The Ace of Hearts (1921)
Directed by Wallace Worsley

Film Review

Lon Chaney is best remembered for his lurid monster portrays, most famously in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925), but some of his greatest performances were in films in which he had a more recognisably human aspect.  In The Ace of Hearts, Chaney excels in an uncharacteristically sympathetic role, more Chaplin-esque than demon-esque, playing a member of a vigilante organisation who redeems himself in a damascene moment when he realises that a world founded on love and tolerance is superior to one built on hate and violence.  It sounds soppy and implausible on paper but Chaney negotiates the unlikely character transformation superbly and once again impresses with the subtlety and eloquence of his art.

Adapted from a popular novel The Purple Mask by Gouverneur Morris, The Ace of Hearts is one of the darkest films that Lon Chaney ever appeared in, one in which each of its protagonists is prepared to die (and die horribly) for his cause, which essentially involves bumping off public individuals who are not flavour of the month.  Not only are the characters not afraid of death, they seem to relish it with an obsessive relish, and there is something quite unnerving about the sequence in which they draws cards, each hoping to be the one that ends up with the fateful ace that will decide his fate.  Today, in a world in which there seems to be no end of rogue fanatics prepared to die for their murderous cause, the film has an eerie resonance and is perhaps even more chilling than it was when it was first seen.

After a drawn-out flirtation with nihilism, the film does end up migrating towards a more optimistic outcome as new moral imperative enters the frame, leading to a nerve-racking suspense sequence worthy of Alfred Hitchcock, with the would-be assassin suddenly realising that if he carries out his mission two young innocents will end up as collateral damage.  Director Wallace Worsley would deliver more impressive results on his next Chaney vehicle, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but The Ace of Hearts shows his inspired touch in more than a few scenes.  The film was originally to have ended with one of the conspirators, hideously disfigured after the bomb blast, visiting Forrest and Lilith in their mountain retreat, but fortunately producer Sam Goldwyn had the good sense to quash this and insist on a reshoot with a more believable conclusion.   The Ace of Hearts is a minor work when set against some of Lon Chaney's subsequent great films but it is a compelling mix of melodrama and suspense thriller, Chaney's humanity shining through in one unforgettable scene in which his character tries (and fails) to convince his brethren of the futility of violent action.

Film Synopsis

The members of a secret society meet and agree to execute a man who has become a danger to the civilised world.  A pack of playing cards is dealt, the member who draws the ace of hearts being the one who will carry out the assassination with a bomb disguised as a cigar case.  A young man named Forrest is ecstatic when he draws the ace, particularly as it allows him to win the admiration of the girl he loves, Lilith, the one woman in the society.  Forrest persuades Lilith to marry him on the eve of the assassination, to the chagrin of another member, Farallone, who is also madly in love with Lilith.  The next morning, Lilith finds that her love for Forrest is so strong that she cannot bear to risk him being killed in the assassination attempt.  Committed to his cause, Forrest ignores his wife's protestations and sets out for the restaurant where he works as a waiter and where he is to carry out the murder in broad daylight.  Before his target arrives, Forrest notices a young married couple sitting next to the table where he has placed the bomb...