The scary three
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The scary three |
| Original title | The Unholy Three |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1925 |
| length | 86 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Death Browning |
| script | Waldemar Young based on a story by Clarence Aaron 'Death' Robbins |
| production | Tod Browning for MGM , Hollywood |
| camera | David Kesson |
| cut | Daniel J. Gray |
| occupation | |
| |
The Scary Three is a 1925 American silent film in the form of a horror story . Lon Chaney senior stars, directed by Tod Browning .
action
The creepy three are three tingle-fishing artists and a woman who joins them, the friend of the leader. They all use their vaudeville performances merely as a cover for burglary crimes on a large scale. Your headquarters is an inconspicuous pet shop, in which each of the protagonists embodies a completely different role. The men are their leader, Prof. Echo, a ventriloquist who runs the pet shop in the disguise of a friendly grandmother named Mrs. O'Grady, the dwarf Tweedledee, also known as "The Twenty Inch Man", the grandmother's grandson in the shop "Little Willie" is there, and Hercules with the variety label "strongest man in the world", who has taken on the camouflage of his son-in-law in the pet shop. The scary three are completed by Prof. Echo's lover Rosie O'Grady, a proven bag thief and trickster who is passed off as grandmother's granddaughter in the shop. Only Hector McDonald, another employee in the small animal area, knows nothing about the double life of the crook quartet.
While the customers are being supplied with small animals, the crooks use the house visits to inspect the mostly luxurious properties. You want to find out on site to what extent a break would be worthwhile. The roles are clearly assigned. "Mrs. O'Grady "appears regularly with her" toddler "Little Willie". While the "old lady" alias Prof. Echo engages the gentleman or lady of the house in a conversation, Little Willie goes on a discovery tour unnoticed. The strong man Hercules only plays a central role in the actual break. One day a customer complains that the "talking" parrot he was selling does not actually speak at all. This is not surprising, as the parrot only spoke in the presence of Prof. Echo, who used his ventriloquist skills. This time little Willie caught sight of a particularly beautiful ruby necklace during his tour of discovery, which would certainly be worth stealing. But Echo has no time the following evening. But since his two cronies are impatient, they decide to make the break on their own.
Obviously everything goes wrong. Soon after, Echo had to read in the newspaper that the same customer, Mr. Arlington, was murdered in the break-in and his three-year-old daughter was seriously injured. The dumb Hercules shows himself completely emotionless and even tells en passant how Arlington pleaded for his life. Prof. Echo is beside himself with anger. When a police detective appears in the shop and asks unpleasant questions, they are frightened. Echo, Tweedledee and Rosie decide to put the sole blame on Hercules. Should the police search the four living quarters, they would find the stolen jewelry at Hercules', where it has been hidden. While Prof. Echo has his hands full to keep harm from all of them, meanwhile tender bonds develop between his girlfriend and Hector. He even makes her a marriage proposal, which she rejects out of loyalty to Echo. In truth, however, she too has long since fallen in love with him. When the police arrest Hector, the only innocent, of all people, Rosie makes it clear to the creepy three that she will exonerate him. Now the gang threatens to be exposed.
The creepy three cannot allow this and flee into the mountains, with the kidnapped Rosie as a bargaining chip. Prof. Echo, who has taken his favorite animal, a huge gorilla, with him, persuades them not to let things get worse and to give himself up. Since he is not to blame for the murder of Mr. Arlington, Prof. Echo is prepared to do so, hoping to get away with a few years in prison. His testimony in court actually leads to the still unsuspecting Hector being released and Rosie finally falling into his arms. But Hercules now tries to convince Rosie to run away with him and the prey. When Tweedledee notices this, he furiously lets go of the great ape in order to set him on Hercules. But he grabs the dwarf and strangles him. Then Hercules gets into the even stronger arms of the gorilla and is killed by this too.
Both Hector and Echo will be acquitted of murder charges this spring. Rosie, who promised Echo to stay with him should he testify to Hector's innocence in the trial, is ready to do so. But the burglar king has long understood that Rosie no longer loves him, but the young salesman. And so he uses a white lie to approve Rosie for Hector. Then he returns as a ventriloquist to his real world, that of the variety show and the Tingeltangels.
Production notes
The first performance of The Unheimlichen Drei took place on August 16, 1925. In Austria the film opened on August 6, 1926, in Germany you could see the horror story in the following month. This film also marked the beginning of the fruitful and extremely successful collaboration between Browning and Chaney, which would last until the end of the silent film era in 1929.
Cedric Gibbons and Joseph C. Wright were responsible for the buildings and furnishings . The young Irving Thalberg was involved in the production without a name. Harvey Parry coordinated the stunt performances. The diminutive Harry Earles , a native of German, made his film debut here. Also later (in Freaks ) director Browning should cast him again.
The film was a huge box office and audience success, and the reviews at the time were also full of praise. At the beginning of 1930, Chaney shot a sound film remake of this material under the same title, again with Harry Earles in the role of Tweedledee at his side. However, this film was not released in Germany. It was to be Chaney's last film.
Reviews
“The dwarf's acting is remarkable. Once Earles is the crying baby, then again the vengeful tiny version of the exemplary man. If you look at him, his face is like that of a child carried in his arms, but immediately afterwards, if he thinks he is not being watched, Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. Mr. Chaney gives a brilliant, low-key and serious performance, and Mr. McLaglen is the personification of mass and muscle with the obvious coward mentality. He performs well in a role that is not easy to play. Miss Busch is lovely as Rosie, and Matt Moore is effective as simpleton Hector McDonald. This cinematic effort is an amazing feat that will find its place among the best productions. It gives you the courage to have witnessed something so different from what we usually see. "
"Strange melodrama that spurred its star and director to tackle a series of seven more and even more gruesome eccentricities."
"Well-worn aspects of the story can neither affect the fascination of the basic idea nor Chaney's performance."
Paimann's film lists summed up: "The subject is new, very exciting, cleverly built up almost to the end, and only falls off somewhat in the last scenes due to the sudden conclusion - the only flaw in the film. The direction is continuous, the representation in all Rolls very well, Lon Chaney in the lead. The photograph is clean with the exception of a few close-ups, as far as the presentation is concerned. "
Web links
- The Unholy Three in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Unholy Three review in the New York Times
Individual evidence
- ↑ The uncanny three in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
