Editing Tod Browning (section)

=== ''The Unholy Three'' (1925) ===
[[File:The Unholy Three (1925 film). M-G-M studios, directed by Tod Browning L to R Lon Chaney, Tod Browning.jpg<!-- Do NOT change the spelling of the image file! -->|thumb|''The Unholy Three'', publicity still. L to R: Ventriloquist dummy, Lon Chaney, Tod Browning.]]

In a circus tale by author [[Tod Robbins]]—a setting familiar to Browning—a trio of criminal ex-[[Carny|carnies]] and a [[Pickpocketing|pickpocket]] form a jewelry theft ring. Their activities lead to a murder and an attempt to frame an innocent bookkeeper. Two of the criminal quartet reveal their humanity and are redeemed; two perish through violent justice.

''[[The Unholy Three (1925 film)|The Unholy Three]]'' is an outstanding example of Browning's delight in the "bizarre" (though, here, not macabre) melodrama and "the perverse characterizations" that Browning and Chaney devised anticipated their subsequent collaborations.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "The Unholy Three is not, on the surface, as macabre as later Browning-Chaney films [but exhibits] perverse characterizations and surreal plot."<br />Barson, 2021: "...the shocking (for the time) circus tale The Unholy Three (1925), with Chaney as a transvestite ventriloquist who teams with a dwarf [sic] (Harry Earles), a strongman (Victor McLaglen), and a pickpocket (Mae Busch) to go on a crime spree that culminates in murder..."<br />Robinson, 1968 p. 125: The Unholy Three (1925), about a transvestite [[ventriloquist]], a dwarf [sic] and a [[strongman (strength athlete)|strongman]] who conduct a criminal business under cover of a pet store, was a promising (and profitable) beginning."<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 25: "...contains [the] major elements of Browning's bizarre melodramas..."</ref>

Lon Chaney doubles as Professor Echo, a [[sideshow]] ventriloquist, and as Mrs. "Granny" O'Grady (a cross-dressing Echo), the mastermind of the gang. Granny/Echo operates a talking parrot pet shop as a front for the operation. Film critic Alfred Eaker notes that Chaney renders "the drag persona with depth of feeling. Chaney never camps it up and delivers a remarkable, multifaceted performance."<ref name=":4">Eaker, 2016</ref>

Harry Earles, a member of [[The Doll Family]] midget performers plays the violent and wicked Tweedledee who poses as Granny's infant grandchild, Little Willie. (Granny conveys the diminutive Willie in a perambulator.)<ref>Eaker, 2016: "As powerful as Chaney is in the lead role, he [is nearly] eclipsed by his dwarf [sic] co-star Earles."</ref>

[[Victor McLagen]] is cast as weak-minded Hercules, the circus strongman who constantly seeks to assert his physical primacy over his cohorts. Hercules detests Granny/Echo, but is terrified by the ventriloquist's "pet" gorilla. He doubles as Granny O'Grady's son-in-law and father to Little Willie.<ref name=":5">Rosenthal, 1975 p. 36</ref>

The pickpocket Rosie, played by [[Mae Busch]], is the object of Echo's affection, and they share a mutual admiration as fellow larcenists. She postures as the daughter to Granny/Echo and as the mother of Little Willie.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 30</ref><ref>Blyn, 2006 p. 121: Echo's "love interest, Rosie..."</ref>

The pet shop employs the diffident bookkeeper, Hector "The Boob" MacDonald ([[Matt Moore (actor)|Matt Moore]]) who is wholly ignorant of the criminal proceedings. Rosie finds this "weak, gentle, upright, hardworking" man attractive.<ref>Brenez, 2006 p. 105</ref><ref>Blyn, 2006 p. 117: "...The Boob..."</ref>

When Granny O'Malley assembles her faux-"family" in her parlor to deceive police investigators, the movie audience knows that "the grandmother is the head of a gang and a ventriloquist, the father a stupid Hercules, the mother a thief, the baby a libidinous, greedy [midget], and the pet...an enormous gorilla." Browning's portrait is a "sarcastic distortion" that subverts a cliched American wholesomeness and serves to deliver "a harsh indictment...of the bourgeois family."<ref>Brenez, 2006 pp. 104–105: Quotes here are a composite. And p. 104 for character descriptions.</ref>

Film historian Stuart Rosenthal identifies "the ability to control another being" as a central theme in ''The Unholy Three''. The deceptive scheme through which the thieves manipulate wealthy clients, demonstrates a control over "the suckers" who are stripped of their wealth, much as circus sideshow patrons are deceived: Professor Echo and his ventriloquist's dummy distract a "hopelessly naive and novelty-loving" audience as pickpocket Rosie relieves them of their wallets.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 18–19</ref><ref>Blyn, 2006 p. 121</ref> Browning ultimately turns the application of "mental control" to serve justice. When bookkeeper Hector takes the stand in court, testifying in his defense against a false charge of murder, the reformed Echo applies his willpower to silence the defendant, and uses his voice throwing power to provide the exonerating testimony. When Hector descends from the stand, he tells his attorney "That wasn't me talking. I didn't say a word." Browning employs a set of dissolves to make the ventriloquists role perfectly clear.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 14: "The ability to assume control of another being is vital to The Unholy Three. Echo the ventriloquist delivers testimony in court through the mouth of Hector....as the words pour from the witness stand, Browning repeatedly dissolves Echo onto Hector and vice versa, establishing the performer's complete responsibility for what is being said."</ref><ref>Blyn, 2006 pp. 117, 121</ref>

Film historian Robin Blyn comments on the significance of Echo's courtroom confession:

{{blockquote|Professor Echo's [moral] conversion represents one of the final judgement on the conversion of the cinema of sound attractions to a sound-based narrative cinema disciplined to the demands of realism. Echo's decision to interrupt the proceedings and confess, rather than 'throwing voices' at the judge or the jury, conveys the extent to which the realist mode had become the reigning aesthetic law. Moreover, in refusing his illusionist gift, Echo relinquishes ventriloquism as an outmoded and ineffective art...<ref>Blyn, 2006 p. 124: See here for the entire passage.</ref>}}

With ''The Unholy Three,'' Browning provided MGM with a huge box-office and critical success.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 34: "The film was, of course, a huge success."</ref>