Underplayed Gems

Outside the Law (1920)

Outside the Law poster
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
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

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.

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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)

More like this

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