The Monster (1925)

The Worst Film Ever

How sad is this?

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The best known name in this is, of course, Lon Chaney, who plays Dr. Ziska - a mad scientist who has taken over a sanitarium and is performing experiments on poor unfortunates. The bulk of the movie, though, is carried by an actor named Johnny Arthur. He seems to have had a relatively lengthy (if not especially well known) career, that made the crossover from silents to talkies. This is a silent movie, of course, and Arthur was fine as a wannabe detective who's out to solve the mystery of a wealthy farmer who mysteriously disappeared one night. "The Monster" tried perhaps a bit too hard to be a combination comedy/suspense thriller. Some, I guess, would call it a horror movie, but it never really came across that way to me. In fact, the comedy elements seemed to predominate for the most part. It's irreverent and even at times slapstick in its approach. It uses the pretty standard setting of what seems to be more of a large house than a sanitarium to create a mystery - and, while at times it is mysterious, it never really (to me at least) became frightening, nor did the humour become truly funny. It caused a smile every now and then, I suppose. My biggest criticism would be that it took far too long (really until about the last 10-15 minutes of the movie) for us to get a real sense of what it was that Dr. Ziska was up to, and waiting for that became at times rather tiresome, as likable as all the main characters were.Chaney, who received top billing although his role was secondary (and maybe even less than that) did make Ziska mysterious and in some respects even threatening. The other primary members of the cast were Gertrude Olmstead as Betty, the wannabe detective's love interest, and Hallam Cooley, as his rival for Betty's affection. This was OK. Nothing more than that. I wouldn't consider it a silent classic, although it isn't difficult to watch. (4/10)

Lon Chaney, like Edward G. Robinson, was more than happy to parody his image. The surprising thing with Chaney is that it came so early in his "horror" career. This was his second MGM movie - straight after "He Who Gets Slapped", which is probably why it wasn't that popular. A big problem was that audiences of the time found it so hard to understand a movie poking fun at a genre that only came into existence a few years earlier. Roland West was the perfect director for it but although he directed a few atmospheric thrillers like "The Bat", "The Monster" and the excellent early talkie "Alibi", his output was sparse and by 1931 he had directed his last film "Corsair" with his good friend Chester Morris and current girl friend Thelma Todd.Adapted from the play by Crane Wilbur (earlier the hero of "The Perils of Pauline" serial) it had opened in New York in 1922 with a respectable 101 performances. The movie starts out creepily enough. "A human monster watched with cat like eyes for a victim"!!! Then John Bowman, the town's wealthy farmer is run off the road with the old "smoke and mirrors" trick and disappears!!! For the next half hour the film becomes a small town comedy - it seems everybody's a detective and has an opinion, none more so than Johnny Goodlittle (Johnny Arthur) who has just earned his detective diploma and has found a clue at the crime scene - a scribbled message for help with the name of a disused sanitarian - but instead he becomes the town laughing stock.No wonder audiences felt shortchanged. Lon Chaney didn't make his appearance until the 30 minute mark and the two male leads were pretty under whelming. Johnny Arthur, as the put upon hero would not have caught any small town girl's eye and basically played a mincing milquetoast, a role he perfected in the talkies and Hallam Cooley was pretty forgettable as his rival. The last hour takes place at the sanitarian where the lunatics have taken over the asylum and as usual Lon Chaney puts everyone else in the shade. He plays Dr. Ziska and he brilliantly overplays it to the hilt - with his weird bunch of henchmen - "You are trying to make me MAD - and I have an operation to perform"!!! and as one body hurtles down the chute "You sent me a MAN - and you know I wanted a woman"!!! I suppose more sophisticated movie patrons of the time would have enjoyed it but most were probably expecting (with a title like "The Monster") another "Phantom of the Opera". Gertrude Olmstead, as Betty, was a nice actress who was more than happy to retire when she met the love of her life Robert Z. Leonard who was recovering from his years of being married to "Queen of the Divas", Mae Murray.

Lightweight but enjoyable romp about a lunatic asylum taken over by its star inmate, played by Chaney. This one is played entirely for laughs, but Chaney has to play it straight, in a pretty lame role for the great star. West brings some of his nice effects to bear, in the slick sequence where the milquetoast hero flies through a window on a telephone cord, slides down four stairwells and ends up knocking his assailant out cold! I also especially enjoyed the scenes where the inmates lowered a huge mirror onto the road to divert traffic into a ditch -- it was like something come to life out of a scooby doo cartoon! Great fun in the light gothic style.

A belittled clerk uses his ingenuity as an amateur detective to track down THE MONSTER responsible for some rather eerie recent disappearances.This is a wonderfully creepy silent film. With very good acting & excellent production values courtesy of MGM, it is too bad this movie is not better known. The large amounts of humor help to lighten the load considerably and are very welcome.The Master, Lon Chaney, adds another portrait to his gallery of grotesques. Slyly underplaying his character and letting his marvelous face act for him, Chaney more than makes up for the fact that his role is rather small. It is certainly ironic that this gentle man & terrific actor should be remembered principally for his bizarre & monstrous creations.Comic Johnny Arthur receives co-star billing with Chaney and he deserves it, since he carries the bulk of the action. He does a fine job with his character, giving him backbone & spunk rather than allowing any milquetoast tendencies to ever predominate. With the coming of sound, Arthur would perfect a nervous, whiny persona. He made his last screen appearance in 1951, the year of his death at the age of 68.Special kudos should be given to Walter James, Knute Erickson & George Austin for their strong support as a trio of very odd lunatics, all quite different & memorable.THE MONSTER is considered by many to be the first in a long line of Mad Doctor films. It is also a prime example of the Old Dark House genre of spook stories. It certainly has many of the elements: a crumbling edifice, a distressed young lady, escaped madmen, bony hands appearing from hidden panels, secret passageways and sudden death. The Old Dark House has for long years been a respected avenue in literature & movies to maximize suspense & tension. Indeed, it's only a short walk from the Edwards Sanitarium in this film to Wuthering Heights, Baskerville Hall, Manderley & the Bates House...