The Unholy Three

Plot synopsis:
Three performers leave a sideshow after Tweedledee (Harry Earles), the midget, assaults a young heckler and sparks a melee. The three join together in an "unholy" plan to become wealthy. Prof. Echo, the ventriloquist, assumes the role of Mrs. O'Grady, a kindly old grandmother, who runs a pet shop, while Tweedledee plays her grandchild. Hercules (Victor McLaglen), the strongman, works in the shop along with the unsuspecting Hector McDonald (Matt Moore). Echo's girlfriend, pickpocket Rosie O'Grady (Mae Busch), pretends to be his granddaughter.
Using what they learn from delivering pets, the trio later commit burglaries, with their wealthy buyers as victims. On Christmas Eve, John Arlington (an uncredited Charles Wellesley) telephones to complain that the "talking" parrot (aided by Echo's ventriloquism) he bought will not speak. When "Granny" O'Grady visits him to coax the bird into performing, "she" takes along grandson "Little Willie". While there, they learn that a valuable ruby necklace is in the house. They decide to steal it that night. As Echo is too busy, the other two grow impatient and decide to go ahead without him.
The next day, Echo is furious to read in the newspaper that Arlington was killed and his three-year-old daughter badly injured in the robbery. Hercules shows no remorse whatsoever, relating how Arlington pleaded for his life. When a police investigator shows up at the shop, the trio become fearful and decide to frame Hector, hiding the jewelry in his room.
Meanwhile, Hector proposes to Rosie. She turns him down, but he overhears her crying after he leaves. To his joy, she confesses she loves him, but was ashamed of her shady past. When the police take him away, Rosie tells the trio that she will exonerate him, forcing them to abduct her and flee to a mountain cabin. Echo takes along his large pet ape (who terrifies Hercules).
In the spring, Hector is brought to trial. Rosie pleads with Echo to save Hector, promising to stay with him if he does. After Echo leaves for the city, Tweedledee overhears Hercules asking Rosie to run away with him (and the loot). The midget releases the ape. Hercules kills the midget before the ape gets him.
At the trial, Echo agonizes over what to do, but finally rushes forward and confesses all. Both he and Hector are set free. When Rosie goes to Echo to keep her promise, he lies and says he was only kidding. He tells her to go to Hector. Echo returns to the sideshow, giving his spiel to the customers: "That's all there is to life, friends, ... a little laughter ... a little tear."

Tags: murder

Review:
The scene where Harry Earles tries to get an early bonus with the necklace is very good and the whole relationship between the midget and the strongman is better defined, IMHO, in this version.
The rest of the cast is good with Elliot Nugent as the patsy Hector contributing a nice turn and Harry Earles again reprising his role as the midget baby.
Lila Lee and future director-screenwriter Elliott Nugent are both good as the young lovers, the former's scenes with Chaney being some of the best in the picture.
And, just as much as he did in the silent version, midget Harry Earles conveys pure menace as the depraved dwarf Tweedledee, although a combination of early sound equipment and his thick German accent make many of his lines all but incomprehensible.
I had an afternoon free so I decided to watch the two versions of this Lon Chaney classic back to back, the original 1925 version directed by Tod Browning, and this later sound remake, which was directed by Jack Conway.
It's the story of a crooked carnival ventriloquist (Lon Chaney) who teams up with the midget (Harry Earles) and strong man (Ivan Linow) for a series of robberies.
The sound film moves more briskly, while the silent felt slightly overlong (though the other was still quite good, and well-directed).It was an amazing treat to get to hear Chaney in his only talking film, and he actually sounded very much as I'd always imagined he would from his gruff exterior.
On the other hand, it was sometimes difficult to always understand the dialogue spoken by Harry Earles (as Tweedledee the midget) and Ivan Linow (as Hercules the strong man).
He was an incredibly skilled actor and, thankfully, The Unholy Three (1930) let's us actually see that.In this film, Chaney did five voices; those of a parrot, an old woman, a girl, a ventriloquist, and the ventriloquist's dummy.
While the film is notable as a vehicle for the actor's vocal gymnastics, the story of this talkie version of the 1925 version is pretty much identical to the silent, but with a few exceptions: As a talkie, The Unholy Three is a bit less gripping by the sounds becoming explicit, as well as, lacking much of the macabre horror the silent version featured.
