It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Very good story. Joan Crawford is lovely and Norman Kerry is pleasant and agreeable. It is a shame that some footage is missing from the early part of the film. No indication is made about what the missing footage contained in the print I saw. A few title cards with a summary stating what happened during the missing section would have been nice. Lon Chaney is very good and quite convincing as a man driven insane by unrequited love.

This is a wonderful vehicle for two great stars -- Lon Chaney at his zenith and Joan Crawford in her earliest days. Joan's character has some very unusual hangups about men which Lon Chaney's supposedly armless "Alonzo" is well equipped to satisfy... or so it seems. But there's more to Alonzo than meets the eye (he actually has arms!) and Joan's extreme sexual reticence (only on screen, btw...) melts when she takes a closer look at the strongman. Thus Joan goes from being a prude dripping with sensuality to being highly conventional, but Chaney's character just gets more and more freakish in his behavior. Sullenly brooding one moment, laughing maniacally the next, Alonzo is a sociopath whose antics sometimes veer into cartoonishness but never fail to enthrall. The final scene, where Chaney dies protecting Joan who nearly dies protecting Chaney's strong-man rival from having his arms torn off (how perfect!) is absolutely priceless."The Unknown" features a grippingly offbeat and suspenseful tale, beautifully acted and skillfully shot and edited. Unless you cannot tolerate silent films you must see this one -- cannot recommend too highly.

Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford star in "The Unknown," a 1927 film written and directed by Tod Browning.Chaney, who often suffered great physical pain getting into his roles, plays Alonzo, an armless man who uses his feet to throw daggers at Nanon (Crawford) as part of his circus act. In truth, though, only his pal Cojo (John George) knows that Alonzo has both arms, corseted behind him while he's working. He's a burglar hiding from the police. Since one of his thumbs is deformed, it seems to him a good disguise.But Alonzo finds it difficult to hide his love for Nanon. Nanon seems frightened of any man's touch, although she is attracted to Malabar (Norman Kerry). One night, her father Zanzi (Nick de Ruiz) sees that Alonzo has arms, and Alonzo has to kill him. Nanon sees the murder, but not the face of the killer; she does, however, see his deformity.Alonzo decides it's best to have the arm with the deformed finger amputated. When he recovers and returns to work, he discovers that Nanon and Malabar are now an item. It's not something he's willing to take lightly.Weird, bizarre, strange, all these words and more describe this twisted story, typical Tod Browning fare. Joan Crawford looks a little different in this film than she does in other early movies. She may have had her nose altered at some point. Nevertheless, with those tremendous flashing eyes, beautiful figure and vibrant presence, it's not hard for her to earn the love of two men. Unfortunately one of them is nuts.Chaney was a master at facial expressions and physical changes, and he gives a compelling portrait as Alonzo, desperately in love with Nanon, who swears he will have her no matter what. I wasn't familiar with Norman Kerry before this film; he seems to have been a potential Fairbanks replacement, very dashing.All in all, a fascinating silent. I saw it on TCM and like so many other silents, it's not in great shape, but that shouldn't distract from the viewing.

I didn't know what to expect with this movie because I had never seen a silent movie before, but yo my surprise I actually liked this film. The plot is interesting if not a bit predictable. I thought it was very weird that the main girl had a fear of hands, but I guess there are weirder things to be afraid of. I was disappointed in the end that there were no twists. I would have liked to have seen the girl find out that he cut his arms off for her, but I guess it was easier to end the film with him dying. I thought the acting in this film was very well done. I think part of the reason I enjoyed this film was because the actors were so expressive that it made it easy to understand what they were thinking or feeling even though they were not talking. I would have liked to seen a few more dialouge cards, but even without them I was able to follow the story. This was definitely a good movie to see for a first-timer viewing a silent film :)