The Unknown is Lon Chaney as an armless knife-thrower in a circus, in one of the most startling and disturbing films of the silent era.
The Unknown (1927), directed by Tod Browning, stars Chaney as Alonzo, a criminal hiding in a circus as an armless knife-thrower, who falls in love with Nanon, a bareback rider who fears men’s hands. Alonzo’s secret, and his willingness to have his arms amputated to win Nanon, drive the film to a shocking climax.
Chaney’s Alonzo, performed with his arms strapped behind him, using his feet to throw knives and smoke, is a technical marvel, but it is Alonzo’s obsession that haunts the film. His love is possessive and doomed, and Chaney plays it without softening.
It is a signature role because it is Chaney and Browning at their darkest, and because Alonzo remains one of silent cinema’s most unforgettable grotesques.