Big Top Plays “The Unknown”

A silent horror classic presented with an original live musical score by Big Top.

The most celebrated and exquisitely perverse of the many collaborations between director Tod Browning and his legendary leading man, Lon Chaney, The Unknown features a wrenchingly physical performance from “the Man of a Thousand Faces” as the armless Spanish knife thrower Alonzo (he flings daggers with his feet) whose dastardly infatuation with his beautiful assistant (Joan Crawford as Nanon) - a woman, it just so happens, who cannot bear to be touched by the hands of any man - drives him to unspeakable extremes. Sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, disfigurement and a spectacular Grand Guignol climax, Browning wrings every last frisson from the lurid premise.

Originally titled Alonzo the Armless, this 66 minute-long silent horror film was released in 1927 with the tagline: "A superb mystery thriller, unusual and startling even for a Chaney film. Lon as "The Unknown" eats, drinks, shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet. Don't miss this startling spectacle!"

Vancouver-based Big Top creates and performs an instrumental soundtrack to the film. The band’s music is a tip of the hat to Ennio Morricone's soundscapes with a bit of circus style thrown in for good measure - guitar-based instrumentals, cinematic and atmospheric. Band members are: Scott McLeod (guitars), Stephen Graf ( bass, sound effects), Gordon Rempel (piano, organ), Ed Goodine (drums), Marc L'Esperance (guitars), Noah Walker (guitars, lap steel).

Directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney; Norman Kerry; Joan Crawford; Nick De Ruiz; John George.
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