This interesting but relatively obscure circus drama, a milieu which director Browning truly made his own, is well-mounted in MGM's typically high style. While perhaps not as grotesque as his Lon Chaney collaborations, the film manages to build much of the same atmosphere; the early freak show sequence and recurring decapitation routines are on hand to create the necessary frisson.
The three leads - John Gilbert and Renee Adoree, reunited after the massive success of King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE (1925), and Lionel Barrymore, effectively stepping in for Chaney (though he is made to be more of an out-and-out villain) - are nicely filled. Unfortunately, the belated subplot involving Adoree's secret takes up a good chunk of the film's second half, wearing the film down somewhat in the process, but it eventually packs a nice emotional punch. Then there is the typical Browning finale where the villain dies, more or less by his own doing, at the hands of a vicious animal (in this case, an iguana).
As I said about James Whale, I wonder whether Warners should consider releasing a "Tod Browning Collection" (ideally as part of their prestigious "TCM Archives" series) somewhere down the line: this would certainly fit the bill nicely, along with some of his other non-Chaney MGM films.
The three leads - John Gilbert and Renee Adoree, reunited after the massive success of King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE (1925), and Lionel Barrymore, effectively stepping in for Chaney (though he is made to be more of an out-and-out villain) - are nicely filled. Unfortunately, the belated subplot involving Adoree's secret takes up a good chunk of the film's second half, wearing the film down somewhat in the process, but it eventually packs a nice emotional punch. Then there is the typical Browning finale where the villain dies, more or less by his own doing, at the hands of a vicious animal (in this case, an iguana).
As I said about James Whale, I wonder whether Warners should consider releasing a "Tod Browning Collection" (ideally as part of their prestigious "TCM Archives" series) somewhere down the line: this would certainly fit the bill nicely, along with some of his other non-Chaney MGM films.