Silent Film Festival: The Unknown (1927)

Lon Chaney stars as a carnival performer “Alonzo The Armless Wonder” who throws knives with his feet in a daring act featuring the alluring Nanon Zanzi, played by Joan Crawford in her first major role. Without divulging too much, The Unknown serves romance, macabre obsession, and horror in about 60 minutes, all while steering clear of exploitative tropes. Director Tod Browning spent many years working in the circus before bringing his experiences to Hollywood, and all of his films from the 1920s and 30s reveal authentic engagement with his characters, many of whom were real performers under a canvas tent before they made their celluloid debut. Offering verite glimpses of that world, The Unknown winds up a perfect little mechanism for tragedy, only to be overshadowed by Browning’s more controversial masterpiece Freaks (1931). Composer Max Wolpert premieres a new Hot Club jazz score with musicians from Lionel Hampton School of Music.

The Second Annual Kenworthy Silent Film Festival enjoys support from Idaho Arts (ICA), Idaho Humanities Council, and UI Habib Institute for Asian Studies, and The Japan Foundation.

1 hr 8 min | Tickets: $15 GA / $10 Students / $50 Festival Pass