LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT-- NOT FOUND!
Max Nineteennineteen
Special to The New York Times
In Old Theatre Being Torn Down,
An Elusive Lost Film Is Undiscovered
One of the most elusive of "lost" films, a 1927 silent featuring Lon
Chaney as one of filmdom's first vampires, failed to be rediscovered
Monday in time for an expected announcement today. The rediscovery
was widely expected as part of the demolition of an old nickelodeon
turned Elks' Hall in Piqua, Kansas.
"London After Midnight," directed by Tod Browning, who also directed
Bela Lugosi in "Dracula," has long been one of the most sought-after
missing titles in film history. The abandoned theatre in this remote
Kansas town was long thought to be exactly the sort of place where no
one would think to look for it. So the electrifying news that a rare
nitrate print of an MGM film from more than 75 years ago was not
discovered there Monday spread quickly through the closeknit community
of silent film aficionados on the Internet.
"I really thought today, of all days, would be the one," said Tony
Pantelli, a spokesman for AOL Time Warner's Turner Classic Movies.
"It seemed so certain that we would have it that we went ahead and
scheduled it this July. The possibility that it would not be found
yesterday so it could be announced today frankly never occurred to
us."
"We'll probably just have to show that stupid reconstruction again,"
Mr. Pantelli added.
Rick Schmidlin, the film restoration expert who led a 2002 project to
reconstruct the film using still photos taken during its production,
was similarly at a loss. "As exceptional as the reconstruction is,
there's no question that I was eagerly looking forward to comparing my
painstaking work with what Tod Browning had also been able to
accomplish with the same material." Mr, Schmidlin now expects to
spend the rest of the week listlessly finishing a jigsaw puzzle.
Others were less perturbed by the film's failure to appear. Michael
F. Blake, a makeup artist and Chaney biographer, said, "While sure,
I'd cut off both my arms to see it--and don't you dare say Chaney was
going to play Dracula--the fact is, no one who knows anything, a group
which does not include Forrest J. Ackerman, expected it to compare
with 'Tell It To The Marines.'"
Admiring a makeup case once owned by Chaney, whose "London After
Midnight" performance as a vampire made him an early contender for the
part of Dracula in Mr. Browning's 1932 film, Mr. Blake says, "That
role, in fact, was so convincing that Chaney was the leading candidate
for the role of Sgt. Carter on 'Gomer Pyle.'"
"Alas, due to his early death, we can never know what might have
been," muses Mr. Blake, as makeup sketches for Chaney's projected
roles as Ashley Wilkes, Stanley Kowalski and King Kong look down upon
him.
Film preservationist David Shepard, who spent most of Monday randomly
opening drawers in the expectation that a perfectly preserved print of
Erich von Stroheim's "The Devil's Pass-Key" would turn up in one of
them, called the news "destiny," but "tol'able." "Hey, it's not the
end of St. Petersburg if it's never found," said Mr. Shepard. "Even
if a print were found in France, it would probably be a poor quality
9.5mm dupe, with what the French call 'mauvaise' grain." A pun
involving the film's someday turning up in an Indian tomb was not
available at press-time.
British film historian Kevin Brownlow, best-known for his landmark
1967 study "The Parade's Gone By," said the film's failure to appear
today "doesn't mean bob's your uncle. For bollock's sake, I've got
sodding Raymond Bernard films in 35mm so beautiful Ginger Spice would
even shag you on 'em, and all any bleeding blighter seems to care
about is sodding London After Midnight. Go sod yourself, you
capitalist swine."
Jon Mirsalis, who provides the rinky-tink piano sound that adds such
merriment to screenings of old silent mellerdrammers such as "The
Passion of Joan of Arc" and "The Wind" in the San Francisco area,
replied to queries only by answering, "The film is lost."
Stephen Cooke
On 1 Apr 2003, Max Nineteennineteen wrote:
> LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT-- NOT FOUND!
<snip>
> Others were less perturbed by the film's failure to appear. Michael
> F. Blake, a makeup artist and Chaney biographer, said, "While sure,
> I'd cut off both my arms to see it
For this line, Max, you owe me a bottle of Windex and a roll of Bounty
paper towels.
swac
Mind if I post this in another group?
RP Faiola
Stacia
>One of the most elusive of "lost" films, a 1927 silent featuring Lon
>Chaney as one of filmdom's first vampires, failed to be rediscovered
>Monday in time for an expected announcement today. The rediscovery
>was widely expected as part of the demolition of an old nickelodeon
>turned Elks' Hall in Piqua, Kansas.
