this tod brown masterpiece star lon chaney a an armless knife thrower in love with circus owner daughter joan crawford . this be chaney and you know he will stop at nothing to get what he want . a creepy and haunt movie with in your face horror that never let up . chaney be brilliant and crawford be fine a the man fear gypsy girl . there an overall sense of dread that sustain throughout . with norman kerry a malabar and the lovelorn strongman and chaney rival for crawford affection . john george be chaney dwarf sidekick who may or may not be the devil himself . the moody cinematography be by merritt gerstad and who go on to photograph a wide variety of movie ( from a night at the opera to watch on the rhine ) . a brilliant and ironic precursor to brown more famous freak .