Tod Browning

[HerrSchreck]

Tod Browning (1880 - 1962)

"The thing you have to be most careful of in a mystery story, is not to let it verge on the comic. If a thing gets too gruesome and too horrible, it gets beyond the limits of the average imagination and the audience laughs. It may sound incongruous, but mystery must be made plausible".



"When I quit a thing, I quit. I wouldn't walk across the street now to see a movie." (at the time of his retirement in the early 1940s.)



Filmography

Miracles for Sale (1939)
The Devil-Doll (1936) WB Legends of Horror Collection
Mark of the Vampire (1935) WB Legends of Horror Collection
Fast Workers (1933)
Freaks (1932) R1 Warner DVD
Iron Man (1931)
Dracula (1931) Universal Legacy R1 DVD (from HD master)
Outside the Law (1930)
The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
Where East Is East (1929)
West of Zanzibar (1928)
The Big City (1928)
London After Midnight (1927) R1 TCM/WB Chaney Box 1, w Ace of Hearts & Laugh Clown Laugh, & The Unknown
The Unknown (1927) R1 TCM/WB Chaney Box 1, w Ace of Hearts & Laugh Clown Laugh (London After Midnight reconstr)
The Show (1927)
The Road to Mandalay (1926)
The Blackbird (1926)
Dollar Down (1925)
The Mystic (1925)
The Unholy Three (1925)
Silk Stocking Sal (1924)
The Dangerous Flirt (1924)
White Tiger (1923)
The Day of Faith (1923)
Drifting (1923)
Under Two Flags (1922)
Man Under Cover (1922)
The Wise Kid (1922)
No Woman Knows (1921)
Outside the Law (1920) R1 Image DVD double feature w Tom Forman's Shadows
The Virgin of Stamboul (1920)
Bonnie Bonnie Lassie (1919)
The Petal on the Current (1919)
The Unpainted Woman (1919)
The Exquisite Thief (1919)
The Wicked Darling (1919) R1 Image double-feature dvd paired w M Tourneur's Victory
Set Free (1918)
The Brazen Beauty (1918)
The Deciding Kiss (1918)
Which Woman? (1918)
Revenge (1918)
The Eyes of Mystery (1918)
The Legion of Death (1918)
The Jury of Fate (1917)
Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp (1917)
Hands Up! (1917/I)
A Love Sublime (1917)
Jim Bludso (1917)
Puppets (1916)
Everybody's Doing It (1916)
The Fatal Glass of Beer (1916)
Little Marie (1915)
The Woman from Warren's (1915)
The Burned Hand (1915)
The Living Death (1915)
The Electric Alarm (1915)
The Spell of the Poppy (1915)
The Story of a Story (1915)
The Highbinders (1915)
An Image of the Past (1915)
The Slave Girl (1915)
The Lucky Transfer (1915)



Forum Discussion

Universal Legacy Series (Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy..)

WB Hollywood's Legends of Horror

Freaks

Silent Film on DVD

WB HTF Chat, includes speculation on the long-overdue TCM Chaney Vol. II

Image Entertainment, w discussion of Chaney/Browning releases



In Print

By BROWNING:
"A Maker of Mystery," interview with Joan Dickey, in Motion Picture Classic (Brooklyn), March 1928.

On BROWNING:
The Films of Tod Browning by Bernd Herzogenrath (editor).

Dark Carnival; the Secret World of Tod Browing by David Skal & Elias Savada.

Freaks Comic from 1992

articles—
Geltzer, George, "Tod Browning," in Films in Review (New York), October 1953.

Romer, Jean-Claude, "Tod Browning," in Bizarre (Paris), no. 3, 1962.

Obituary in New York Times, 10 October 1962.

Guy, Rory, "The Browning Version," in Cinema (Beverly Hills), June/July 1963.

Savada, Eli, "Tod Browning," in Photon (New York), no. 23, 1973.

Rosenthal, Stuart, "Tod Browning," in The Hollywood Professionals (London), vol. 4, 1975.

"Freaks Issue" of Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), July/September 1975.

Garsault, A., "Tod Browning: à la recherche de la réalité," in Positif (Paris), July/August 1978.

Hoberman, James, "Tod Browning's Side Show," in the Village Voice (New York), 17 September 1979.

Loffreda, P., in Cineforum (Bergamo), vol. 31, April 1991.

Mank, G. W., "Mark of the Vampire—When MGM Challenged Universal . . . and Lost," in Midnight Marquee (Baltimore), no. 44, Summer 1992.

Douin, J.-L., "L'horreur est humaine," in Télérama (Paris), 9 June 1993.

Skal, David J., and Elias Savada, "One of Us," Filmfax (Evanston, Illinois), no. 53, November-December 1995.

Wood, Bret, "Hollywood's Sequined Lie: The Gutter Roses of Tod Browning," Video Watch Dog (Cincinnati), no. 32, 1996.



Web Resources

filmreference.com Browning page

Brightlightsfilm on Browning's Freaks

Tod Browning IMDB page

Filmsite's Dracula page

TCM Browning page

olgaBaclanova.com's in depth look at Freaks

Sensesofcinema on The Unknown

Missing Link Classic Horror on Browning

[myrnaloyisdope]

Just wanted to point out that Tod Browning is the credited director for Fast Workers. He is listed in the film's credits.

[rohmerin]

99% confirmed that a print of "London After Midnight" and the UNCUT version of 1980 min.of Metropolis have been discovered in Argentina.