I've been to Piqua several times - there is no way there was an Elks'
hall there. Unless I'm completely starkers. But this is the sad part of
the April Fool's Day joke - any truth to the tearing down the building
bit, or did you just choose Piqua because it's where Buster Keaton was
born?
Now you got me worried.
>Admiring a makeup case once owned by Chaney, whose "London After
>Midnight" performance as a vampire made him an early contender for the
>part of Dracula in Mr. Browning's 1932 film, Mr. Blake says, "That
>role, in fact, was so convincing that Chaney was the leading candidate
>for the role of Sgt. Carter on 'Gomer Pyle.'"
Heh. What would he do, lay about and frighten the children? Or was he
cremated? Then he could be scattered about the set.
* * *
Stacia * sta...@world.std.com * http://world.std.com/~stacia/
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Eric Stott
RP Faiola wrote:
Okay, but there IS a big lost film announcement:
They finally found ROUGE SONG???
James Russell
wrote:
>LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT-- NOT FOUND!
Genius!
James R.
--
Hot Buttered Death http://hotbuttereddeath.blogspot.com/
Celluloid Dreams: Wednesday, 8pm AEST, 2SER 107.3 FM http://www.2ser.com/
Max Nineteennineteen
Be my guest, though I am baffled what it could be.
Max Nineteennineteen
Stephen Cooke
Yep, it was buried under some foundation.
swac
Is that the one starring the great Scottish comic and beautician Estee
"Harry" Lauder?
Eric Stott
Nahhh-- it starred the german commedian Charles Powderpuffy.
Eric Stott
James L. Neibaur
to get my hands on Heart Trouble or Hats Off?
thought so.
JN
Visit my recently redesigned web pages!!
my Favorite Movies web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/movies.html
and my Favorite Performers web page:
http://hometown.aol.com/jimneibr/myhomepage/rant.html
Stephen Cooke
In a rare collaboration with French comic genius Maxfactor Linder.
swac
El Dorado
news:aa2a3f47.03040...@posting.google.com...
> LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT-- NOT FOUND!
>
> Special to The New York Times
>
> In Old Theatre Being Torn Down,
> An Elusive Lost Film Is Undiscovered
>
> One of the most elusive of "lost" films, a 1927 silent featuring Lon
> Chaney as one of filmdom's first vampires, failed to be rediscovered
> Monday in time for an expected announcement today. The rediscovery
> was widely expected as part of the demolition of an old nickelodeon
> turned Elks' Hall in Piqua, Kansas.
>
I dunno who Max 1919 is, but this is about the cleverest parody I've ever
read. Thanks, Max, it gave me a good laugh. (Several times.)
Dan N.
Eric Stott
And Featuring Mary Kay Francis.
Eric Stott
James Roots
> Am I the only one in here who would crawl over London After Midnight in order
> to get my hands on Heart Trouble or Hats Off?
I'm crawling along right beside you, Jim.
And, look! Isn't that Jon just behind us, enthusiastically
scribbling a score to HEART TROUBLE as he goes along, too?
Jim
Eric Grayson
fear is that it's as good as Road to Mandalay.
The hope is that Heart Trouble is as good as Tramp, Tramp, Tramp. The fear
is that it's as good as The Chaser.
The hope is that Hats Off is as good as The Music Box. The fear is that
it's as good as Habeus Corpus.
My guess is that the esteemed Dr. Mirsalis probably fears Heart Trouble is
as good as The Chaser and would avoid it like the plague.
I can't imagine LAM being any worse than a couple of the Browning snoozers
that Chaney was in, so it would probably take a welcome, if not exalted,
slot.
Eric
J. Theakston
> The hope is that Hats Off is as good as The Music Box. The fear is that
> it's as good as Habeus Corpus.
And that's not saying much. Habeus Corpus still has its laughs.
> I can't imagine LAM being any worse than a couple of the Browning snoozers
> that Chaney was in, so it would probably take a welcome, if not exalted,
> slot.
I've said it before 末 I would gladly see ANY of Chaney's Universal or
Pre-Miracle Man (or EVEN the Miracle Man!) stuff over London After
Midnight. Much of those films have much more interesting plots. The
only thing LAM possibly has going for it is Chaney's makeup and
characterization directed by Browning, which I'm sure could be better
seen in other films they were paired up in.
-J. Theakston
Eric Grayson
Universal or
>Pre-Miracle Man (or EVEN the Miracle Man!) stuff over London After
>Midnight. Much of those films have much more interesting plots. The
>only thing LAM possibly has going for it is Chaney's makeup and
>characterization directed by Browning, which I'm sure could be better
>seen in other films they were paired up in.
I dunno. Most of the pre-Miracle Man films are pretty disappointing.
Chaney generally isn't in very big roles and doesn't get to do much.
