Lon Chaney
Dual role as Professor Echo and Mrs. O'Grady
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Synopsis
Three sideshow performers open a pet shop as cover for burglaries targeting their customers. A ventriloquist poses as an elderly woman, while his accomplices supply other parts of the invented household. When a robbery becomes murder, the conspirators' shared business unravels through jealousy, suspicion and the danger facing an innocent employee.
Cast
DirectorsTod Browning
Behind the scenes
Tod Browning's film established the sustained MGM collaboration with Lon Chaney that shaped both men's late silent careers. Its disguises and sideshow setting make performance itself the mechanism of the crimes, extending the theatrical skills of the characters into everyday deception.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Lon Chaney — Unknown author · Public domain
- Victor McLaglen — Los Angeles Times · CC BY 4.0
- Matt Moore — Unknown author · Public domain
