''The Tower of Lies'' is a 1925 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Victor Sjöström Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...

. It was written by Agnes Christine Johnston and Max Marcin, based upon

Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish author. She published her first novel, '' Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she wa ...

's 1914 novel '' The Emperor of Portugallia'' (MGM actually purchased the story rights in 1922). The film was supposed to be called ''The Emperor of Portugallia'', but was later changed to ''The Tower of Lies''. Released one year after ''

He Who Gets Slapped ''He Who Gets Slapped'' ( rus, Тот, кто получает пощёчины, links=no) is a play in four acts by Russian dramatist Leonid Andreyev; completed in August 1915 and first produced in that same year at the Moscow Art Theatre on ...

'', the film marks the second collaboration between Sjöström,

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

and

Norma Shearer Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated ingénues. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'N ...

. Also starring are

William Haines Charles William Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973) was an American actor and interior designer. Haines was discovered by a talent scout and signed with Goldwyn Pictures in 1922. His career gained momentum when he received favo ...

Ian Keith Ian Keith (born Keith Ross; February 27, 1899 – March 26, 1960) was an American actor. Early years Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school p ...

and

Lew Cody Lew Cody (born Louis Joseph Côté; February 22, 1884 – May 31, 1934) was an American stage and film actor whose career spanned the silent film and early sound film age. He gained notoriety in the late 1910s for playing "male vamps" in films ...

.Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Tower of Lies''
at silentera.com The film's sets were designed by the art director James Basevi and Cedric Gibbons. The film was shot on location in the Sacramento River Delta, Lake Arrowhead and the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles. It took 53 days to complete at a cost of $185,000. It grossed $653,000 worldwide. "Film Mercury" voted Chaney's performance as one of the year's best. It is considered a lost film, although rumors persist that a print may exist in Denmark. Stills exist showing Chaney in his "Jan" makeup, which took him three hours each day to apply.Blake, Michael F. (1998). ''The Films of Lon Chaney''. Vestal Press Inc. p. 153. .

Plot

Jan (Lon Chaney) is a Swedish farmer and Glory (Norma Shearer) is his beloved daughter. When she was a child, she and her father used to role-play being the Emperor and Empress of Portugallia, a fairy tale land where dreams come true, and a neighboring farm boy named August would play the Prince. Glory grows up to be a beautiful young woman, and both August and Jan's vile landlord Lars (Iam Keith) vie for her attention. Jan incurs some debts he cannot pay, and to save him from bankruptcy, his daughter temporarily moves to the big city supposedly to get a job (finally allowing Lars to lead her into prostitution). After a time, the landlord tells Jan his daughter has succeeded in paying off his debts, but will not tell him how she earned the money. Realizing that his daughter has been selling herself to help him avoid bankruptcy, Jan's mind slowly begins to unravel. Years pass and his daughter never returns to the farm, and every day Jan waits down by the riverboat hoping she will come home. Eventually she does return to him, but by this time, Jan's mind has snapped and he actually believes that he is the Emperor of Portugallia and she is his Empress. Jan has taken to wearing a strange military uniform and a circus hat, and his hair and long beard have all turned gray (see photo). Glory's fine attire leads the villagers to believe that she has been living as a prostitute and they demand she leave town. Only August is willing to stand by her and protect her honor. Glory boards the local steamboat at the docks in order to leave town, and her father follows her, falling off the pier in his haste and drowning. When the ship's captain throws the boat into reverse in an attempt to save Jan, Lars (who is taunting Glory from the ship's deck) is thrown into the paddlewheel and crushed to death. Glory winds up marrying August and settling down in town with him.

Cast

Critical Comments

"Notwithstanding that TOWER OF LIES is a sincerely made picture and excellent from the artistic and literary viewpoints, it is too heavy for the picture audiences. When finished the impression left is that one more prostitute has reformed and been forgiven...The acting is aces and the direction masterful. But with all this, TOWER OF LIES can never be anything more than a soggy picture made bearable by the leavening forces of Seastrom, Chaney and Shearer." ---Variety "THE TOWER OF LIES is a beautiful production with a flash of poignant drama at its end...Chaney and Miss Shearer especially are splendid." ---Moving Picture World "It seems as if Mr. Chaney had had too much to say about his own performance, for he overacts and his make-up, consisting largely of a rich crop of iron gray hair and whiskers and beard, seem to fit well without looking as if they belonged to him. Mr. Chaney's exaggerated actions and expressions appear to have been contagious, for Mr. Seastrom himself betrays a weakness for overemphasizing a number of points." ---The New York Times "A distinctive and rare artistic achievement... A very worthy effort and yet probably not the best box office. Chaney passes by his usual grotesque characterization and does something just a bit different." ---Film Daily "(Chaney) does not resort to the grotesque, but from the first sequences, where he appears as the tiller of the soil who neither loves nor hates....to the last when he becomes a demented old man, his interpretation is pathetically convincing." --- Movie Magazine "Mr. Chaney's performance struck me as being a notable one. Toward the close of the film, Chaney is far more than a mere artificer. He really is Jan, the gnarled, mad old peasant." ---New York Tribune "Though Mr. Seastrom's direction and the acting of the players are masterful, the theme is not very pleasant. Some picture-goers may like this picture very well, while others will not. Mr. Chaney does excellent work and awakens warm sympathy in a role that is the exact opposite in nature to thse he has been given in pictures lately." ----Harrison's Reports

Preservation

''The Tower of Lies'' is now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

. The last known surviving copy of the film was reportedly destroyed in the

1965 MGM vault fire On August 10, 1965, a fire erupted in Vault 7, a storage facility, at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio (MGM) backlot (now Sony Pictures Studios) in Culver City, California. It was caused by an electrical short explosively igniting stored nitrate f ...

References

External links