The Unknown Review

Review of The Unknown (1927) by screenqueeen: 👍 4/5

HOOPTOBER 9.0 3/32

More a personal horror framed by tragic circumstance. Or a personal fear exacerbated by continual male aggression. This feels almost like the coda to a noir film with Chaney's character Alonzo harboring a dark secret that not even we fully learn about by the end. He fancies himself to be the only man for his show assistant Nanon who suffers from past trauma anytime she's touched without permission by men.

Alonzo is without arms and performs various tricks and such with the use of his legs (sharpshooting, dagger throwing, playing guitar, etc.) so Nanon feels like she is in a perpetual safe space with him. The travelling show's resident strongman Malabar has made himself known as an admirer of Nanon for some time and continually makes unwanted physical advances on her.

Alonzo finds himself in a position to influence the relationship Malabar has with Nanon and by extension his relationship with her. What follows is a series of questionable actions that Alonzo believes to uphold his chivalrous façade. We all know it to be obsession but the consequences return tenfold in the film's climax, a wonderful ballet of chaos and rage. If only the ending didn't feel rushed this could have gotten into some darker places.