The Unholy Three (1930)

(On Cable TV, April 2020) While the world remembers Lon Chaney Jr. as one of the defining actors of the Universal Monsters franchise (as the Wolfman), fewer now remember his father. Part of this is that most of Chaney Sr.’s work was in silent film, inherently less popular and lesser-seen today. Alas, he fell ill and died shortly after the production of his only talking film, The Unholy Three. A sound remake of an earlier 1925 thriller, it’s a crime melodrama featuring three different men (a dwarf, a ventriloquist and a strongman—with Chaney playing the ventriloquist and showcasing his gift for vocal impersonations) joining forces to perpetrate crimes. Romance follows, along with a deadly circle of betrayals and revenge when the crimes don’t go as planned. There’s also a gorilla who ends up taking a crucial spot in the plotting. With such an unlikely mixture of elements, it almost seems redundant to say that Chaney is the single best reason to see the film—while The Unholy Three has a few freakshow-like moments to its credit, the rest is a bit dull even considering the sensationalistic premise. What’s for sure is that Chaney would likely have done very well had he had a longer career in the talkies—he was one of the silent stars who was just as well suited to the world of sound.