And yet it was cancer that took him from film just as he proved he could successfully speak within the new realm of sound.Lon Chaney could have been, perhaps, the greatest actor of all time, though, with much of his work missing, it's still justifiable that he is and beyond all the thousands of faces, there was one true Chaney: an incredibly gifted artist.
Every great performer deserves a wonderful finish to their careers, and Lon Chaney got one with this remake of his 1925 classic.
For each character he portrayed, he had differing voices, something he was (of course) unable to do in the silent era.People have wondered what he could have done with Dracula, although it's been proved there was never any such proof Chaney was sought for the part.
The 1930 version of The Unholy Three boasts a distinction that guarantees it permanent special status among film buffs: the great silent star Lon Chaney made his only talkie appearance here, shortly before his death from throat cancer at the age of 47.
And it's worth noting that this a faithful remake of the 1925 silent version in which Chaney also starred, thus giving us a rare chance to compare two performances by the same actor in the same role but in two very different formats, and to compare the handling of the same material before and after the coming of sound.
(When Hollywood remade hits from the silent era the lead roles were almost always recast; parts once played by Doug Fairbanks would go to Errol Flynn, Valentino's would go to Tyrone Power, etc.) This summer I was lucky enough to see restored prints of both versions of The Unholy Three back-to-back at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and the experience was fascinating.The plot has been outlined in detail elsewhere, but briefly it involves the criminal career of a trio from the "carny" world: a ventriloquist called Professor Echo (Chaney) who masquerades as an old lady, a strongman, and a midget who disguises himself as a baby.
But in the talkie, the gorilla is laugh-provoking; and it doesn't help that instead of the actual simian used in the silent film, the 1930 version features a man in a highly unconvincing ape suit, the sort of tatty-looking costume you'd expect to find in a Bowery Boys comedy.Talkies aren't just silent movies with sound added, they're a new world with different rules, especially where pace is concerned.
And although Chaney handled his dialog deftly some of his co-stars did not: both strongman Ivan Linow and "baby" Harry Earles speak with thick accents that are difficult to understand.It's fascinating to see (and hear) Chaney in a talkie, but the remake is fairly slow going.
The second Unholy Three is a film that requires patience for the average viewer, though it's a must for anyone with an interest in early talkies, the silent era, and, of course, its star performer.
I only wish Lon Chaney had recovered and lived to make more films, once Hollywood's directors had grasped the demands of the new technology and learned to make slicker, more stylish movies that would have displayed his talents to better advantage..
Of course, THE UNHOLY THREE (1930) is most famed for the only time we can hear the great silent horror star Lon Chaney speak.
Three out of work circus performers (Chaney, midget Harry Earles and strongman Ivan Linow) decide to become a trio of jewel thieves.
Midget Earles has the best dialog, delivered in a squeaky voice- "I like it" (meaning the plan) "It's unholy!"  This motley trio decide to disquise themselves very outlandishly (Chaney as an old woman, Earles as a cooing baby)  They couldn't just lay low, or take assumed names?
LON CHANEY delivers an interesting performance (especially when posing as a kindly old woman), but not even the great Chaney can overcome all the defects in this remake of the 1925 silent.For starters, the performances around him include two extremely bad examples of early screen acting--from awkward Lila Lee and a young man who would later turn his talent to directing rather than acting--Elliot Nugent.
Anyway, his is the weakest performance in the film with Lila not far behind.The tale itself is interesting enough to hold the attention--and especially chilling is the malice (pure evil) displayed by Harry Earle as the malevolent midget.
Unfortunately, most of his dialogue is unintelligible due to his German accent, something director Jack Conway should have noted.Only real satisfaction is watching Lon Chaney in one of his last roles.
Summing up: At best, it is an interesting example of Chaney's considerable talent despite the primitive acting technique displayed by Lila Lee and Elliot Nugent.
Chaney plays a ventriloquist name Echo who who becomes a scam artist, opens a pet store, dressing up as a little old lady and calling himself Mother O'Grady, complete with white wig and high-pitched voice, and with the help of a midget named Tweedledee and a strong man named Hercules, sets out to prey on wealthy customers.
Considering Chaney's vocal accomplishment in the early torturous sound on film system, one wonders how Chaney would have faired a few years down the road in films like The Invisible Man with only his voice and no face whatsoever.
Browning had actually made the silent Unholy Three and the script or scenario must have not gathered too much dust when director Jack Conway did this sound remake.
