Outside the Law (1920)

Directed by

Tod Browning

Genre

drama film, silent film, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 15m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 21 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A silent crime drama set in San Francisco's Chinatown. A gang leader schemes for power and a young woman gets caught in the underworld.

melodramatictenseshadowyold-fashionedgrittystylized

What happens

Outside the Law is a 1920 American pre-Code crime film produced, directed and co-written by Tod Browning and starring Priscilla Dean, Lon Chaney and Wheeler Oakman. One of a series of Universal Pictures vehicles produced for Priscilla Dean, Outside the Law features Lon Chaney in dual supporting roles and his second pairing with director Tod Browning. This was the first time Chaney played an Asian character. Stills exist showing Chaney in his dual roles. Browning would remake the film in 1930 with a pre-Little Caesar Edward G. Robinson in Chaney's 1920 role as a gang leader. The film was gently reedited (a few of Chaney's scenes as "Ah Wing" were cut) and reissued theatrically in 1926, and this is the print that is available today on DVD. A musical score was prepared by Dr. Edward Kilenyi for the 1926 reissue, and an "elaborate atmospheric presentation" of the film was arranged by German director Paul Leni. Several posters and lobby cards still exist from the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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