User reviews

Lon Chaney gets to play his own evil twin in this Tod Browning crime adventure. The "Blackbird" is a low-life criminal who falls in love with Fifi, a music hall performer. Unfortunately, someone else loves her too: posh "West End Bertie," who wears a topper and a monocle like Bertie Wooster, but who's actually a crook himself, not above robbing his own friends while they're out slumming (including watching "chinkys" smoking opium).

The Blackbird and Bertie decide to become a team, but tension mounts as the Blackbird realizes that Fifi is falling for Bertie. Mixed in to the plot is the Blackbird's ex, who seems on a crusade to reform him, and his brother 'The Bishop', a helpless cripple known for his work among the poor. Blackbird and Bishop share a room but are never seen together.

The ending is tragic, as could be expected, but not without a trace of "cornball."

Browning's direction is excellent. He sets up the Limehouse location at the opening by showing a sequence of faces that evoke the atmosphere more than a mere set could do. He knew how to get the best out of Chaney, but the others in the cast also do a fine job with their facial expressions, all masterfully captured by Browning. The new score by Robert Israel, containing snippets from Chopin and others, fits the period well and never intrudes.

If it weren't for the acting technique of LON CHANEY, here deceiving others by assuming a dual role, THE BLACKBIRD would be a lot less interesting to discuss. The plot at first promises to be intriguing, but soon becomes bogged down in a story of petty jealousy between two crooked men for the affections of a pretty girl.

OWEN MOORE is the aristocratic looking gentleman thief in love with RENEE ADOREE, as is Chaney. One of the film's saving graces are the close-ups of Chaney glowering at Moore when he realizes he's winning the heart of the girl that both of them love. Chaney uses all of his facial mannerisms in a way that makes the screen titles almost unnecessary since he tells everything with his eyes and his body movements.

But the thin plot is the culprit here. Many scenes drag on too long without sufficient reason to and the plot is ultimately a weak one by any standards. Todd Browning does get a terrific performance from Chaney, though, and that's the chief reason for watching in the first place.

The tawdry atmosphere of the Limehouse London scenes is effective but the story's ending is a weakness.

Summing up: Highly watchable for Chaney alone.

By contrast, I was relatively satisfied with THE BLACK BIRD. The plot is somewhat derivative (particularly of THE PENALTY [1920]), but Chaney is in fine form here. The film goes a long way in simulating the Limehouse atmosphere, even where dialogue is concerned (which comes off as fairly hilarious if quite endearing).

The romantic leads, as played by Owen Moore and Renee' Adoree', are above average in this case; in fact, Moore (as a gentleman crook) is more of an anti-hero here and creates an interesting contrast to Chaney, who himself alternates between the villainous 'Black Bird' and the saintly 'Bishop' throughout.

For a Browning/Chaney effort, the film is fairly conventional and comes off as somewhat protracted (particularly the overly contrived ending) when compared to THE UNKNOWN (1927). Chaney's (deceptive) physical deformity of his 'Bishop' character is the sole weird element in evidence and, for once, here we get a chance to observe - on camera - the way Chaney accomplishes this amazing feat!

London's Limehouse District, "with its lust, greed, and love," lightly blankets its citizens in a sea of fog. There, ambidextrous Lon Chaney (as Dan Tate) successfully spends his nights thieving as "The Blackbird"; and, otherwise, masquerading as his own benevolent, but deformed, brother "The Bishop". Mr. Chaney likes to visit the local pub, where he falls for charming French entertainer Renée Adorée (as Fifi Lorraine). But, Ms. Adorée also attracts suave Owen Moore (as Bertram P. Glayde). Mr. Moore is a rival crook, who goes by the name "West End Bertie". So, conniving Chaney uses his respectable "Bishop" disguise to come between the increasingly more successful Adorée-Moore romance.

This is a formulaic Browning/Chaney film, featuring one of the versatile actor's lesser "disguises". For his transformation, Cheney twists an arm and a leg out of shape. It's more difficult than it looks to walk around in the disjointed position. Of course, Chaney's performance is outstanding. In particular, watch his reaction shots, which are incredibly accurate in mirroring whatever he is looking at, or reacting to. Co-stars Moore and Adorée also shine. Adorée had just been seen in "The Big Parade", and Moore has one of his meatier 1920s roles. Also enjoyable is Doris Lloyd (as "Limehouse" Polly), the ex-wife who loves Chaney.

