AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

mark.waltz Celebrating 4000 reviews brings me to the man who had more faces than the sane year's Eve. 997 to be exact. James Cagney delivers another fantastic performance as a real person, having been songs and dance man (and song writer) George M. Cohan, gangster Marty Snyder who lead singer Ruth Etting to fame, yet almost destroyed her life anyway, and later, a naval commander who was one of World War II's most controversial figures. In between beating up Doris Day and spouting philosophies to sailors, he took on the role of the man who left Hollywood by dying the same year he arrived. Lon Chaney is credited for so many great performances, so it's very appropriate that a man of equal greatness takes on his life.Fresh from her acclaimed role in "Written on the Wind" (for which she would win an Oscar), Dorothy Malone plays another juicy part as Chaney's selfish first wife, a promising singer whose bitterness over her fear of son Creighton becoming deaf that she deliberately seems to go out of her way to destroy her marriage. There's no subtlety in her performance, making her seem rather harsh and one dimensional. Jane Greer, who played evil broads earlier in her career, is much more believable as his second wife who looked on young Creighton (Lon Jr.) as if he was her own son. The second half focuses on Malone's return as a pathetic shell of her former self and the revelation that Creighton believed his mother to be deceased, setting up a major conflict between father and son. Surprisingly energetic and never slow, this shows Chaney's struggles in vaudeville, how he uses his experience of having deaf parents to establish his acting style (picking up details from others he meets as well), and even getting to dance a bit. Every moment he's on, Cagney is a master of making you forget that he's Cagney. So many incredible small moments make this one of the best movie bio's, certainly a ton better than "The Buster Keaton Story" and "The Helen Morgan Story" released the same year. It's nice to see the wonderful Jim Backus in a dramatic role, quite a contrast from Mr. Howell and Mr. Magoo. Marjorie Rambeau has a great cameo as a veteran character actress of dowager parts, aiding Chaney in his rise from extra to star. Future movie producer Robert Evans ("Love Story") plays veteran "wonder boy" producer Irving Thalberg, setting up the film's narration. While a few proved facts were altered for dramatic effect, in the case of this story, it works out for the best, giving Cagney a great exit.

Tad Pole . . . so naturally he confined his movie career almost exclusively to silent films. MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES is a Universal Picture--a biography of a Universal star decades gone. Therefore, some of its "facts" may seem a little fishy. FACES implies that Mr. Chaney's key performances were drawn directly from his personal life. The stage-obsessed, acid-scarred PHANTOM OF THE OPERA? Based on his first wife, Cleva, a frustrated singer who barges on stage to gulp acid in the middle of Lon's act. His contorted human worms and insects in flicks such as MIRACLE MAN and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME? Sketched directly after his second wife, Hazel's, mutilated first husband. After piling on such incredible melodrama well past the tipping point, FACES "jumps the shark" with Act V: THE TROUT'S REVENGE. Habitual screen chain-smoker James Cagney is free of "coffin nails" dangling from his lips as Lon, so naturally Lon is the one Cagney character doomed to throat cancer. It's a mysterious death for Universal's "Mystery Man." Was Lon poisoned by PP&G? Or was he Humanity's first sacrifice to precipitated lead and mercury brought on by the Automobile Age? After all, FACES implies that his diet was mostly fresh-caught Southern California trout. Only, his last creel-full outlived him!

MartinHafer "Loosely based....". When I hear this about a bio-pic, it is a complete turnoff to me. I think some it was because I was a history teacher--and to me, history is sacred--you tell it exactly like it was. Yet, in so many Hollywood films, the truth isn't deemed interesting enough and they heavily embellish the picture. Thus is the story of Lon Chaney in "The Man of a Thousand Faces". While the main points are correct, Chaney's interesting life just wasn't interesting enough for the folks at Universal and they played fast and loose with some of the facts. I didn't like this--but must acknowledge that it was an entertaining story.However, there is one other issue about the film about which I have a unique perspective. Like Chaney, I have a deaf family member--in my case, my daughter. And because of this, I can talk about a few things the average viewer wouldn't notice. When the people are using sign language in the film, they really are using sign language--though they do it a bit poorly. As a result, you can see that the parents of Chaney in the film are not natural signers--but I appreciate that they tried. One thing I did not appreciate, however, is that the film seemed to exploit Chaney's parents--creating problems that did not exist in real life. For example, when Chaney's first wife meets them, she has no idea they are deaf--but this was NOT the case in real life and it just felt cheap--like they were capitalizing on their deafness for the sake of a plot gimmick. That was pretty sad.Aside from my complaints and observations, I still think this is a very good film. Just understand it all is heavily dramatized and you can take some of it with a grain of salt. Also, it was nice to see the silent comic Snub Pollard in a bit scene midway through the film.

erictheredpnthr I read an other comment on this film about the life of Lon Chaney and I agree that it is a terrible biography about the great actor, but what was neglected was to say that this film was a showcase for James Cagney. Cagney had become typecast in his gangster roles and wanted to show his other talents and that is exactly what this film does. Although the acting is undeniably Cagney it still shows a range not possible in his hoodlum roles. Like some of his other "breakout" films like Yankee Doodle Dandy, Cagney shows his range of emotion, mimicry and skill.I originally saw this as a kid who was in love with the old horror classics of my day and this film did inspire me to search out and see the older films. The black and white silent films where actors had to act to convey the story. They had to overplay their parts to make up for the lack of words. That is what you see from Cagney in the short sequences meant to recreate the filming of those great silent Chaney films. I highly recommend it to any film lover.