The silent horror film London After Midnight, which starred the legendary Lon Chaney (father of the also legendary Wolf Man star Lon Chaney Jr.) did very well when it was released in 1927, earning over a million dollars at the box office on a budget of $151,666.14. But that didn’t help the film when it came time for it to be preserved. Every known existing print of London After Midnight was destroyed, with the last copy going up in the flames in the 1965 MGM vault fire. For almost fifty years, genre fans have been wondering what it would be like to watch London After Midnight. And now film historian Daniel Titley has written an entire book dedicated to movie. Titled London After Midnight: The Lost Film, this book was released on December 28th and has quickly become a bestseller. You can pick up a copy at THIS LINK.
London After Midnight: The Lost Film has the following description: For decades, the mystique of Lon Chaney’s 1927 mystery-thriller, London After Midnight, has pondered the minds of horror buffs, silent film enthusiasts and film collectors alike. Before Dracula (1931), before Mark of the Vampire (1935), London After Midnight was America’s first cinematic delve into the notion of vampirism by incorporating elements of author Bram Stoker’s original novel (Dracula) while careful to sidestep the outright supernatural, as was the style for American “horror” films of the 1920s.
From its production, to its mysterious disappearance in the 1960s, and now its endearment having bled through into the 21st century, the hypnotic lure of London After Midnight has elevated it to becoming the most sought-after of lost films in silent cinema history. With countless vehement searches in archives and collections across the globe, no such print has yet surfaced. In its wake, a series of publications and articles have sought to shed light on the mysterious film title, each contributing a unique leading perspective in addressing the many questions and uncertainties surrounding it; a lost masterpiece? or a contemporary flop?
Now, historian Daniel Titley brings us the very latest written and compiled compendium in London After Midnight: The Lost Film. Containing within its Gothic exterior, a treasure trove of newly-unearthed finds ranging from the fascinating to the impossible, this heavy-knit milestone book presents, most-notably, newly-found nitrate remnants from the actual ill-fated film itself, having laid dormant for years and are finally brought into the light, and scholarly perspective for the very first time, all richly-illustrated and presented in this new colossal coffee table volume of over 420 pages dripping with a wide gallery of never-before-seen materials from stills, to rare lost newly-translated texts, to the early production documents, posters and press-books to name a few. Mr. Titley has meticulously crafted in-depth revelatory dissertations for each chapter exploring the film’s long-standing legacy: from production, distribution and original critical reception, to even delving further into the fuller unknown details surrounding the strange case of Robert Williams who was said to have committed a murder after having witnessed the film upon its release in England. The study also finally laments the often-blurred details of when and exactly how London After Midnight became suddenly lost to future generations. Ultimately, London After Midnight: The Lost Film is a book that is sure to rejuvenate belief in hopefuls and confound naysayers alike, and thus keeping the vault door slightly ajar for any new potential discovery.
London After Midnight was directed by Tod Browning, based on his story The Hypnotist. The film starred Lon Chaney in two roles, Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall, Polly Moran, Edna Tichenor, and Claude King. Eight years after the silent film’s release, Browning remade it as a talkie called Mark of the Vampire, starring Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi in the roles Chaney had played.
Will you be reading London After Midnight: The Lost Film? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I will be checking this one out for sure.