Mockery [Terror] [The Harelip]

Lon Chaney (starring)
Benjamin Christensen (director, story writer)
Bradley King, Joseph Farnham (screenwriters)
Barbara Bedford (starring)

Beverly Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], 1927. Draft script for the 1927 silent film "Mockery," seen here under two early draft titles "Terror" and "The Harelip."

Lon Chaney is a half-witted Russian peasant who is promised food and a place to live if he escorts a Countess (Bedford) safely home. He does so, despite becoming caught up in the Bolshevik revolution, and even moreso in a case of terminally unrequited love for the countess.

Danish director Christensen is best known for his avant garde work, and in particular the seminal documentary, "Haxan: Witchcraft through the Ages" (1922). Between 1922 and 1929 Christensen made films for MGM and Warner Brothers/First National, this being one of his last silent films. Like many of the films from the silent era, many unusually bold turns are made, with many touches that affirm Christensen's status as an auteur. The film was rediscovered and restored in the 1970s.

Tan titled wrappers, rubber-stamped copy No. 0378 and production No. 1608, dated May 18, 1927, with credits for screenwriter Bradley King. Title page integral with the first page of the text, dated May 17, 1927, with credits for screenwriters Bradley King and Benjamin Christensen. 133 leaves, with unnumbered leaves. Ditto style mimeograph duplication. Pages Very Good plus, wrapper Good bound with two gold brads.


[Book #140438]