THE TRAP On Blu-ray From Kino

 

Kino continues to release notable silent features on Blu-ray. This time it's a disc featuring Lon Chaney and his 1922 film THE TRAP. 

Chaney plays Gaspard, an earnest, if somewhat naive, French-Canadian trapper. Gaspard is a bit of a country bumpkin, and his mine is taken over by city slicker Benson (Alan Hale). Benson also winds up marrying the woman that Gaspard loves. Seven years go by. Benson's life becomes a shambles, while Gaspard plots to hurt the man even more. Gaspard sets Benson up and gets him thrown in prison, while also taking custody of Benson's young boy after the death of his wife. Gaspard wants to hurt the boy as well, but he comes to love him. When Gaspard learns that Benson will be released early from prison, he fears that he will take the boy away--so the trapper decides to use a wild wolf in a plot to finish off his nemesis once and for all. 

THE TRAP is a very melodramatic and very sentimental tale that is mainly worth seeing just for Chaney alone. The actor doesn't use any of his famous makeup tricks here (other than sporting a wig), but he once again plays a man tortured by an unrequited love. Chaney plays the simple Gaspard in a broad manner (maybe too broadly for some tastes), but it must be pointed out that this is not meant to be a subtle character. Chaney is best in the second part of the film, when he shows that Gaspard is far more cunning and clever than one would expect. 

It's strange to see famed character actor Alan Hale Sr. as a upper-class romantic rival to the roughneck Gaspard. (If this movie had been made in the mid-1930s, Hale would probably have been cast in Chaney's part.) The movie is helped by the scenic California locations that double for Canada, but I wouldn't say it's one of Chaney's better films. The story is very slight (the entire movie only runs about 53 minutes long). The intertitles try to mimic a French-Canadian accent for Gaspard, and due to this they are hard to make out sometimes. The music score is provided by Kevin Lax, and it thankfully works with the film instead of attracting attention to itself.

A text after the film states that the print used is from a 4K restoration by Universal of 16mm surviving elements. The print (which has some subtle tints to it) looks very well for the most part. 

Included on this Region A Blu-ray is a very early short film in Lon Chaney's career called BY THE SUN'S RAYS. It's a 1914 Western which runs about 11 minutes. There's nothing all that notable about it, other than Chaney playing a clerk who schemes to steal from the mining company he works for. From the very first time he's onscreen, Chaney acts as suspicious as all get out, and he even gets a chance to assault the heroine. 

Also included is a 1995 documentary by Kino entitled LON CHANEY: BEHIND THE MASK. It runs a little over an hour and focuses mostly on Chaney's early film career, and his portrayals of criminals and the physically disabled. This film has plenty of rare footage, but it will be best appreciated by those who do not have a major knowledge of Chaney and his career. 

The fact that Kino has released a Universal restoration of a rare Lon Chaney title makes me hope that there will be further collaborations between the companies involving the Man with a Thousand Faces. THE TRAP isn't one of Chaney's best showcases, but it does provide more evidence that he was one of those rare breeds--a true character actor who could play outsiders but still carry the lead in a film and make the audience feel for him. Any Lon Chaney movie on Blu-ray, no matter what it is or what he plays in it, is worth appreciating.