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Name Occurs Before Title Offscreen Credit Print Viewed By AFI Stub Record
The Unholy Three
Director: Tod Browning (Dir)
Release Date:   16 Aug 1925
Duration (in feet):   6,948
Duration (in reels):   7
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Cast:   Lon Chaney (Echo)  
    Mae Busch (Rosie O'Grady)  
    Matt Moore (Hector McDonald)  
    Victor McLaglen (Hercules)  
    Harry Earles (Tweedledee)  
    Harry Betz (Regan)  
    Edward Connelly (Judge)  
    William Humphreys (Attorney)  
    A. E. Warren (Prosecuting attorney)  
    John Merkyl (Jeweler)  
    Charles Wellesley (John Arlington)  
Summary: Three dime museum freaks--Hercules (a strongman), Professor Echo (a ventriloquist), and Tweedledee, a dwarf--perform in a sideshow, while Rosie O'Grady, who is in league with them, goes through the crowd picking pockets. Seeking larger stakes, the three men hit upon a plan to make themselves rich. They open a store stocked with parrots that will not talk, and Echo, disguised as an old woman, works in the store, making the birds seem to talk by ventriloquism. After the birds are sold, if there are any complaints by dissatisfied customers, Echo goes to the customer's house, pushing Tweedledee, disguised as a baby, in a baby carriage. The two men then look over the customer's house, while Echo makes the bird talk again, silencing the customer's complaint. They later return and rob the likely houses. They hire Hector, a gentle clerk, and Rosie falls in love with him. Hercules and Tweedledee kill someone while on a job, and Hector is blamed for the crime. Rosie and "The Unholy Three" take to the hills, and Rosie promises to stay with Echo if he will save Hector; Echo returns to the city and has Hector acquitted by testifying for him--sitting on the witness stand mumbling the Lord's Prayer. Echo later allows Rosie to go to Hector, and a gorilla kills Hercules and Tweedledee. 
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (Loew's Inc.)
Director: Tod Browning (Dir)
Producer: Louis B. Mayer (Pres)
Writer: Waldemar Young (Scr)
Photography: David Kesson (Dir of photog)
Film Editor: Daniel J. Gray (Film ed)
Set Decoration: Cedric Gibbons (Settings)
  Joseph Wright (Settings)
Sound: Anstruther MacDonald (Rec eng)
Country: United States
Language: English
Source Text: Based on the novel The Unholy Three by Clarence Aaron Robbins (New York, 1917).
Authors: Clarence Aaron Robbins
Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 24/6/1925 dd/mm/yyyy LP21593
Physical Properties: b&w:
  Si:
 
Genre: Melodrama
 
Subjects (Major): Apes
  Dwarfs
  Female impersonation
  Murder
  Museums
  Parrots
  Pickpockets
  Salesclerks
  Sideshows
  Strong men
  Trials
  Ventriloquists and ventriloquism
Note: M-G-M made a sound adaptation of the Clarence Aaron Robbins novel in 1930, directed by Jack Conway and also starring Lon Chaney. (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30 ). 
Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
Film Daily   9 Aug 1925.   
New York Times   4 Aug 1925   p. 14.
Photoplay   Jul 1925   p. 51.
Variety   8 Aug 1925   p. 30.
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