From the October 8, 1927 issue of Moving Picture World is this photo and caption of the great Lon Chaney and it mentions his upcoming film The Hypnotist by Tod Browning. The Hypnotist (original title and UK title) is better known as London After Midnight. Too bad this magazine didn't add an article with the photo, but I thought all you zombies out there would enjoy seeing it.
I wish someone would hurry up and find this film as I’ve been wanting to see it since I was a kid. The Turner Classic Movies recreation was nice, but I want to see the real thing. Maybe I’ll find it in a flea market someday!
Read more about the history of this film and about how this film has been lost since 1967 with these links.
IMDB
Wikipedia
Article about the missing film
I just hope that if a print ever is uncovered, it's not a complete disappointment.
ReplyDeleteOn the "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party" DVD, there's a bunch of cool extras including people's monster home movies, one, clearly filmed in the 1920s, 30-- maybe features an actor dressed up like Chaney in "London After Midnight" and may give us the only insight into his performance as it can be assumed that the home movie actor is mimicking Chaney. It's an unusual, stylized performance to say the least.
Wow, I'll need to pick that DVD up!
ReplyDeleteI just watched that clip last night! That particular home movie might have been my favorite thing on the disc. (It also sort of amazed me that people were making home movies as far back as the 1920s. I would have thought the equipment would be prohibitively expensive -- especially since the people in that movie seemed to be living in the middle of farmland.)
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