******* The Blackbird (1926) Tod Browning ~ Lon Chaney, Owen Moore, Renée Adorée

Lon Chaney's twisted performance as the eponymous Blackbird is much fun, as he literally bends himself all out of shape to pretend himself his good, crippled brother, the Bishop. The tortuous melodrama and love triangles of the rest of the film, however, leaves much to be desired. At least, with a Chaney and Tod Browning collaboration, one is bound to be treated to something at least a little offbeat, and such is the case in "The Blackbird," although it doesn't quite reach the level of their better films, such as "The Unholy Three" (1925) and "The Unknown" (1927), although its ironic twist of fate, or double deception, anticipates the latter.

Besides Chaney's physically-demanding dual roles, there are a couple things I appreciate about this one that reinforces his performance. One is the play-within-the-play puppetry. Blackbird's love interest played by Renée Adorée is a vaudeville performer whose face is superimposed over the pliable body of the puppet, the effect not only being actually a film-within-a-film with the multiple-exposure trick--a photographic technique rather than a theatrical one--but also to mirror Chaney's physical transformations. Adorée's stage performance being explicitly a trick calls attention to the doubled deception supposedly off-stage by Chaney--that of his fooling fellow characters and that of the few moments on screen where he doesn't share the deception with the spectator. Even though the photoplay spends too much time on Chaney and the rest lounging about at the club's bar doing not much of anything and even taking time out for Blackbird to intimidate an interracial couple and for a couple of intertitles to include a racial slur against Chinese characters, I do appreciate the reflexivity of the play-within-play, or film-within-film puppetry.

The other interesting aspect is Owen Moore's character. Whereas Chaney's Blackbird/Bishop continues a charade, including going in and out of his room to change personas as if anticipating Clark Kent going into phone booths to reveal his Superman costume, to maintain his "true identity" as a lowly thief by the protection of his respectable alter ego, Moore's "West End Bertie" has completely adopted his respectable persona as a dandy while still carrying out thefts--and, more than that, he exploits the character for the purpose of stealing from his upper-class acquaintances. The love triangle stuff is bland, especially when an old lover of Blackbird's is thrown in the mix, but the initial fascination and rivalry expressed by Chaney when Moore's character is fully revealed to him is compelling.

If one gets past some particularly bad pacing and overdone melodrama for this Browning-Chaney collaboration, or that Adorée's performer turns out to be disappointingly featherbrained and Moore's monocle-wearing dandy none too interesting, either, after his initial confrontation with Chaney's Blackbird, there's clever, reflexive play going on here. On stage in the puppetry and off-stage in the criminal deception and anchored by Chaney's unparalleled bodily versatility, it's a film about characters who pretend to be something else--actors playing actors--and about the malleability and illusory quality of cinema.

Perhaps, one of the lesser known collaborations between Lon Chaney Sr. and director Tod Browning--"The BlackBird" has all the conventional trappings of a Chaney/Browning film; or any Chaney Sr. film now that I think about it. One of those trappings being the "love triangle" as it seems that Chaney spends a fair amount of time pining for a woman who ends up falling in love with another man.

This film also has Lon playing a double role--no elaborate makeups to disguise himself with--just the master craftsman contorting his body to play the part of the crippled "Bishop", and his nefarious brother "The Blackbird." Apparently, the Blackbird needed a cover to help hide his criminal activities and thus the part of the Bishop comes into play.

"The Blackbird" starts off a bit slow, as we the audience are introduced to all the principal characters, but picks up steam towards the end. Overall, I can see why this movie is not one of the more well-known Chaney/Browning collaborations--not that I'm saying it's bad, far from it. It's a good movie & if you're a fan of Chaney Sr. then you will definitely add this one to your collection. Now, if someone could only find a surviving print of "London After Midnight."

