While it’s great to have this WAC Lon Chaney set of 6 DVD-Rs available on the home market, it could have been a lot better. There are 2 significant problems with it from my perspective. First up is that 3 of the 6 films have had absolutely no upgrade in quality since they first appeared back in 2010. The fact that 2 of them (HE WHO GETS SLAPPED and the 1925 THE UNHOLY THREE) are among Chaney’s best makes this hard to believe. Both movies are saddled with a cobbled together soundtrack that doesn’t match the action and the print used for HE WHO GETS SLAPPED is in poor shape and needs to be speed corrected.
THE MONSTER also has a thrown together soundtrack but as it’s a mystery-comedy and one of Chaney’s lesser efforts, the soundtrack doesn’t matter as much. Because of their having been issued later, the politically incorrect MR WU and Danish director Benjamin Christensen’s MOCKERY not only look good but have effective soundtracks composed for them. The 1930 remake of THE UNHOLY THREE is Lon’s only talking film but the 1925 original is much better. It’s understandable why MGM chose it to be remade with sound but Mae Busch, Victor McLaglen and especially original director Tod Browning are sorely missed.
All of these at one time or another were issued separately as Warner Archive single DVDs so it’s good to have them all together at a decent price. I just wish that this time around more could have been done to make the three films I mentioned earlier look and sound better. The technology exists and it’s the very least these movies and Lon Chaney deserve. I’m 68 years old and a big Lon Chaney fan. I would love to see 4K or even 2K restorations done while I’m still around to enjoy them. If you don’t have the singles then buy this set by all means but Warners, do us all a favor and make the first three movies look and sound as good as the last three.
The Capsule Critic 