man of a thousand face be one of hollywood well film about hollywood . produce by universal international in 1957 it recount the life and time of one of the silent screen most formidable icon lon chaney . from an excellent oscar nominate screenplay by r. wright cambell and ben robert and ivan goff it be skillfully direct by joseph pevney . peveny and himself a useful support player in such movie a body and soul ( 1947 ) and fox street with no name ( 1948 ) direct some of universal big production i. e. away all boat ( 1956 ) and tammy and the bachelor ( 1957 ) and one of erroll flynn last effort istanbul ( 1957 ) . play the lead role in this marvellous biopic be james cagney who give an outstanding measured performance a lon chaney the strange torture character actor of silent picture who and ironically and die from throat cancer with the advent of the talkie . crisply photograph in black and white cinemascope by the great russell metty ( touch of evil ) the picture convey a strong sense of time and place . expertly evoke be vaudeville in the early part of the 20th century where chaney begin a a song and dance man ( cagney delight u with his special brand of hoof ) and early hollywood where he become an extra at universal studio . then with the help of his make up box and his uncanny facility to alter his appearance sometimes result in great pain he soon become know a the man of a 1000 face . notable reconstruction of chaney creation be quite brilliantly achieve in the picture . cagney excels a the cripple be cure in a reworking of chaney famous scene from the miracle man ( 1919 ) and the phantom be unmask in phantom of the opera ( 1925 ) . but especially noteworthy be a re staging of chaney the hunchback of notre dame ( 1923 ) . here cagney be totally unrecognizable a he replicate chaney interpretation of quasimodo be whip on the punishment wheel in the village square . it be an intense moment in the picture and a remarkable achievement for cagney the consummate actor . little wonder that the great orson welles in the seventy declare that the screen great actor be james cagney . others in the cast of this splendid film be dorothy malone give an excellent performance a the singer and chaney first wife cleva creighton and jane greer a his second wife and jim backus a his press agent and robert even a the boy wonder of the motion picture business irving thalberg . the picture also boast a terrific music score by the underrated and now wholly forget film composer frank skinner ( 1897/1968 ) . skinner be composer in residence at universal for many year and compose the music for some of their most prestigious production such a tap root ( 1948 ) and magnificent obsession ( 1954 ) and madame x ( 1965 ) and shenandoah ( 1965 ) . man of a 1000 face be and however and his fine achievement . a soundtrack album of his music from the film issue at the time of the picture release be now a much seek after record . a wonderful movie on dvd present in a sharp black and white widescreen format that every collector will want to own if only for cagney amazing performance . his lon chaney be just as powerful and just as memorable a his george m. cohan and cody jarret or marty the gimp snyder .