By the Sun's Rays is pretty straightforward as a western. Chaney
makes a good villain.
The Oubliette is almost silly in its cheap sets. The acting is pretty
overwrought, and Chaney is in it very briefly.
Dolly's Scoop is pretty good, probably best of the pre-Miracle Man
work, but it's not an earthshaker of a picture.
Alas and Alack is just plain bizarre.
The Scarlet Car is a program picture. Chaney's makeup is a little too
extreme in it and his acting lacks the restraint he developed later.
He's not in it much, either.
Millionaire Paupers looks interesting, but the surviving material is
quite brief and doesn't really show much.
I haven't seen Place Beyond the Winds, Fascination of the Fleur de
Lis, If My Country Should Call. These may be better but I'm not
pinning my hopes on them.
Victory and False Faces are quite good pictures, but Chaney's change
of career is really after he left Universal, not at Miracle Man.
False Faces plays like a picture made 10 years later than it was.
I'm not sure whether Wicked Darling is pre or post Miracle Man (it's
very close), but that's starting to be a really interesting Chaney
picture.
IMHO, the most interesting part of Chaney's career is post-Universal
contract and pre-Unholy Three, when he was freelancing at the studios
and got a really varied stream of roles.
There are highlights of Chaney after Unholy Three (The Unknown, Tell
it To the Marines, While the City Sleeps), but in general his stuff is
less interesting after the MGM contract.
Eric
J. Theakston
> IMHO, the most interesting part of Chaney's career is post-Universal
> contract and pre-Unholy Three, when he was freelancing at the studios
> and got a really varied stream of roles.
I don't know... I personally found the Scarlet Car quite enjoyable and
By The Suns Rays is great if you keep the "monster" image out of your
mind while associating Chaney to the picture. I think the key is to
pick out parts that either Chaney wrote for himself or Joseph De
Grasse wrote for Lon. Both had a natural talent for plotting out odd
tales and helped later when Chaney was paired up with Tod Browning.
Here are some interesting examples of what I'd like to see out of
Chaney's pre-Miracle Man work (in chronological order):
The Sea Urchen (1913) - Chaney's first makeup role. Typical grotesque
Chaney falls in love with girl... but gets the girl in the end. Would
be interesting to see for any sort of early stage-like dramatics.
The Menace to Carlotta (1914) - Written by Chaney. 1 reel melodrama
set in Italy. Chaney plays villain.
The Tragedy of Whispering Creek (1914) - Chaney wrote. Interesting
story which features Chaney as a mexican villain.
Her Escape (1914) - Another written by Chaney. Chaney plays a
gangster in a semi-makeup role. Also directed by DeGrasse, which
makes it an even better candidate.
The Violin Maker (1915) - This one sounds like an extremely
interesting melodrama as directed by Chaney. Chaney plays a violin
maker who makes a girl a star, is broken by her, and is later saved by
her.
Quits (1915) - This is on my top three. The story is so intriguing,
it could hold up today as a good picture, I'm sure. Plus Chaney has
some nice ethnic makeup in this one and I'm sure he gives plenty of
characterization from the way the reviews went.
The Chimney's Secret (1915) - Written and Directed by Chaney. This is
the one that everyone's seen the still from of Chaney with the big
beard and odd hat peeking out of a doorway of some sort. The duel
role idea and fact that he was proud of the achievement makes it alone
worth while to see.
The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis (1915) - From what I've seen of
this so far, I would like to see much more. Lon is a bit hokey in
this, but the story is an interesting one, and the other actors are
just as good.
The Flashlight (1917) - Interesting plot and makeup. The reviews were
good for this one, too.
The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918) - Historically an interesting
film for seeing Rupert Julian and Chaney in the same picture.
A Broadway Scandal (1918) - This looks and sounds like a good movie
and has Chaney in a sympathetic role.
Riddle Gawne (1918) - Another one I'd put on the top of the list.
Important as it was the start of the climb for Chaney. Not only a
lost Chaney film, but a lost William S. Hart film, and I'm a rather
avid fan of Hart's work just as much. The surviving footage is quite
interesting.
So as you can see, there are quite a few of Chaney's films over London
After Midnight that seem like they could be a lot better both from
descriptions and reviews.
-J. Theakston
ChaneyFan
Lis, If My Country Should Call. These may be better but I'm not
pinning my hopes on them.
IF MY COUNTRY SHOULD CALL is pretty weak, but PLACE BEYOND THE WINDS is pretty
good, possibly the best of the early Universals I've seen.
===============================
Jon Mirsalis
e-mail: Chan...@aol.com
Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
Jon's Film Sites: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan/jonfilm.htm