Ace Of Hearts (1921)

Ace Of Hearts is a little on the silly side as far as the plot goes but the performance and the movie its self is pretty good. I can't say I like it as much as Phantom Of The Opera or The Hunchback Of Notre Dame or The Unknown but i still enjoyed the movie it's just that it's replay value is a lot smaller. Lon Chaney plays a member of a secret organization. The organization consists of nine men including Chaney and a woman whom Chaney and another man named Forrest are in a love triangle with. This isn't your typical nice group of people. This group of ten decides peoples fate and whether or not people deserve to live. They call this the "Cause". If they take a vote and the majority feels that a certain person has nothing to offer society, they will kill this person. The way they chose who will do the killing is unique. A deck of cards is dealt out evenly to everyone in the group and who ever gets the Ace Of Hearts will be the murderer. When Forrest gets the Ace Of Hearts the girl agrees to marry him and Chaney yet again will play the role of a desperate heart broken man. One of the best scenes in the film takes place outside of the new married couples home with Chaney standing out in a awful storm being rained on and blown around by the strong winds. Its almost impossible to believe that this scene took place on a set in 1921. In the movie Forrest decides to betray the group and not go through with the murder and traitors in this organization are punished by death. Now you would think that Chaney's character would jump at this opportunity to kill Forrest but instead he makes a deal with his true love to help them escape. Chaney decides to blow himself up along with his organization so his love can be free. To me the story is a bit lame but apparently the group is supposed to be a metaphor for Communism since there was a huge "red scare" going on at the time in America. Not the best of Chaney flicks but worth a watch for true fans.