Norman Kerry’s conventional romantic heroes have a useful place beside Lon Chaney’s troubled men. In The Unknown, though, his thinly written Malabar leaves us waiting for the film to return to Chaney.
Fi1m perspective
Norman Kerry’s slicked-back hair and carefully waxed moustache make him easy to place in a silent-film romance. Beside Lon Chaney’s tormented figures, he was often cast as the more conventional romantic or heroic counterpart. There is useful work in giving a melodrama someone less alarming to turn towards. We are less persuaded when that contrast is expected to make up for a character who has scarcely been written.
Kerry was already a leading man opposite Mary Pickford in The Little Princess (1917). The 1920s made that his regular employment, with leading roles under contract to Universal and later MGM. His Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) placed him alongside Chaney. We should not expect him to play the same kind of part simply because the films put the two men together.
The Unknown (1927), directed by Tod Browning, shows the difficulty plainly. Kerry plays Malabar opposite Joan Crawford’s Nanon Zanzi, while Chaney’s Alonzo holds most of our attention. We were uncomfortably absorbed by Alonzo, whose intensity left us impatient to return to him whenever the romance needed our interest elsewhere. We recommend the film, but Kerry is less compelling than Crawford, who at least provides some relief from that intensity.
Waldemar Young’s screenplay, from Browning’s story, bears some responsibility for that imbalance. Crawford also needs a fuller character, so it would be unfair to treat Malabar’s limitations as proof that Kerry cannot hold our interest. A more forceful performance would not necessarily solve the problem: the romance needs people we care about separately. We want more from Malabar than an alternative to Alonzo.
There were other settings for his leading-man work, including the Scottish historical romance Annie Laurie (1927), opposite Lillian Gish. After the arrival of sound, his appearances became sparse, with Air Eagles and Bachelor Apartment among the films he made in 1931. That decline should not become a convenient verdict on every silent performance. Start with The Unknown for Browning and Chaney; anyone coming chiefly for Kerry should temper their expectations.
Biography
Norman Kerry (born Norman Hussey Kaiser) was an American actor. He appeared in films from 1916 to 1941, with his career peaking during the silent era of the 1920s.
He is known for his roles as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Phoebus de Chateaupers in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and Malabar in The Unknown (1927). Kerry received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
