Cinevent Notes Past: MOCKERY (1927)

[Richard M Roberts]

MOCKERY

One thing this author has managed to learn about film history and criticism over the years is not to trust the opinion of a genre-specific historian/critic regarding the object of their affectations non-genre specific works. Great example in point: THE GIFT OF GAB (Universal 1934), in which horror-film historians hold their noses over this---horror of horrors---musical, in which nothing much goes on for their eyes excepting approximately thirty seconds of Karloff and Lugosi. Imagine my surprise when I caught up with the title and found it to be an entertaining Edmund Lowe movie with wonderful numbers by the likes of Ruth Etting, Ethel Waters, and Gene Austin that—oh yeah, --- just happens to have a couple of cameos by Boris and Bela.

Another great example: MOCKERY. Pictures of Lon Chaney as Sergei the Peasant graced FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND in its heyday, but when the film surfaced in its occasional screening over the years, horror fans were horrified that it wasn’t a horror film! To paraphrase my friend Joe Adamson, GONE WITH THE WIND wasn’t a horror film either, never hurt it a bit.

MOCKERY is another of these films set in Russia during the Revolution(and just who was the Hollywood trendsetter in the late 20’s who though this was a hot concept? Scads we had: THE EAGLE(1925), THE COSSACKS (1928), THE LAST COMMAND (1928), THE VOLGA BOATMEN (1926), THE RED DANCE (1928), SURRENDER (1927), and TEMPEST (1928) to name a few), where Chaney plays a not-to-bright peasant chap who just happens to to save the life of the Countess Tatiana (Barbara Bedford) and gets her to Novokursk where she can deliver her message to the Czar’s Army. In gratitude, she gets Sergei a menial job working in the kitchen of the Gaidaroffs(Mack Swain and Emily Fitzroy), rich-folk friends of Tatianas with whom she is staying. Working under the Gaidaroff’s commie-cook (Charles Puffy), Sergei learns of the Revolution and how to hate the Upper-Classes while Tatiana falls for the dishy officer Dimitri (Ricardo Cortez).

Then comes the Revolution! And Sergei, who has decided that Tatiana’s a bit dishy herself but doubts she’d date a guy with a mono-brow realizes that this Revolution thing might be the only way he gets a shot at her, starts breathing heavily and looking menacing. Will Dimitri save her in time? Will the peasants break through the guards and storm the mansion. Will Mack Swain put his old moustache on and escape through the crowds as “Red Ambrose”? You’ll have to come in and take a peek to find out.

Okay, so it’s not THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, but it’s no MR.WU either. It’s an entertainingly typical Lon Chaney MGM picture which means he’s falling in love with some sweet young thing like Loretta Young, Joan Crawford, or Anita Page who are polite to him, but ain’t really gonna give him the time of day and because Tod Browning’s not directing at least he has all his body parts (well, we’re not sure he has a brain).

In fact, it’s directed by the Danish Director Dr. Benjamin Christensen, who had somehow been brought to America by MGM (uh-huh, imagine Louis B. Mayer looking at HAXAN in an MGM screening room. That I’d have paid to see) and had actually managed to outlast all the other directors brought to MGM in 1926 who quickly left. He even finished two pictures, the other one being THE DEVILS CIRCUS (1926) with Norma Shearer, plus a bit of the early scrapped version of THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (finally released in 1929) before high-tailing it over to First National where he stayed until sound came in, making a trio of interesting horror comedies, THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1928), SEVEN FOOTPRINTS TO SATAN and HOUSE OF HORRORS (both 1929).

Christensen handles MOCKERY competently enough, adding an occasional visual flourish (including a harrowing shot of Chaney strangling someone) and keeps things moving briskly enough in it’s hour-or-so running time. And there’s a terrific cast, Barbara Bedford was an underrated and charming leading lady who was more often hired by studios like Chadwick (she brightened their SUNSHINE OF PARADISE ALLEY (1926) shown at Cinevent 36 a few years ago) than MGM, and she gets the Leo the Lion glamour treatment as well. Ricardo Cortez has little to do but be decorative and heroic, but he earns his paycheck. And if this comedy film historian decides to be genre-specific, I can be happy as a clam watching Mack Swain in a semi-serious role, and Charles Puffy as the Cook. Puffy was a Hungarian comedian (real name Karl Huszar) who came to America in 1924 and starred in a series of short comedies for Universal playing sort of a second-string Fatty Arbuckle and then got the occasional supporting role in a major feature (he plays the innkeeper in Universal’s THE MAN WHO LAUGHS) Puffy left the States when sound came in and went first to Germany, then returned to Hungary when the Nazi’s came to power. He was taken prisoner by the Third Reich when Hungary fell to them and died in Tokyo, Japan in 1942.

And of course, Chaney is brilliant as always, playing this brute peasant with very little makeup, mostly a very serious five o’clock shadow, a low-forehead greasy wig and his penciled-in mono-brow, plus cigar holder ends to widen his nostrils. He brings both menace and pathos to the character, managing to be both broad and subtle in his acting. Sergei is another Chaney original, not comparable to any of his other portrayals.

So grab the chance while it’s offered to catch a rarely shown Chaney that’s better than it reputation suggests. Any Chaney is worth seeing, and this one goes by quick. Just don’t expect anyone’s arms to be ripped off or the Gorilla to be released from the closet.


RICHARD M ROBERTS