Outside the Law

With Lon Chaney as both a thoroughly nasty villain and a beloved Confucian pillar of the community, you know you're in for a loopy one. This script is quite silly, but they know that, and ah, can you tell Browning is having fun springing all his little surprises on you. Yes, it's telegraphed from clear across the picture where things are headed for our young pair (I mean, look how cute that kid is!), but you never quite know who's going to knock on their door next.

The crime and gangster parts were very entertaining but the parts with the kid were less so.

(Rewatched 4/08/24): Underrated Browning/Chaney is gritty and quite inventive for its time in terms of visual storytelling and the general staging of action. Chaney is a great son-of-a-bitch, and the seedy atmosphere is quite vividly portrayed. The plot also twists and turns in a reasonably engaging manner, culimating in an intense climactic shoot out. The new print and score, found on the Eureka blu-ray, add considerably to the overall enjoyment.

61.500

I really hate to say this about a movie directed by Browning, featuring Chaney (in two roles!), and considered lost for many years, but it actually pretty much sucks