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Lon Chaney
Collection
(1921-2000)

Contents: The Ace of Hearts (1921), The Unknown (1927), Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928) and Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000).

Lon Chaney is among the most-popular of silent era stars, largely for the lasting appeal of his wide-range of character roles. The highlight of this collection is the appearance on DVD of three lesser-known Chaney films that are yet among his best films.

Chaney fans, hungry for more of their man’s work, will be pleased with the quality home video debuts of The Ace of Hearts (1921) and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928). The Unknown (1927) is a deliciously quirky Tod Browning gem, and Kevin Brownlow’s gorgeous documentary features rare footage, and valuable info and photographs.

The films are accompanied by new scores from The Alloy Orchestra, Robert Israel, and two winners of the TCM Young Composers Competition.

The DVD collection is economically priced for its five-and-a-half hours of content.

— Carl Bennett

Warner Archive Collection
2018 DVD edition

Lon Chaney Collection (1921-2000), black & white and color, 329 minutes total, not rated,
including The Ace of Hearts (1921), black & white, 74 minutes, not rated, The Unknown (1927), black & white, 49 minutes, not rated, Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928), black & white, 73 minutes, not rated, and Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000), black & white and color, 85 minutes, not rated.

Warner Home Video,
unknown catalog number, UPC 0-88574-62898-7.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, French and Spanish language subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $22.99.
Release date: 27 February 2018.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD collection, reissued on MOD DVD-R discs, is packed with attractive extras. Not only does the collection contain the three main films, also included is the Photoplay Productions documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000), Rick Schmidlin’s lame 2002 photo reconstruction of the lost film London After Midnight (1927), audio commentaries by Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake, an introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne, and photo and memorabilia galleries.

For our reviews of the individual films in this collection, see our The Ace of Hearts on home video, The Unknown on home video, Laugh, Clown, Laugh on home video and Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces on home video pages.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

TCM Archives
2003 DVD edition

Warner Home Video, 65791, UPC 0-12569-57912-5.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate, 192 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, French and Spanish language subtitles; chapter stops; two plastic DVD trays on cardboard wrap in cardboard slipcase; $39.98.
Release date: 28 October 2003.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This DVD collection from Warner Home Video is packed with attractive extras. Not only does the collection contain the three main films, also included is the Photoplay Productions documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000), Rick Schmidlin’s lame 2002 photo reconstruction of the lost film London After Midnight (1927), audio commentaries by Chaney biographer Michael F. Blake, an introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne, and photo and memorabilia galleries.

Follow these links for full reviews of this edition’s presentations of The Ace of Hearts, The Unknown, Laugh, Clown, Laugh and Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces.