Outside the Law

Outside the Law (1921)

The three cleverest crooks in the world!

Silent Madden and his daughter Molly have left the criminal underworld of San Francisco thanks to the wise teachings of Chang Low, a Confucian master. But the evil Black Mike Sylva is determined to frame Madden to avenge a mistake from the past…

Date of release
1921-01-06
TMDB
6.2 / 10 (22)
Runtime
1h 16m
Genres
Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Director
Tod Browning

Casting

Interesting facts

Outside the Law is a 1920 American pre-Code crime film produced, directed and co-written by Tod Browning and starring Priscilla Dean, Lon Chaney and Wheeler Oakman.

Production

The original print of Outside the Law was considerably longer in its original 1920 release. It was thought lost for some 50 years until a print was located in 1975. The newly found print was the 1926 re-release of the film by Universal after Chaney and Browning had moved over to MGM and achieved greater stardom.

Assistant Director Leo McCarey reminisced "Browning was ill so the studio sent me over to direct Chaney. At night a thousand people gathered in the street to watch me direct him. I walked back and forth like a little DeMille. I went over and said "Lon, at least give the appearance of listening to me".....but he knew exactly what to do. I gave the appearance of directing him for three nights in a row and made a big impression on the crowds."

Through clever editing, Chaney's "Ah Wing" character shoots his "Black Mike" Silva character during the melee. The shootout itself took two weeks to film, although it only lasts a few minutes on screen.

The film was rejected by the British Board of Film Censors in 1927, but was later passed with an A certificate in 1931. It has carried a 12 certificate since 2022.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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