While the City Sleeps is a tough picture to find but if you have the chance it is worth it. Lon Chaney gives one of his great character performances as Dan Callahan, a no nonsense Irish cop who is determined to put Mile Away Skeeter in prison for his constant disregard for the law. He befriends a 1920's flapper named Myrtle whom the three male characters in the story are infatuated with. Myrtle loves a kid named Marty who joins Mile Away's gang to give her the luxury he thinks she wants. Dan likes Marty and Myrtle and doesn't want them to grow up in this corrupt city. There is action and tension and romance in this early blue print for the Cagney gangster picture.
While the City Sleeps is better because of the fact that it is current. New York City is as it would look in this time down to the old dingy Hamburger diner. Chaney plays a contemporary character in a major metropolitan city and I ate this up. I love the 20's as a social backdrop and this film is fun for the eye who looks. There is a terrific little scene where Dan has Myrtle in his lap looking at the dresses, he shrugs off the fact saying he is just too old fashioned. There are actually some spectacular shots showing the roof tops and the buildings and basically the backdrop of the city as it would have looked in 1928
Lon Chaney gives one of his best character performances as Dan. This character bleeds testosterone and is Chaney's best male lead after Tell it to the Marines. One thing you have to say about Chaney is that he was extremely versatile. He plays characters with similar traits in everyone of his pictures, a lover from afar but he is able to make each of them unique individuals. The mannerisms and facial expressions never stay the same in each picture, in a large way the silent film was made for a performer like Chaney. Poor Lon is all ways the best man and never the groom, Dan is a likable guy and the final scenes are sad because I wish he had ended up with Myrtle. Chaney is able to express so much in that final scene, sure he looks a little sad or disappointed but he still has the fire to tell Marty if you treat her wrong he'll break his neck.
While the City Sleeps is better because of the fact that it is current. New York City is as it would look in this time down to the old dingy Hamburger diner. Chaney plays a contemporary character in a major metropolitan city and I ate this up. I love the 20's as a social backdrop and this film is fun for the eye who looks. There is a terrific little scene where Dan has Myrtle in his lap looking at the dresses, he shrugs off the fact saying he is just too old fashioned. There are actually some spectacular shots showing the roof tops and the buildings and basically the backdrop of the city as it would have looked in 1928
Lon Chaney gives one of his best character performances as Dan. This character bleeds testosterone and is Chaney's best male lead after Tell it to the Marines. One thing you have to say about Chaney is that he was extremely versatile. He plays characters with similar traits in everyone of his pictures, a lover from afar but he is able to make each of them unique individuals. The mannerisms and facial expressions never stay the same in each picture, in a large way the silent film was made for a performer like Chaney. Poor Lon is all ways the best man and never the groom, Dan is a likable guy and the final scenes are sad because I wish he had ended up with Myrtle. Chaney is able to express so much in that final scene, sure he looks a little sad or disappointed but he still has the fire to tell Marty if you treat her wrong he'll break his neck.