film, as he rarely does anything to move the plot. Still, I do love that Outside the Law generally a very positive depiction of Chinese characters, compare to others films that portray them, as a Yellow Peril. While Chaney as Ah Wing was disappointing; Chaney as the villain, Black Mike Sylvia was not. You really get to see, how great, he was, at playing the bad guy. I love the murderous look on his eyes, and the sinister way, he smiles. Roles like this, are the reasons, why he regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema. While, Lon Chaney might seem like the star; he wasn't. He barely in the film, much. Instead, the movie focus more on the acting chops of Priscilla Dean. While, her performance, might look upon as simplistic or campy to some, for me, she offer a terrific performance as Molly. I love her stubborn, but stern look. Remind me, so much of a young Drew Barrymore. Wheeler Oakman as Dapper Bill was also great. He has the characteristic of a young James Cagney in his prime. I really like his upbeat persona. For a silent film, the on screen intertitles used to narrate story points, wasn't really needed that much, during the action scenes. However, when there were some key dialogue scenes, the wording was way too short or vague. Some of the 1920s slangs words, used in the film, now, means different things. It was a bit jarring. For the most part, the film was pretty clear and visible, but there seem to be some obvious film damage during the climax of the movie, making it, somewhat barely watchable. I really hope, there is a copy of the film, that doesn't have this, but I doubt it. The visual quality of silent movies are often high of having film damaged, due to years of neglected. In addition, many prints may suffer from censorship cuts and missing frames and scenes, resulting in what may appear to be poor editing. This film has that. . Another problem is the lack of a film score. Very few film scores survive intact from the silent period. Sadly, the music that they often use, in these DVD copies, often, doesn't match, what is happening on screen. Overall: When it comes to a most wanted list of the greatest's Lou Chaney films. This movie isn't on my list, but it's still worth checking out.
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