7 stars

Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde in a bad quarter of London : Lon Chaney plays a double role in the film and in the story, a robber (the Raven) and a man who carries about poor people (the Bishop). The way of acting is remarkable because it's a silent movie. The great thing is that the Bishop is half-paralyzed so Lon Chaney has to play the contorsionist when he moves from Raven into Bishop. The strange atmosphere is very well described with threatening faces and slumhouses.

Always liked Lon Chaney films and his great acting skills and fantastic make up which many times gave him a great deal of pain while he was acting his many roles. In this film Lon played a double role as The Blackbird/The Bishop where he twisted himself into a pretzel. In this film there is a struggle between an evil brother, Blackbird and a good brother, The Bishop who is beloved by his neighbors and friends. There is also lots of romance between West End Bertie, (Owen Moore) and Renee Adoree, (Fifi) and the Blackbird tries to interfere with their love relationship. There are plenty of ugly looking faces in these British pubs with lots of smoke and plenty of draft beers being rolled around in mugs and glasses and down plenty of people's throats. This is a masterpiece of Lon Chaney Films. One of his Best, Enjoy.

Lon Chaney and Tod Browning are a favorite combination of mine, and this is a solid enough effort, but it's not as macabre as some of their other films, and doesn't hit any home runs. The parallel the film makes between a wealthy man ('West End Bertie,' Owen Moore) and a thief ('The Blackbird,' Chaney) are interesting, and there is something subversive in the film not having Bertie be "the good guy." They're both enamored with a young vaudeville performer (Renée Adorée) and prey on her, and they both look down on "chinks," with members of both classes unfortunately using the slur. The parallel is even stronger when we find out that Bertie is also a thief. While both men are devious, The Blackbird has an advantage - his alter ego, a phony 'twin brother' who is the altruistic leader of a mission. I guess you could say both guys have an alter ego, since the other man has his veneer of respectability. Through his disguise as his brother, though, The Blackbird tries to manipulate both Bertie and the young woman.

Watching Chaney switch between characters is one of the highlights, because the brother he's invented is partially paralyzed, and he has to bend himself into an odd shape and hobble around when he plays him. There's also a pretty cute vaudeville sequence where Adorée's head appears on a miniature doll, and is then ogled by a male doll whose neck elongates in an obvious phallic reference. The film bogs down a bit in its second half but it doesn't lag excessively. The ending is ironic if unbelievable, reminding me a little of Twilight Zone. Overall, worth seeing.

I usually love the teaming of Lon Chaney and macabre director Tod Browning, but The Blackbird (1926) did nothing for me. While the movie perfectly captures the seedy Limehouse atmosphere, the story falls flat and outside of the main character, nobody is all that interesting. Chaney does an excellent job as usual, overshadowing Renee Adoree (who would do much better work with Browning in The Show (1928) opposite Jack Gilbert) and Owen Moore. I felt the story could have been stronger, and that the double life element was not utilized as well as it could have been.

All in all, there's nothing TERRIBLE about this film, it's just dreadfully forgettable. Chaney and Browning did much better work in The Unholy Three (1925) and would do much better work in their greatest collaboration of them all, The Unknown (1927).

Blackbird, The (1926)

*** (out of 4)

Lon Chaney plays duel roles in this crime melodrama from MGM. The Blackbird, a mastermind criminal and The Bishop, his crippled brother who is loved by everyone in the town. They're both the same person and the plan is to keep it that way but soon another criminal (Owen Moore) enters the picture as well as the love for a woman (Renee Adoree). I've know seen every Chaney feature that is currently not lost and I must say my appreciation of him as an actor has never been so high. I've always looked at him as one of the greatest actors in film history but after seeing this film I might go even further to call him the greatest actor in the silent era. It's really amazing at how brilliant this guy was and his acting abilities are on full display here. The viewer is the only one who knows that Chaney, playing both Blackbird and Bishop, are the same person yet like the characters in the film we forget because at how wonderful Chaney is. You could call this a Jekyll and Hyde type role as we're seeing good and evil and I'd probably say this is the greatest performance at that type of characters. How evil Chaney can come off and then how nice and holy is just amazing to watch and he really sells these characters perfectly. It's also rather amazing watching him play a cripple and deform his own body. Both Moore and Adoree add nice support but it's clear who this picture belongs to. Browning also should get a lot of credit because the screenplay here isn't too original nor is the love story that breaks out and controls most of the running time. While it's not original Browning does bring a lot of style to it and makes the movie flow like a stream. I've never been too fond of his sound features but I think his silents make him one of the most visual directors out there.

