Lon Chaney has been nicknamed "the man of 1000 faces" for his amazing ability to make himself look like so many different people. I have seen an awful lot of his films and am amazed at his makeup and characterizations--they were very impressive. However, at the same time, he played a couple of Asian roles where, frankly, he sucked. Perhaps for a White guy who doesn't look Asian he was pretty good in films like MR. WU and OUTSIDE THE LAW--but he still didn't look like a native! Fortunately in OUTSIDE THE LAW the film does not rely completely on this silly characterization. That's because although Chaney plays the part of 'Ah Wing' (a Chinese man), he also plays an evil gangster ('Black Mike')--and Black Mike is one of the major players in the film and Ah Wing is not. So, it's bad but the film doesn't hinge on the Ah Wing character.
The film is rather moralistic--beginning and ending with a quote supposedly from Confucius about enlightened leaders producing a Utopian society and all that. In other words, good politicians can somehow make society overcome its baser nature (something Freud and many others would probably not agree with).
As an illustration, you see the story of a gangster who is changing--giving up his evil ways. Yet, despite his new desire to do good, Black Mike is determined to destroy the man and his daughter. So, he tries to have the gangster framed for murdering a cop. Well, the plan isn't quite 100% perfect--the gangster is convicted of the crime he didn't commit but this enlightened legal system is fooled enough that he serves 8 months for being at the scene of the crime.
Here is the odd part. Despite this minor conviction, the gangster's daughter goes off the deep end. She joins forces with Black Mike to commit a jewel robbery and is now a hardened woman--presumably because of her father's wrongful conviction. So, we are asked to believe that a short sentence in prison causes this daughter to switch from the side of niceness to evil so quickly--not a particularly believable idea. Had they done the transition more slowly it would have worked more convincingly for me. What also isn't so convincing is how easy it was later in the film for the now evil lady to be turned towards niceness one again. She sure did seem fickle!! All this leads to a huge confrontation with Black Mike and there is certainly a lot more to this story. But, these are all things you'll need to find out for yourself.
Overall, while far from believable, the story is interesting and very well constructed for 1920. For lovers of silents, I'd give this film an 8. For the average shmoe, I'd score it a 6. Well worth watching--but just don't expect magic when it comes to seeing Ah Wing!
The film is rather moralistic--beginning and ending with a quote supposedly from Confucius about enlightened leaders producing a Utopian society and all that. In other words, good politicians can somehow make society overcome its baser nature (something Freud and many others would probably not agree with).
As an illustration, you see the story of a gangster who is changing--giving up his evil ways. Yet, despite his new desire to do good, Black Mike is determined to destroy the man and his daughter. So, he tries to have the gangster framed for murdering a cop. Well, the plan isn't quite 100% perfect--the gangster is convicted of the crime he didn't commit but this enlightened legal system is fooled enough that he serves 8 months for being at the scene of the crime.
Here is the odd part. Despite this minor conviction, the gangster's daughter goes off the deep end. She joins forces with Black Mike to commit a jewel robbery and is now a hardened woman--presumably because of her father's wrongful conviction. So, we are asked to believe that a short sentence in prison causes this daughter to switch from the side of niceness to evil so quickly--not a particularly believable idea. Had they done the transition more slowly it would have worked more convincingly for me. What also isn't so convincing is how easy it was later in the film for the now evil lady to be turned towards niceness one again. She sure did seem fickle!! All this leads to a huge confrontation with Black Mike and there is certainly a lot more to this story. But, these are all things you'll need to find out for yourself.
Overall, while far from believable, the story is interesting and very well constructed for 1920. For lovers of silents, I'd give this film an 8. For the average shmoe, I'd score it a 6. Well worth watching--but just don't expect magic when it comes to seeing Ah Wing!