The Unknown

The Unknown is a 1927 American silent film directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney as a circus knife thrower who hides his arms and a telltale double thumb by posing as an armless performer, and Joan Crawford as the woman he loves, who has a phobia of men's hands. After murdering the circus owner and fearing his thumb will expose him, he has his arms surgically amputated to win her affection, only to learn she has since fallen for another performer. Regarded as one of the finest of the ten films Chaney and Browning made together, it is noted for its psychological intensity and its unusual, sympathetic treatment of physical disability, and it appears on the reference list 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die; long feared lost, it was restored by the George Eastman Museum. Enumerated as a replacement candidate after The Passion of Joan of Arc was found already live on the arts atlas (K5 seam pre check).