In London's Limehouse District, Dan 'the Blackbird' Tate (Lon Chaney) is a thief who has created a beloved character to hide behind, his crippled brother 'The Bishop'. This ruse helps with providing an alibi for the clueless cops. His ex-wife Limehouse Polly performs in the vaudeville theater. He falls for her rival performer Mademoiselle Fifi Lorraine who has also caught the eye of West End Bertie with the appearance of a rich man. Fifi falls for Bertie even after he's revealed to be a crook.

This would work much better if I actually like Bertie. I don't. The Blackbird is an interesting character and Lon Chaney delivers as he often does. He does double duty. It's great but I can't root for anything or anyone in this. Fifi deserves better. At least, she deserves better than either one of these two.

Tod Browning was one of the most noteworthy filmmakers in early cinema, with a knack for infusing a sense of fantastical whimsy into his pictures even when they were straight dramas or crime flicks. Lon Chaney, "The man of a thousand faces," needs no introduction, for his immense versatility as an actor and skill as a makeup artist made him a great prize for any production. Just because two luminous figures team up does not guarantee success, however; likewise, some of the best films ever made hail from the silent era, but there are also many examples of contemporary fare that was more middling and unremarkable. There's much to appreciate in 'The Blackbird,' Chaney not least, and the story is duly engaging. Be that as it may, I don't think it's unfair to say that this 1926 flick rather swiftly makes an impression that's less than wholly dazzling. It's a reasonably good time, but not one of the more essential titles among its brethren.

There's nothing specifically wrong with the movie per se. The root story of crime, love, jealousy, and manipulation, penned by Browning himself, is suitably solid, if nothing that's especially grabbing and noteworthy; Waldemar Young's subsequent screenplay, and Joseph Farnham's intertitles, can similarly claim some fine ideas, including characters and scene writing. This is well made generally, including splendid sets, costume design, hair, and makeup. Some odds and ends, like the various acts seen in the music hall, come across as somewhat empty frivolities needlessly tacked onto the whole, but I still commend the contributions in and of themselves, and they'd have been just swell if included in another type of picture; then again, while some instances of sexism or racism can be passed off as part of the writing of characters that are meant to be unlikable, there's some language herein that simply hasn't aged well and would not (and should not) be acceptable today.

The primary strengths in 'The Blackbird' are almost certainly Browning's reliable direction, orchestrating shots and scenes and guiding his cast so as to maximize the impact, and that cast in and of itself. Even given material that doesn't necessarily leave much of a mark, all involved give admirable performances that inject some personality into the proceedings. Of course that goes for Chaney above all, master that he was and effectively given a dual role, but co-stars including Renée Adorée and Doris Lloyd are pretty much just as terrific. With all this having been said, inasmuch as one might pinpoint discrete faults with the feature, what it really comes down to is a sad dearth of vitality that would allow any of its best value to shine. Try as Chaney, his co-stars, and Browning might, there's all too little punch in the screenplay; the course of events just rather trundles along even on paper, dry and flat. From one reel to the next the realization on film doesn't get much further - be it a lack of dramatic timing, a lack of sufficient drama altogether, or inability of Browning or the stars to meaningfully convey that drama, the sum total is just too humdrum. It all looks good, and everybody did their part, but the flick is just regrettably missing the utmost heart and energy that would make any of it land, and matter.

It's not bad, not by any means, and it does ably provide some level of entertainment. Some moments are distinctly stronger than others, and certainly the narrative picks up more steam in the back end as events heat up and emotions run high. I just wish there were more such care taken throughout the length, and more vibrancy, for even as the last reel or so at last give us the compelling plot we desire, overall these seventy-odd minutes pass by without particularly sticking with us. 'The Blackbird' is enjoyable, and a credit to those who participated in its creation - it's also just not a title that stands nearly as tall as some of its contemporaries, and is best suggested for those who are already enamored of the silent era. Watch it, if you have the chance, and have a good time; just don't go out of your way for it, and save it for a quiet night rather than set time aside.

