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Lon Chaney, Jr. : Horror Film Star, 1906-1973

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If you know nothing about the films and career of Lon Chaney Jr., then you will get something out of this book. However, if you are like me (and probably most people who would be interested in reading a book about Lon Chaney Jr.), you already know about his film career and most of the books content is going to be stuff you already know. I wanted to read about his life and times, which it has a little of, but mostly it was overviews of his movies. Personally I would rather just watch the movies instead of reading about them.

There has never been a definitive biography of Lon Chaney, Jr., and this book does nothing to fill that void. Based primarily on other source books, author Don G. Smith displays little eveidence of hard research in this text. It is overladen with long-winded synopses of Chaney Jr.'s films, while the actor's early life, growing up with his father, his mother's attempted suicide and subsequently being lead to believe she was dead are hardly dealt with. It is quite obvious that the author simply pulled a few previously written books and cut-and-pasted the material into his text. A shoddy piece of writing and film research. The filmogrpahy is very minimal, but the TV appearances are well detailed. In all, Lon Chaney, Jr. does deserve a detailed biography. This one isn't it!

As a Lon Chaney,Jr.fan,I feel that this book,though interesting,leaves one strangely disatisfied at it's conclusion. I really expected much more from this somewhat one-sided biography. The portrait that Mr.Smith provides about Lon Chaney,Jr,is often far too negative.

I am glad that a book about Lon Chaney Junior has been written. It provides some interviews that can also be found in "Universal Horrors."

Don Smith goes off base with some of his underdeveloped theories, especially the claim that Creighton Chaney was a "latent homosexual."

Why bother with such theories?
I would have liked to have read more about Chaney's work ethic. The people I met who worked with Lon Chaney Junior, found the actor to be a nice man who suffered from the disease of alcoholism.

Disappointing book overall, but a good one to catalog his movies.