Lon Chaney Sr.'s performance in the talkie version of The Unholy Three was a good enough one to end his career on.
It's not bad as an early sound film and I appreciated the humor of some scenes but, like others commenting here, I did have trouble hearing some of the little person Harry Earles' words when he spoke them as well as that of the strongman played by Ivan Linow.
For Lon Chaney's sound debut, MGM had him filming a remake of one of his silent classics, The Unholy Three.
I wish that Victor McLaglen had not been replaced by Ivan Linow as the strong man and Lila Lee is a more hardboiled case than Mae Busch, but the chance to hear Lon Chaney and realize he could have had a great career in sound makes The Unholy Three worth viewing.The title comes from a crack Chaney makes about him as the show ventriloquist, the strong man Linow, and the midget Harry Earles being an unusual gang.
As a front they open Mrs. O'Grady's pet shop with Chaney in drag as little old Mrs. O'Grady.The weakness of the plot is Lila Lee who knows very well what this crowd is up to.
The microphone obviously wasn't sensitive enough to pick up whispers and/or the actors weren't accustomed to sound to fake it.Speaking of the trial, John Miljan who normally played villains in his career does good work as the District Attorney who unmasks literally, the whole criminal enterprise.The Unholy Three was not the best film Chaney could have done to make a sound debut, still it's our only record of him on sound and he registers well in the new medium..
"The Unholy Three" was the last film made by the great Lon Chaney -- and the only talking film which he completed before his untimely death at age 47.
Chaney is nothing less than marvelous as "Echo", the sideshow ventriloquist who forms a criminal collaboration with a midget (Harry Earles) and a strongman (Ivan Linow).After fleeing a carnival bust, this threesome sets up a burglary ring with Echo also posing as an old lady pet shop owner.
THE UNHOLY THREE (MGM, 1930), directed by Jack Conway, offers a moment of truth for 1930 audiences and film enthusiasts today in witnessing what silent film legend Lon Chaney had never done before on screen - to be heard as well as seen.
Even for a talkie, Chaney continues to express himself with facial gestures as he did in the silent era, which comes off to best advantage.The story opens where Professor Echo (Chaney), a sideshow performer, entertains with his ventriloquist act.
He is accompanied by Hercules, the strong man (Ivan Linow), Tweeledee (Harry Earles), the midget, and his girlfriend, Rosie O'Grady (Lila Lee), who roams around the crowd picking the pockets from observant patrons.
As "The Unholy Three," Echo disguises himself as a kindly old lady who owns "Mrs. O'Grady's Bird Shop"; Rosie as "her granddaughter"; Tweeledee plays the baby in the cradle; and Hercules as Granny's son-in-law and baby's uncle.
When Echo discovers Rosie's love for the young man, he decides to make Hector the fall guy by making him the prime suspect, causing his arrest for the series of crimes and murder while the gang seeks refuge in a cabin out in the country, with Rosie being held against her will.First filmed in 1925 that also featured Chaney and Harry Earles, with Mae Busch and Victor McLaglen as Rosie and Hercules, the same roles enacted here by the lesser known names of Lila Lee and Ivan Linow, who make fine, though not entirely great substitutes.
The use of silhouetted images of "The Unholy Three" as they gather together planning their latest caper is revised, along with elements of surprise and suspense where a police inspector (Clarence Burton) plays around with the baby's toy elephant where the stolen necklace is actually hidden, and another at the trial where Echo plants a note for Hector to read, only to watch him toying with it instead.
They comprise of ventriloquist and gang leader Lon Chaney (Echo), midget Harry Earles and strongman Ivan Linow (Hercules) and they have set up a pet store.
Things go wrong for the Unholy Three when a love interest for Lila in the annoyingly innocent Elliott Nugent (Hector) gets in the way of the good work planned by Chaney.The film is entertaining and funny, and has laugh out loud moments, especially from the midget.
Nearly the Same as the Original...and Fun. Sad to know that as Lon Chaney crossed over into sound film, he was already dying.
The Man of a Thousand Faces went out with a really decent remake of a silent film he had starred in five years previously.
Renowned for being Lon Chaney's only talkie, the 1930 "Unholy Three" is a good picture that doesn't seem to be as static as some other early sound pictures I've seen.