This is one of the more routine Chaney-Browning collaborations, which recycles various ideas better executed in better films. Chaney does one of his double-ups as the crooked Blackbird (who rather resembles False face from the TV series 'Batman') and his noble but grotesquely deformed 'brother' The Bishop who, being Chaney, is nevertheless nimble at getting about on a crutch despite this disability.

The film starts well in typical Browning style with the camera lingering upon the faces of various lowlife types in a smoky Limehouse bar, into which Renée Adorée makes a memorable entrance performing on stage as a head atop a doll's body against a black backdrop (a device Browning would recycle the following year in 'The Show'). But the local colour established, the film then slows to a crawl as another familiar Chaney trope kicks in when the Blackbird begins pining for the fair hand of Miss Adorée, who is predictably swept off her feet by the no less crooked but more patrician West Side Bertie, charmlessly played by Owen Moore.

Tod Browning and Lon Chaney made 10 films together, some of which ("The Unholy Three", "London After Midnight", "The Unknown", "Phantom of the Opera") were true classics of the silent era. They were at their best when the settings were exotic (like the circus) and the characters were truly depraved, both physically and psychologically. The physical part of this was never better acted than by Chaney, who could do just about anything who could play even an armless man throwing knives with his feet.

This film, unfortunately, doesn't display Chaney's tremendous versatility, either as a contortionist or as an actor. Of course he doesn't do a bad job as the kindly "Bishop" and the devilish "Raven", but he did so much better in other films true Chaney fans will be disappointed.

Browning's direction, as well, is far better seen in many of his other films. He does do a good job giving us the atmosphere of London's Limehouse section, but the plot seems to drag on and on.

Caught this one at the Film Forum in NYC recently. I have not seen a great deal of Lon Chaney's work outside of 'Phantom' and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' but I thought he was excellent in his dual role in 'The Blackbird'. In fact, he carried the picture and the rest of the cast in this fairly routine melodrama set in the Limehouse district of 1920's London.

Had not seen Owen Moore before but I felt he was very competent. A veteran of silents, he died prematurely in the late '30's. Renee Adoree was a perky ball of fluff and added her good looks to the proceedings.

I did think the premise of the story was a stretch, especially as he presumably hoodwinked his ex-wife as well as all others with his dual-existence duplicity. The sets and the extras seemed extremely authentic and added immeasurably to the production.

This was worth the price of admission, especially Chaney's virtuoso performance. I hope to see others in the future to determine if this was an exception or the norm.

I am grateful for this Warner Archive release of the Turner Classic Movies version of this rare Tod Browning film. Up until now I only had it on a VHS tape which was dubbed from a PAL released in the U. K. The picture quality was OK but the transfer was a little too fast (typical of PAL transfers) and the music score was inappropriate. Now this film and several other of Lon Chaney's MGM films are seeing the light of day giving us the opportunity to really see "The Man of a Thousand Faces" at work. As another reviewer pointed out, there is little makeup involved but Chaney's body language is extraordinary especially as the crippled missionary proprietor, The Bishop.

The story is a typical offbeat Chaney love triangle where his Limehouse criminal Dan "Blackbird" Tate is in love with French puppet performer Renee' Adoree who is in love with a sophisticated jewel thief played by Mary Pickford's first husband Owen Moore in the performance of his career. The Blackbird's alter ego is the fake cripple The Bishop which gives Chaney the opportunity to distort his body (see DVD cover). Strangely enough the criminal Chaney looks just like Albert Finney while Moore's West End Bertie could easily have been the inspiration for The Penguin in the Batman comics.

As is usually the case with Tod Browning, this film is a deft combination of striking visuals coupled with a far-fetched but strangely believable plot that is anchored in the grotesque. The black box puppet show of Rene Adoree is a classic example of this. It startles when it's first seen and once seen it's hard to forget. As is also typical of Browning, the ending is rather sudden. Nevertheless THE BLACKBIRD leaves an impression thanks to a couple of powerhouse scenes. The confrontation between The Blackbird and West End Bertie in Bertie's apartment is a classic. This release is also aided memorably by TCM's commissioned background score. While it isn't a top drawer offering, it's never less than compelling...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.