Outside the Law (1921) on Netflix
NR19211h 16mCrimeDramaRomanceThriller
Silent Madden, a criminal leader in San Francisco, and his daughter Molly left crime behind after the counsel of Chang Lo, a Confucian philosopher. Black Mike Sylva frames Madden for murder.
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- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb6.6/10847 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Silent Madden runs a criminal gang in San Francisco, and his daughter Molly, known as Silky Moll, belongs to it. Both of them have turned away from crime after the counsel of Chang Lo, a Confucian philosopher in Chinatown. Black Mike Sylva, another gangster, means to frame Madden for a murder, settling an old mistake. The charge costs Molly her faith in abiding the law, and she goes back to the life she had given up.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Outside the Law (1921)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Tod Browning fell ill during the shoot, so assistant director Leo McCarey was sent to direct Lon Chaney; a thousand people gathered in the street at night to watch, and McCarey only pretended to direct Chaney, who knew exactly what to do.
SPOILER
Lon Chaney played both Ah Wing and the gangster Black Mike Sylva, and through clever editing Ah Wing shoots Black Mike during the melee; the shootout took two weeks to film though it lasts only a few minutes on screen.- The British Board of Film Censors rejected Outside the Law in 1927, but later passed it with an A certificate in 1931; it has carried a 12 certificate since 2022.
- Outside the Law's original print was considerably longer than what survives; the film was thought lost for some 50 years until a print turned up in 1975, and that print was the 1926 re-release.
- Outside the Law was the first time Lon Chaney played an Asian character; he appeared in dual supporting roles, and it was his second film with director Tod Browning.
