Beautiful, moving film.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

"The Unholy Three" is not a Lon Chaney horror film but rather an interesting crime caper drama.We meet the main characters in a seedy side show. First is Echo the ventriloquist (Chaney) his "girl friend" and pick pocket artist Rosie O'Grady (Mae Busch), strongman Hercules (Victor McLaglan) and baby faced midget Tweedledee (Harry Earles). Echo, fed up with the carnival life devises a plan whereby he, Hercules and Tweedldee would become the Unholy Three and commit a series of robberies. Echo disguises himself as "Grandma" Moses and the midget as her baby grand daughter. They hire wimpish Hector McDonald (Matt Moore) who is unaware of the goings on, to run the store.The cover if you will, is a bird shop (really?) where Echo uses his ventriloquist skills to convince rich customers to buy what they think is a talking parrot. Later when the customer discovers that the bird cannot talk they call "Grandma" Moses who goes to their home to case the place for a robbery. Hector develops a crush on Rosie and she at first doesn't reciprocate. The robberies are going well for the group until one night when Rosie shows interest in Hector. The three are about to embark on another robbery when Echo showing his jealousy, stays behind to spoil Rosie's date. Hercules and the midget proceed on their own but in their haste murder the victim Mr. Arlington (Charles Wellesley). Echo is furious but goes along with the plan of pinning the crime on the hapless Hector.The trio and Rosie flee to an isolated cabin as Hector is arrested for the murder. Then it gets interesting.Lon Chaney as usual disappears into his character(s). His depiction of the aged grandmother is another of his great characterizations. He literally becomes a convincing old lady. His Echo displays a wide range of emotions through Chaney's remarkable pantomime talents: dominance, fear, hate, kindness, cruelty etc. The romance between Rosie and Hector is a little hard to believe given her background. Hector does mention at one point though, that he too has a past but does not elaborate.Given that Echo saves Hector, one has to wonder why he was not charged with the robberies but seems to get off scott free. Does Chaney get the girl in the end, what do you think?Remade as a sound feature in 1930.

if you're like me, you're thinking "why bother?" about this film. Give it a chance !! it drew me in, was never boring, was original, interesting and truly a very good movie -- yes, even though it's silent. At times, it's even pretty funny !! I feel so strongly about it that i wish it was on again so that i could catch the whole thing (watched 2/3).The acting and the atmosphere are top notch. It's definitely not one of those cliché ridden, predictable schlock movies. The man playing the "baby" is fascinating !! So innocent and convincing one second, then chomping his cigar and acting menacing the next. I give it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars -- i really liked this picture !! I can't think of one downside to it. High praise from me !! And the "baby face Finster" character (gangster midget !!) is a scream.

How strange it was to see Tod Browning's name in the opening credits, and then to have the movie start in the freak show of a circus, where all the main characters work. And freakiest of all was to see little Harry Earles, the luckless sap from FREAKS, playing a wicked baby impersonator! I wonder whether Browning already had his creepy 1932 feature in mind in 1925, or whether working on this film started the ball rolling.It's hard to think that anyone could have thought this plot plausible, but the relationships between the characters are handled well. The friction between them, and their constant conniving, is just as real as in many more elaborate talkie crime pictures. The use of ventriloquism as a plot device is strained to the max, but it's still fun watching Lon Chaney in a dress.The music score which was dubbed onto THE UNHOLY THREE in the TCM version was a hodge-podge of various eras and instrumental combinations. It became so distracting that I ended up watching the film in complete silence. But that's just me. Some nice camera and lighting work (the use of shadows, particularly) added a touch of class. And a final question: does anybody besides me think that the judge in the courtroom scene looks like Bill Nighy?

Lon Chaney was one of the greatest actors who ever lived. He expresses more emotion in this movie with his facial expressions than many of the actors today can do with their voices. Chaney stars as Professor Echo,a sleazy carnival ventriloquist, who plans to pull off a crime that would make him and his two counterparts rich. Echo a master of voices will pose as an old lady, the sideshow midget named Tweedledee will be the baby, and Hercules the strongman will be a bystander. Together this team of unholy individuals open up a pet store which specializes in selling talking parrots. These birds talk and sing in the store but when the buyer brings them home they stop.A rich man named Arlington buys a parrot and calls "Old Lady Mcgrady" to come have a look at it. Tweedledee notices a red ruby necklace."Don't worry Grannie will buy you a nice set of red pearls like that" Echo's girlfriend Rosie is falling in love with Hector the employee at the store. Echo is beginning to lose his concentration and his partners plot against him. Hercules murders Arlington and after Hector proposes to Rosie Echo plans to frame him for the murder.Yes the plot is a bit silly at times but Chaney and his cast tell it with the utmost sincerity. Chaney's Echo is a sad character,not necessarily evil but selfish. His love for Rosie redeems him and his evil ways at the end of the movie. Chaney is one of the greats. He creates a vivid character. Man of a Thousand Faces is the correct title for him but here he doesn't need his make-up to create a face just his perfect acting skills.10/10