...well, not quite, but the main reason to see this film today is for Tod Browning completists. His fingerprints are all over "The Mystic". He developed the scenario and Waldemar Young wrote the screenplay. These two worked together at MGM throughout the second half of the 1920s, and almost exclusively with Lon Chaney. I say almost because this is one of only two silent MGM films they made without Chaney. For that reason alone, it is interesting to see what Browning does without his ace actor.
The Mystic involves a trio of Hungarian gypsies who travel Europe with little more than a magic sideshow. Aileen Pringle plays the title character, named Zara, who claims to have mystical powers. A man named Michael Nash, played by Conway Tearle, approaches them with an idea to come to the United States to make even more money by holding séances with rich people and tricking them into believing they're seeing the ghosts of their loved ones. When they arrive, however, the quartet's plans get a monkey wrench thrown into it, when Nash feels sorry for one of their potential victims.
This is a very typical Browning story in that the crooks have to deal with their moral problems and how that affects others - Very similar to 'The Unholy Three' in this fashion. The lead crook, who is often Chaney, has a heart and this is one of Browning's favorite tricks for getting audience sympathy. Also, Browning loves to show us behind-the-scenes looks of magicians and mystics and the technical ways they execute their "powers". However, there is no additional gimmick in this film. No one is deformed and there is no gorilla in the mix. In that sense it is rather refreshing and at the same time a bit tame if you are a fan of Browning's films. It seems he and Young tried to up the ante with every film they collaborated on by coming up with different and more extreme sideshow scenarios, and in "The Mystic", their second film together, they seem early in their game. Browning's obsessions, of course, reached its ultimate stage in 1932 with Freaks.
The print I saw of The Mystic had french subtitles below the English inter-titles. It seems to be the most rare of all of Browning's surviving films from his 1925-1939 MGM period. Most of his earliest films are all but impossible to see. There was no musical score or track, but it is obviously a privilege to view this. It is worth noting that Browning's last film with Chaney was also his last film with Young. Waldemar Young often gets left out of the discussion of the Chaney-Browning collaborations, but in my view he is an essential part of those teamings and deserves perhaps as much credit as them.
