Popcorn Disabilities: The Unknown and Lon Chaney's Armless Lust

Welcome to this installment of Popcorn Disability, the series looking at disability through the lens of pop culture leading to the release of my book Popcorn Disabilities. This is a series exclusive to Gold Film Mavens.

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We started this month, focused on disabled characters in horror films, looking at Mark in Friday the 13th Part 2, a horny guy just looking to get some. I figured it's worth it to close things out with another horny guy looking to get some: Lon Chaney's Alonzo the Armless in 1927's The Unknown.

Second only to 1932’s Freaks, The Unknown is one of the most audacious pieces of disability cinema. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that The Unknown and Freaks are directed by the same master of the macabre (and fellow questionable disabled ally) Tod Browning?