This is the biography of famous actor Lon Chaney, portrayed by the more- famous James Cagney. Normally, I like biographies and I am a big, big fan of Cagney....but this film turned me off fairly quickly, and I wish the "Yankee Doodle" man had turned down this role.<br /><br />Dorothy Malone plays an awful, selfish woman who was Chaney's first wife. She is so annoying I lost interest in this story. The scenes where Malone freaked out over Lon's parents being deaf and dumb, and her subsequent tirades, plus Chaney apologizing for his parent's physical handicaps - come on!! - totally turned me off.<br /><br />It also looked strange to see Cagney in his mid '50s playing a guy in his early '20s. Give me a break! That was poor casting if I ever saw it. What a disaster this film turned out to be. I prefer to remember Mr. Cagney for his great roles in the 1930s and 1940s.....not stinkers like this.