The only drawbacks to this one as compared to the silent version is that the love interests are not as good & as others have noted, it can be a bit difficult to understand what exactly Harry Earles is saying sometimes.The big selling point to this feature was obviously getting to hear the great Chaney Sr. speak on camera for the first time & it's interesting to think where his career might have gone had he lived, although despite the popular fable that's been told for many years, Chaney would not have been playing Dracula at Universal Pictures.
But that story has been told so many times, that most people seem to have accepted it as the gospel.In any event, Lon Chaney proves he was more than capable of making the transition to sound pictures.
This is most notable as MGM superstar Lon Chaney's last feature film - and only "talkie" - he succumbed to cancer at age 47, as it was being released.
Also, Chaney's treatment of Lila Lee (as Rosie O'Grady) seems too violent with sound.
"I'll even take that from you, Echo," she replies.Chaney's last words: "I'll send you a postal card." ******* The Unholy Three (7/3/30) Jack Conway ~ Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Harry Earles, Elliott Nugent.
Lon Chaney's only talkie would be worth seeing just to hear him him speak, (His voice sounds remarkably like the old TV and wrestling announcer, Dick Lane), but this oddball film is a hoot overall.
A trio of circus performers--a ventriloquist (Lon Chaney), a midget (Harry Earles) and a strongman (Ivan Linow) leave the circus and, along with beautiful Rosie (Lila Lee), turn to crime to get rich.
Having viewed both the 1925 silent and this sound remake,and on the strength of Chaneys masterful performance,I rated this a 10.I think the production values of the'25 version were a bit better, but the courtroom scene where Chaneys voice gives him away needed the element of sound.However,I had problems with much of Harry Earles dialogue delivery.
It's very difficult to decide whether I like the silent or sound version of this film better.
The silent version has much better camera angles and is a bit easier to understand.However, the sound version gives us the rare treat of hearing Lon Chaney's voice for the first and only time!
Plus Lila Lee & Elliott Nugent are better than the actor/actress in the original version.
The only "minus" is that the primitive sound recording techniques at that time can't capture Harry Earle's (the Midget) voice, and MANY times it's difficult to understand what he's saying.Most people don't know that Chaney was chosen to play "Dracula" , but died shortly after this film was made, and made a super-star out of Bela Lugosi (and, to further talk about coincidences, Lugosi was to play Frankenstein, but turned down the role, because "it had no speaking part".
Lon Chaney and Harry Earles return to repeat their roles from the original film.
The studio decided to turn the Man of a 1,000 Faces into the Man of 1,000 Voices for his sound films and Chaney does eleven different voices here.
Plus, two of the three Unholies are the same actors (Lon Chaney and Harry Earles).
In his only talkie, Chaney displayed a speaking voice that perfectly matched his physical appearance."The Unholy Three" is a re-make of Chaney's 1925 film of the same name.
Echo (Chaney), Tweedledee a baby faced midget (Harry Earles who repeats his role) and Hercules (Ivan Linov) form an alliance -- "The Unholy Three".
The unholy three are Lon Chaney (in his only talkie and last film), Harry Earles (the dwarf from "Freaks") and muscular Ivan Linow, as well as pretty Lila Lee. They are the four survivors of a traveling carnival show that was closed by the police, and now operate a bird shop as a front for a robbery ring with Chaney in drag posing as the kindly operator.
It is difficult to like a film where the major characters are obvious crooks and killers, but what makes this better than average is Chaney's performance as the former ventriloquist who can make customers believe his parrots can talk and some really creepy shadowing.
The other performers, particularly Lee, are outrageously melodramatic, and at times, it seems like they are speaking in silent cinema dialog rather than as characters in a sound film.
The three are Echo the ventriloquist (Lon Chaney), Strongman Hercules (Ivan Linow), and Midget a/k/a Tweedledee (Harry Earles).
Lon Chaney and Earles each replicate their original roles.
The talkie version of Tod Browning's 1925 film is competently, if unimaginatively, directed by Jack Conway.
Lon Chaney, brilliant in his final role, reprises his role of Echo, the criminal ventriloquist who, along with cronies Harry Earles and Ivan Linow, opens a pet shop specializing in "talking" parrots.
Harry Earles is one actor who could have remained silent, his voice is completely not understandable.
Perhaps like some other silent stars the switch to talkies found it out for lacking talent.Thankfully the same cannot be said of Lon Chaney.
Rosie was a far more interesting character in this version, mainly down to the charismatic Lila Lee.Watching Chaney disappear into the night on the back of a train was also surprisingly moving.Not as good as the silent version, but I'm glad it was made.