[emcflat]

Bless you, Schreck.

Are all the decent DVD releases really in R1 only? Unusual.

[Scharphedin2]

Are all the decent DVD releases really in R1 only? Unusual.

Dracula and Freaks was released by Universal in most regions by Universal and Warner Brothers respectively. Dracula usually also in some variation of "Monster Box" together with DVD editions of the other famous Universal horror films.

Aside from that, there is not much to my knowledge. Outside the Law was released in France with an accompanying featurette on the work relationship between Chaney and Browning, but none of the other titles released in R1 were distributed in any other region.

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

Did anyone else catch TCM's screening of The Blackbird last night? Apparently this was their first time showing it. And the print was gorgeous.

I thought it was a thoroughly entertaining film, showing both Chaney's incredible commitment to his feverish characterizations (I was blown away by his character's on-camera physical transformations) and Browning's fondness for the 'miscreants' of society as a whole.

The plot was perhaps a bit hackneyed, very thin (and its central conceit was a bit suspect), but Chaney, due to Browning's understanding of how best to capture his performances, really makes one believe that these two men have separate lives. Special mention must be made of Owen Moore, who gave an outstanding, rather subtle performance.

My only gripe was Robert Israel's score (recorded in 2005). At times its close to perfect (the scene in which the Blackbird and West End Bertie share a table with Fifi) and strangely overbearing (when the Blackbird 'argues' with his brother). It was too heavy and percussive. I honestly would have preferred a simple parlor piano motif.

All in all, a fun movie that I hope makes it onto the next Chaney set.

[HerrSchreck]

I saw Blackbird a few yrs ago, and it bored me to tears. If felt like a running over the same ground (kind of like The SHock) that Chaney had been mining repeatedly, without anything fresh.

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

Well, it certainly wasn't the most eventful film, and I noticed that the scene in the dance hall went on for far too long for what it accomplished (especially since this was a silent film and therefore couldn't really appreciate the entertainment), but one can sense Chaney really relished this character and his dual-nature.

Yes, Chaney explored that in other films (obviously "The Unknown," and others I haven't seen but am familiar with), but I can't say the film bored me.

However, I did notice that Browning, even though he has a long list of films before this one, seemed very uncomfortable with the staging (too many shots of characters with their backs to the camera to no significant purpose, lots of uncomfortable headroom, etc.). Five years later when he does his more well-known films, one can't help being bowled over by the dynamic shots.

I was actually really caught up in the story of The Blackbird and how it would unfold, even though it wound up being rather predictable. I was hoping perhaps for a more cynical end, but its a testament to Browning and Chaney that I wound up liking it so much. Hardly an original yarn, but comfortably familiar.

[HerrSchreck]

Perhaps it's the order you take Chaney's portrayals in (though he's more or less entertaining in all, his breathlessly cooing portrayals of heartbreak aside-- the guy could be flat out awful with that masochism fit.. lets face it.. I mean despite I love the guy to no end). So that if you haven't been thru the gamut of the lesser films yet, something like the Blackbird I can see being fairly entertaining. Hell I even return to the godawful Shock now and again.

Have you seen the Penalty yet? Forget everything-- it's Chaney's masterpiece performance to be sure, and ferociously swallows all the Browning's whole. Kinda sacreligious on my own Browning thread but... facts're facts I guess.

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

Sorry bout the belated response Shreck.

Yes, I saw The Penalty, as per your very own suggestion on my Stranger on the Third Floor thread! And all I can say is, great recommendation! Chaney's performance floored my friend and I (as well as a pizza delivery man, who was wondering why anyone our age would be watching a black-and-white film. I tipped him five bucks.)

Compare and contrast to The Blackbird to Worsely's film, and you're right, the former is pretty weak, in both the dramatic and acting departments. The Penalty features some similar elements to Browning's little opus (disfigurement, real or otherwise, crooks vs. crooks), but I still think The Blackbird worked for me because I like Chaney a little less outwardly lunatic, which is probably an odd sentiment to have. I think the menace he conveys in both of these films works for what their respective directors (or whoever, perhaps Chaney himself) intended.

Out of curiosity Shreck, can you elaborate, or at least point me towards to some sources, on the role Chaney had in other aspects besides his own performances and characterizations? I've heard at the very least he enjoyed directing other actors on the set. To keep this thread on topic, maybe you could talk a little about his relationship to Browning? They made, what, 10 films together?

This is due on my desk friday at 1:30.

[Quot]

TCM is running a Lon Chaney marathon tomorrow -- oddly enough I've been doing the same thing at home this weekend -- and it appears they're showing all the surviving Chaney/Browning collaborations. I just finished West of Zanzibar (TCM showing is Monday at 2 am) and pre-code afficionados will not want to miss this lurid revenge melodrama. Suffers a bit for the "of-its-time" portrayal of a tribe of African cannibals, but the tradeoff is one of the better acted silent films, featuring Lionel Barrymore as Chaney's rival and Mary Nolan (fine as the young innocent caught in the crosshairs). As great of an actor as Chaney was, this might just be his greatest acting performance (if not, it's certainly near the top), and it's one of Browning's more intriguing offerings. Shame that TCM is not also showing The Penalty (not a Browning film), which is top-notch and a distant "relative" to The Unknown (where Chaney played a man with no arms; in The Penalty, he played a man with no legs!).

If there's any justice in the world, those missing Chaney/Browning collaborations (especially London After Midnight) will show up in the backroom of a library in Buenos Aries sometime in the near future.