Movie Review: Outside the Law (1920)

As a follower of Lon Chaney on Twitter, I couldn't resist watching Outside the Law when link was tweeted. Though I wouldn't rank it as one on my favorites, I was glad to see a another Chaney/Browning collaboration as well as a film where Chaney wasn't playing a tragic fellow suffering from unrequited love, as good as he always is in those types of roles. Also, it was refreshing to see a film in which he wasn't the star and plays very contrasting duel roles.

Plot:
The story is set in San Francisco's Chinatown. In the beginning of the story, we're introduced to a prestigious criminal leader named "Silent" Madden (played by Ralph Lewis) and his criminal daughter Molly (Priscilla Dean). From the start, they are in the process of being reformed by a Confucian philosopher named Chang Lo. Silent Madden is on a smooth path to becoming "straight", which displeases his fellow criminals, but none so much as the ruthless and cunning Black Mike (Lon Chaney). "Blackie" gets Madden framed for murder, therefore ensuring Molly's hate for the coppers and steering her away from an honest life. When Black Mike plots to get her "rail roaded" (framed) for a jewel theft, his co-conspirator Dapper Bill (Wheeler Oakman) warns Molly ahead of time, and the two take the jewels for themselves behind Blackie's back and go into hiding. While keeping low, the two fall in love with a neighboring little boy while the cops and Blackie hunt for them. Before long, the two decide to go straight and return the jewels, but not without some conflict to hinder their good intent.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this film was the fact that it's a crime drama with a woman as the lead. Priscilla Dean as "Silky Moll" is perfect as you watch her wide range of expression and on-screen presence. She isn't just there to stand pretty, and you can tell. The best scene to demonstrate her acting is when she's trying to remain hard and unfeeling towards the "adorable" little boy that captured the heart of her partner in crime. You can see the gradual, but dramatic change when the boy throws his arms around her neck and she instantly melts from all the cuteness. I've never seen any other Priscilla Dean films (and on IMDB she's got quite a filmography!) but I thought she held her own very well in this movie.

Now for the formidable Chaney... In Outside the Law, you get to see some of his best scowls on display, and how that man could scowl! As Black Mike he snarls constantly like a rabid dog, but with such subtlety it isn't too ridiculous. It's the subtleties that make me love Lon Chaney. For example, in the scene where his character Black Mike is introduced, he cunningly swipes a tip from the table after his friend had dropped it there, and in a scene where he almost has his hands on the jewels, he looks just about ready to cry when he's held at gun point and the jewels are taken away.

This is the second collaboration between him and Director Tod Browning (the two made a total of 10 films together), but this was the first to establish just how good of a team they made. Through Browning, Chaney could exhibit his multiple skills. In the case of Outside the Law, he played a hard and evil gangster on one hand, and a heroic good Chinese servant on the other. Though Chaney looks about as Chinese as a bowling ball, his skill lay in the fact that he was able to play two clearly different personas as he used separate gestures, mannerisms, postures, and attitudes for each character.

If you see enough movies from the 1920's and 1930's, you'll take notice right away that Asian characters are seldom played by Asian actors. In Outside the Law, the two Chinese characters are pathetically obvious as white guys. (Strangely enough, the female extras were genuinely Asian.) Even though it wasn't uncommon for white men to play other races, what struck me was how the Chinese characters of this film were portrayed as being more honorable and good hearted than the criminal white characters. It was by no means saying one race was better or worse than the other. But, it was comforting to see an old film that didn't belittle the Chinese in any way (for example another Chinese-Chaney film two years later in 1922 called Shadows, he's called "Yen Sin the Heathen" and his dialogue has all the "R's" and "L's" reversed... Yeah.). Though I don't like seeing actors in "Black" or "Yellow" face, it is a sign of the times and a look into history.

For a look at an early gangster film, filled to the brim with the good old slang of the times, I recommend Outside the Law. Unfortunately, it seems the only print in existence is the one that I watched and towards the end of the movie, the picture is deteriorated some, making it difficult to make out the images. But, you won't hear me complaining. It's better to have a scrappy image than have the entire film missing or destroyed altogether like so many others.