The Tower of Lies (lost Lon Chaney drama film; 1925)

Poster for the film.

Status: Lost

The Tower of Lies is an American silent drama film, released on October 11th, 1925 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed Victor Sjöström and starred Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer. It was based off the 1914 novel The Emperor of Portugallia.^[1]

Plot

Jan (Lon Chaney) is a struggling Scandinavian farmer, poor and dispassionate when it comes to life. Even when his daughter Glory (Norma Shearer) is born, he is indifferent, but later comes around and finds happiness from her. Jan even plays with her, pretending to be leaders of a land where all dreams come true. He would even include another boy, a farmer named August (William Haines), in these fantasies.

As Glory turns eighteen, she has attracted suitors, including August and Lars (Ian Keith), who is the nephew of Eric Gunnerson, the owner of the farm land Jan works on. Eric is a kind man, and forgiving when it comes to debts, which Jan struggles to pay off. Eric is crushed by a tree struck by lightning, and dies instantly. Lars hands over Eric's business to a lawyer, who orders Jan to pay his debts within a six month time frame. Glory takes it upon herself to earn the money in the city, upsetting Jan when her letters to him stop. At the end of the six months, Lars informs Jan she paid the debts off, but never returned home.

Jan begins to go to crazy while she's gone for years, and even waits at the dock every day for day. She finally does return, but Jan is too far gone, and begins to believe the pretend play from years earlier, believing he's an Emperor and she's the Empress. During this, the villages try to force Glory to leave again. August however confesses his lover for her, which she rejects. Glory is forced to leave after constant taunting, including from Lars who's responsible for her time away in the city, and the "life of sin" that angers the villagers. As Glory leaves by boat, Lars falls in a paddlewheel, and dies. Jan also attempts to rush towards Glory, but falls into the water and also dies. Glory ends up returning to the town, and marries August. ^[2]

Availability

The film is now considered a lost film, with no surviving prints of the film known to exist. As it was a MGM film, it was likely lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire, along with several other Lon Chaney films such as Thunder and The Big City.

There have been rumors of an existing print in Denmark, though it's unknown where they came from, and the validity of such rumors. ^[3] It is possible it also may have a surviving print in Sweden, as director Victor Sjöström asked for a copy from Louis Mayer of MGM, who said to "Send it".^[4] However, it is also unknown if the film was ever sent to Sweden either. The Denmark rumors may source from this.