London After Midnight (1927) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

In this silent film, vampires are suspected in an unsolved murder.

Cast & Crew

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Tod Browning

Lon Chaney

Marceline Day

Lucille Balfour

Henry B. Walthall

Sir James Hamlin

Percy Williams

Conrad Nagel

Photos & Videos

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Film Details

Also Known As

The Hypnotist

Genre

Silent

Crime

Drama

Horror

Release Date

Dec 3, 1927

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 3m

Sound

Silent

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.33 : 1

Film Length

5,687ft (7 reels)

Synopsis

Five years after the "suicide" death of Roger Balfour in his London home, detective-inspector Burke is still investigating, unable to believe that Balfour committed suicide. Sir James Hamlin, Balfour's closest friend; Arthur Hibbs, Hamlin's nephew; Lucille, Balfour's daughter; and the butler: these are all still suspected. Inspector Burke, an accomplished hypnotist, solves the mystery by hypnotizing the primary suspects, Hibbs and Hamlin, placing them in the murder setting, and observing their reactions. Drawing a blank with Hibbs, who is in love with Lucille, Burke discovers that his man is Hamlin.

Director

Tod Browning

Cast

Lon Chaney

Marceline Day

Lucille Balfour

Henry B. Walthall

Sir James Hamlin

Percy Williams

Conrad Nagel

Polly Moran

Edna Tichenor

Claude King

Crew

Tod Browning

Lucia Coulter

Joe Farnham

Merritt B. Gerstad

Cedric Gibbons

Arnold Gillespie

Harry Reynolds

Waldemar Young

Photo Collections

Film Details

Also Known As

The Hypnotist

Genre

Silent

Crime

Drama

Horror

Release Date

Dec 3, 1927

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 3m

Sound

Silent

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.33 : 1

Film Length

5,687ft (7 reels)

Articles

London After Midnight (1927)

October 31, 2002

Turner Classic Movies' Lon Chaney tribute on August 15th will be haunted by classic creep shows including a special showing of the lost masterpiece, London After Midnight (1927), reconstructed entirely from stills. It will be the first time the film has been seen in more than 50 years in any format, as the last print known to exist was destroyed in a vault fire at MGM in the 1960s. Listed on the American Film Institute's Ten Most Wanted "Lost" Films, London After Midnight is referred to by proponents as the most famous of lost films.

Though no actual film footage is known to exist, award-winning filmmaker/archivist Rick Schmidlin (he worked on the restorations of Touch of Evil and Greed) has been able to faithfully reconstruct the entire narrative through an extensive collection of more than 200 still photographs and a complete continuity script. A new score by acclaimed composer Robert Israel will complete the presentation. In it, Lon Chaney showed off his talents as a make-up artist, creating what became the first real American vampire, complete with the elements that children today associate with the sinister creatures: eyes bulging in their sockets, menacing pointed teeth and a cape.

Producer: Irving Thalberg
Director: Tod Browning
Stills Restoration Director: Rick Schmidlin
Screenplay: Waldemar Young, Joseph Farnham, Tod Browning (based on the story "The Hypnotist")
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, A. Arnold Gillespie
Cinematography: Merritt B. Gerstad
Editing: Harry Reynolds, Errol Taggart
Music for stills restoration: Robert Israel
Cast: Lon Chaney (Burke), Marceline Day (Lucille Balfor), Henry B. Walthall (Sir James Hamlin), Percy Williams (Butler), Conrad Nagel (Arthur Hibbs), Polly Moran (Miss Smithson).
BW-40m. Closed captioning.

London After Midnight (1927)

London After Midnight (1927)

Turner Classic Movies' Lon Chaney tribute on August 15th will be haunted by classic creep shows including a special showing of the lost masterpiece, London After Midnight (1927), reconstructed entirely from stills. It will be the first time the film has been seen in more than 50 years in any format, as the last print known to exist was destroyed in a vault fire at MGM in the 1960s. Listed on the American Film Institute's Ten Most Wanted "Lost" Films, London After Midnight is referred to by proponents as the most famous of lost films. Though no actual film footage is known to exist, award-winning filmmaker/archivist Rick Schmidlin (he worked on the restorations of Touch of Evil and Greed) has been able to faithfully reconstruct the entire narrative through an extensive collection of more than 200 still photographs and a complete continuity script. A new score by acclaimed composer Robert Israel will complete the presentation. In it, Lon Chaney showed off his talents as a make-up artist, creating what became the first real American vampire, complete with the elements that children today associate with the sinister creatures: eyes bulging in their sockets, menacing pointed teeth and a cape. Producer: Irving Thalberg Director: Tod Browning Stills Restoration Director: Rick Schmidlin Screenplay: Waldemar Young, Joseph Farnham, Tod Browning (based on the story "The Hypnotist") Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, A. Arnold Gillespie Cinematography: Merritt B. Gerstad Editing: Harry Reynolds, Errol Taggart Music for stills restoration: Robert Israel Cast: Lon Chaney (Burke), Marceline Day (Lucille Balfor), Henry B. Walthall (Sir James Hamlin), Percy Williams (Butler), Conrad Nagel (Arthur Hibbs), Polly Moran (Miss Smithson). BW-40m. Closed captioning.

Quotes

Trivia

Lon Chaney wore a set of false animal teeth that hurt him so much that he could only wear them for a few minutes at a time.

This film is presumed lost. Unfounded rumors persist, however, that a print exists in a private collection but that the owner refuses to allow it to be archivally preserved.

This is on The American Film Institute's list of the most sought after "lost films".

It is believed that this film existed until 1967. Inventory records indicated that the only remaining print was being stored in MGM's vault #7 which was destroyed by fire in 1967. By that time, all other elements had been destroyed or were missing.

Notes

The working title of this film was The Hypnotist, which was also the title of Tod Browning's original story. According to modern sources, the only known surviving print of London After Midnight was destroyed in a fire in the mid-1960s, in 2002 the picture was reconstructed by Rick Schmidlin through original art titles and still photographs. The credits above were obtained from that reconstruction.

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