Arrow Video Restores Director Joseph Pevney's Man Of A Thousand Faces For Blu-ray Release On Oct. 29

The opening credits say it all.   The entire motion picture industry went quiet on August the 27^th in 1930 to honor the passing of a screen legend, Lon Chaney.   He was the “Man of a Thousand Faces” and in 1957 his career was honored in a film of the same name, Man of a Thousand Faces, directed by Joseph Pevney (Tammy and the Bachelor, Torpedo Run, The Midnight Story … plus 14 episodes of the original Star Trek television series) and starring James Cagney as Lon Chaney.

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, announced this past week that a new 2K restoration from the original camera negative is planned for distribution on Oct. 29 as a new Blu-ray edition.

This film project was the baby of James Cagney and famed Hollywood publicist Ralph Wheelwright (MGM and the Samuel Bronston Film Company … his career included a stint as a reporter for William Randolph Hearst, which in turned had him assigned to supervise the public relations for Marion Davies, Hearst’s long-time lover and companion).     Wheelwright provided the story (which was nominated for an Oscar) … filmmaker Joseph Pevney came to the project when producer Robert Arthur worked out a deal with fellow-producer Ross Hunter for Pevney to direct Debbie Reynolds in the film adaptation of the Cid Ricketts Sumner novel, Tammy and the Bachelor).

Other production tidbits include Robert Evans as Irving Thalberg, in real life he could have passed for Thalberg’s twin (so said Norma Shearer, Thalberg’s widow) … he would go on to become a major film producer for Paramount Pictures, delivering such gems as Chinatown (nominated for an Oscar as producer), Urban Cowboy and Marathon Man.   And, the film has another one of those little twists, Carrie Chaney, Lon Chaney’s sister, is played by none other than Jeanne Cagney, James Cagney’s real-life sister.

As to bonus goodies, film scholar Tim Lucas (“Mario Bava All the Colors of the Dark”) provides commentary and there is newly-produced featurette featuring film critic Kim Newman that is titled “The Man Behind a Thousand Faces.”