7/10
Lon Chaney Sr.'s performance in the talkie version of The Unholy Three was a good enough one to end his career on
29 December 2012
The only reason I decided to watch this was because this was Lon Chaney Sr.'s only talkie movie as he'd untimely die after this came out. I had not seen his previous silent one and while I had the option to also check that out from my local library, I just decided to see this version, for now. It's not bad as an early sound film and I appreciated the humor of some scenes but, like others commenting here, I did have trouble hearing some of the little person Harry Earles' words when he spoke them as well as that of the strongman played by Ivan Linow. Lila Lee wasn't bad as the pickpocket-turned-betrayer Rosie and neither was Elliott Nugent as her eventual boyfriend though he had more success when he turned director of various Bob Hope comedies. It was also a nice surprise that part of this film took place on Christmas Eve since the holiday just passed as you can tell by the date of this review. Oh, and yes, Lon was fine voice-wise whether doing his own or that of an old woman when wearing a disguise and also as a dummy's voice when throwing it as well as a parrot. Maybe a haunting music score could have helped in some scenes but overall, this version of The Unholy Three was good enough that I say this is worth a look.
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