Movies - London After Midnight

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	Movies - London After Midnight

London After Midnight is a 1927 silent mystery film with horrific overtones. It is also a lost film; quite possibly the most famous lost film ever. It stars Lon Chaney, Sr., Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran and is directed by Tod Browning.

Synopsis

The setting of the film is (then contemporary) 1920s London.

Sir Roger Balfour is found shot to death in his home. Inspector Burke (Chaney) of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. The suspects are Williams (the butler), Sir James Hamlin (Walthall) and his nephew, Arthur Hibbs (Nagel). A suicide note is found and the case is supposedly closed.

Five years later, the old residence of Balfour is taken up by a man in a beaver-skin hat, with large fangs and gruesome, sunken eyes. His assistant is a ghostly woman, with flowing robes and raven black hair. Could it be Balfour, returned from the dead?

Background

The film was well-received at the box-office, grossing almost 500,000 USD. It was the most successful collaborative film between Chaney and Browning.

Unfortunately, it is now lost: no copies of the film are known to exist, although there have been attempts at reconstructions based on the script and publicity shots. Browning later remade the film, with some changes to the plot, as Mark of the Vampire
.

The last known print of the film was stored by MGM in Vault #7. In 1965, an electrical fire broke out in the vault that destroyed countless films from the silent era, including this last known print.

Reconstruction

In 2003, Turner Classic Movies commissioned famed restoration producer Rick Schmidlin (Greed, Touch of Evil
) to produce a 45 min. reconstruction of the film, using still photographs. This was well received by horror fans and Schmidlin received the Rondo Award for his efforts.

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Movies - London After Midnight

Synopsis

Background

Reconstruction

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