I've been fascinated by the wonders and wizardry of Hollywood's great make-up men since 1970 when I peered into my first issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Like so many kids of the day, I was the sort enraptured by the distorted faces I saw within those pages, most coming from the mind and magic hands of the legendary Lon Chaney.

In A Tribute to Lon Chaney - The Man of a Thousand Faces amateur producer/director Scott Essman and his friends at Visionary Media descended upon Universal Studio's Universal Citywalk Cinema to stage a mock interview between fluttery female reporter, Ruth Biery, and Lon Chaney. the result is captured on this exclusive, non-commercial DVD. It's well authored and the purple disc played fine in my player.

I applaud the program for its inventive manner of providing historical insight yet it does suffer some from the low-budget execution. The main program - the interview - runs for approximately 30 minutes in which Mark Arnott portrays Chaney while Robbie Troy is dolled up as Ruth Biery. Seated side-by-side at stage left below the silver screen, Troy as Biery seeks to elicit the secrets and sensibility of Hollywood's most famous yet mysterious artiste. Arnott as Chaney plays it rather well, offering a rehearsed yet simultaneously spontaneous performance as he provides his answers and slyly ducks some of the reporter's probings. The two are joined on stage by other actors who are made up as some of Chaney's more notable creations including Erik from Phantom of the Opera, the vampire creature from the lost London After Midnight, and Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It's an interesting format, really, and imparts some excellent history (acknowledged to have been partly sourced from the research and writings of Michael Blake). This main program is followed by a 15-minute behind-the-scenes feature that shows makeup applications of some of Chaney's most famous characters.

All in all, I'd say this is recommended viewing for all long-time monster fans. It's not commercially available but you may sniff around www.lonchaney.com and perhaps inquire about it there.

Overall Grade: B-minus.