MovieChat Forums > Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) Discussion > Cagney good.. movie dreadful

Cagney good.. movie dreadful

posted 18 years ago by beverlyamason
4 replies | jump to latest

All I can comment on is, that the movie is a complete fabrication of the great Lon Chaney's life.. Some bits have some truth to them..but on the whole.. lies.
Story is that, Lon Chaney Jr (Creighton) saw the film and was embarrassed and cringed on viewing, that the film was a lie.
James Cagney was good in the film.. but then again, he was a fantastic actor.
Just he looked nothing like Chaney nor I think captured the true character of Chaney.. which leads us to wonder, Who was the real Lon Chaney?

I wish someone would come up with a good film on the lives of Lon Chaney, his son, Lon Chaney Jr (Creighton, his real name) and Buster Keaton.. what wonderful story lines!

I don't need no fancy foods like beans with ketchup!

[–] QuarrellaDeVil 14 years ago

Just he looked nothing like Chaney nor I think captured the true character of Chaney.. which leads us to wonder, Who was the real Lon Chaney?

I can't answer that question, either, and in reading about Chaney in the works of Michael F. Blake, I get the impression that Chaney not only kept to himself and his family/inner circle, but also worked to maintain his man of mystery image.

I just saw this movie for the first time, and took a lot of it with a grain of salt. I did enjoy it, but I agree with the sentiment on the boards for this movie that Chaney deserves a better biopic. However, it might be as fabricated as the Cagney movie was.

[–] montgomerydou55 10 years ago

I was a kid when my Dad took me to see this movie. At the end, when I saw the deathbed scene, with Chaney signing for his makeup kit and adding "JR." to the name, I broke down crying. I'm past 60 now but if I saw the movie again I would do the same thing. :(

[–] coldnaps 9 years ago

Except that scene was 100% fiction. Never happened.

[–] montgomerydou55 9 years ago

Sorry, that doesn't change anything as far as I'm concerned. When I read Tom Sawyer--I was ten years old at the time--I cried bitterly at the part where Aunt Polly thought Tom was dead.😢