Outside the Law
Cast & Crew
Tod Browning
Priscilla Dean
Wheeler Oakman
Lon Chaney
Ralph Lewis
E. A. Warren
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Silent Madden and his daughter Molly, both criminals, are persuaded to reform by Confucian Chang Low, but a frame-up by gang leader Black Mike sends Madden to prison. Unaware of Black Mike's role in the frame-up, an embittered Molly joins his gang and agrees to aid in a jewel robbery, but learning that she likewise is to be framed, she and Dapper Bill Ballard abscond with the jewels and hide out in a tiny apartment. Molly resists Dapper Bill's declarations of love, but the affection of a young boy from the neighboring apartment eventually changes her poor opinion of love and motherhood. The gang finally discovers Bill and Molly's hideout, and a battle ensues that leaves Black Mike dead and Bill and Molly in the hands of the police. Chang Low intervenes, however, and with the return of the jewels, Bill and Molly are freed.
Director
Tod Browning
Cast
Priscilla Dean
Wheeler Oakman
Lon Chaney
Ralph Lewis
E. A. Warren
Stanley Goethals
Melbourne Macdowell
Wilton Taylor
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film opened in Los Angeles on December 26, 1920, but its general release was in January 1921. It was re-cut and re-released in mid-1926, and Universal and Tod Browning remade the story in 1930. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.4085.) Contemporary reviewers credited the scenario to Hubbard alone, but the copyright records credit both Lucien Hubbard and Browning. Pre-production charts in trade journals listed "Harris" as the film's cinematographer, but William Fildew replaced Harris in the charts at the beginning of production. Tom Gubbins worked on the film as a consultant on the authenticity of the Chinese characterizations. Exteriors for the film were shot in San Francisco in Chinatown, on Nob Hill, and in the waterfront area.
