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The Unknown featuring Big Top
A silent horror classic presented with an original live musical score by Big Top
In-Person Event
Sat. November 1st 2025 + Add to Calendar
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
7:30pm - 9:30pm
$25
Artists
Big Top
Event Description
The most celebrated and exquisitely perverse of the many collaborations between director Tod Browning and his legendary leading man, Lon Chaney, The Unknown features a wrenchingly physical performance from “the Man of a Thousand Faces” as the armless Spanish knife thrower Alonzo (he flings daggers with his feet) whose dastardly infatuation with his beautiful assistant (Joan Crawford as Nanon) - a woman, it just so happens, who cannot bear to be touched by the hands of any man - drives him to unspeakable extremes. Sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, disfigurement and a spectacular Grand Guignol climax, Browning wrings every last frisson from the lurid premise.Originally titled Alonzo the Armless, this 66 minute-long silent horror film was released in 1927 with the tagline: "A superb mystery thriller, unusual and startling even for a Chaney film. Lon as "The Unknown" eats, drinks, shoots a rifle and dresses with his feet. Don't miss this startling spectacle!"
Vancouver-based Big Top creates and performs an instrumental soundtrack to the film. The band’s music is a tip of the hat to Ennio Morricone's soundscapes with a bit of circus style thrown in for good measure - guitar-based instrumentals, cinematic and atmospheric. Band members are: Scott McLeod (guitars), Stephen Graf ( bass, sound effects), Gordon Rempel (piano, organ), Ed Goodine (drums), Marc L'Esperance (guitars), Noah Walker (guitars, lap steel).
Directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney; Norman Kerry; Joan Crawford; Nick De Ruiz; John George.
Venue
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
6450 DEER LAKE AVENUE
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