The False Faces (1919)
- Directed by
- Irvin Willat
- Genre
- drama film, silent film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h 37m
- Rated
- NR
- Rating
- 5.3 of 10 from 7 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
A man known as the Lone Wolf goes up against a villain named Karl Ekstrom. The story involves a haunted U-boat captain and a woman made up to look like a corpse. The film builds to a furious finale.
energetictensepulse-poundingtheatricalrestoredclassicnoir-tingedaction-focused
What happens
The False Faces is a 1919 American silent action film written and directed by Irvin Willat, based on the novel by Louis Joseph Vance, and starring Henry B. Walthall as Michael Lanyard, the "Lone Wolf," and Lon Chaney as Karl Ekstrom, the villain. A complete print of the film survives at the George Eastman House and at the Turner Film Library. It was thought to be lost for years, but was later found and somewhat restored. Director Willat was originally to have shared co-directing chores with Jerome Storm, but when the film's production was moved back from August to October, he ended up being the sole director. Lon Chaney's energetic performance, especially in the film's furious finale, remains an early example of his celebrated work. Chaney is shown applying a fake beard to his face in one scene, the only time he was ever photographed in a film applying his makeup. Chaney also designed and applied actress Jane Daly's makeup to give her the appearance of a "sea-corpse" as she appears to the haunted U-boat captain in the film. A cover reproduction of the film's sheet music exists. Based on a series of novels begun in 1914 by Louis Joseph Vance, the Lone Wolf character remained a part of popular culture for generations, with movies ranging from 1917 to 1949 starring Jack Holt, Melvyn Douglas, Warren William, Gerald Mohr (who had also played the part in a radio series) and others in the Michael Lanyard role, as well as a 1954-55 "Lone Wolf" television series with Louis Hayward delineating his fictional exploits. Henry B. Walthall had starred in D. W. Griffith's seminal The Birth of a Nation four years earlier, while Lon Chaney went on to become one of the world's most enduring cultural icons with performances in films such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame four years later and the Phantom of the Opera in 1925. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
More like this
The Lone Wolf (1917)
A Daughter of the Wolf (1919)
Terror of the Range (1919)
The Lone Wolf in Mexico (1947)
When a Man Rides Alone (1919)
The Man in the Open (1919)
The Last of the Duanes (1919)
Blind Man's Eyes (1919)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.