finding locating london after midnight with lon chaney sr..

[shewhoshops]

..hello can i find a copy of lon chaney sr. in london after midnight?? is it ever on dvd?? how about vhs??

[Anton Phibes]

..hello can i find a copy of lon chaney sr. in london after midnight?? is it ever on dvd?? how about vhs??

About as much chance of finding this as finding a living velociraptor. Sorry. Its as rare as hen's teeth.  No known copies exist, save for stuff of urban legends of collectors hoarding it to keep anyone else from seeing it.

[Mike Scott]

If you mean the photo reconstruction, it's on this Chaney DVD set.
http://www.amazon.com/TCM-Archives-Chaney-Collection-Unknown/dp/B0000B1O9L

[D.D. Wookie]

Turner Classic Movies put together what I would call a 'sort of' London After Midnight for a Chaney Sr. boxset a while ago using stills and I believe music written specifically for the project.  What follows is a quote from a review of the box set on Amazon: "In 2003, Rick Schmidlin of Turner Classic Movies arduously produced a photo still reconstruction of London After Midnight. It is probably the only version of the film we, and future generations, will ever see. Even from a stills-only reproduction, it is clear that Midnight is the original American Goth Film. Chaney's vampire, partly inspired by Werner Kruass' Caligari, is a make-up artist's delight, and an actor's hell. Fishing wire looped around his blackened eye sockets, a set of painfully inserted, shark-like teeth producing a hideous grin, a ludicrous wig under a top hat, and white pancake makeup achieved Chaney's kinky look. To add to the effect Chaney developed a misshapen, incongruous walk for the character. To his credit, Chaney's crepuscular rogue looks as loathsome today as it did over eighty years ago (enough so for Henry Selik to pay the character a homage in The Nightmare Before Christmas)."

[D.D. Wookie]

Sorry, Mike, looks like I walked all over what you replied on the subject.

[Mike Scott]

Sorry, Mike, looks like I walked all over what you replied on the subject.

Yours was much more interesting. 

[Pauspy]

I loved the word "crepuscular" 

[marsattacks666]

I would say purchase a copy of Tod Browning's Mark of the  Vampire (1935). Then imagine Lon Chaney Sr. playing the role(s).

[Wich2]

Well, "roleS." Chaney doubled in the original.

[Haunted hearse]

I would be suprised if this film still exists, but one never knows.  Some films though to be lost (The Gkoul" and "The Old Dark House" both with Boris Karloff) have turned up.  Since it's unlikely we'll ever have a chance to see the original, maybe someday, someone will consider a CGI recdonstruction of the motion picture.  As far as "Mark of the vampire" is concerned, they are the same story, but not the same film.  Lugosi was outstanding in that movie, but not the same as Chaney, who played dual roles.  There is something very creepy about Chaney's vampire, as opposed to the dignity that Lugosi brought to all his vampire roles.  The sets of London are better than in Mark.  Both of those would probably compensate for Browning's lackluster directional skills.  By the way, I don't dislike Browning.  "Freaks" is one of my favorite films.  In "Dracula", the scenes that work out best are those in the beginning, which have little to do with the Hamilton Dean play which the screen play was based on.  That whole beginning may have had more to do with the cinematographer, then Browning.  Also the Spanish speaking version of Dracula, was definately better directed then what Browning did with the English language version. 

[Mike Scott]

Some films though to be lost (The Gkoul" and "The Old Dark House" both with Boris Karloff) have turned up. 

But how "lost" were they, really? I'll bet it didn't take much effort to find them, compared to the effort that's been put into (so far, unsuccessfully) finding LAM.

[Haunted hearse]

"Mystery of the Wax Museum" turned out to be in a collection that Jack Warner had.  One of the problems with these films is the "Nitrate Stock" that was used.  As times goes on, even if a copy did turn up, there's a chance that what is found may have deteriorated beyond saving.  Their is a film that Laurel and Hardy apperaed in.  The parts of the film that were in color, are lost, but because the portion that Laurel and hardy apeared in (because they weren't considerd that important to the makers of the film) were shot economically in B&W, those have survived, as the color sequences deteriorated faster than the B&W segments.

[Mike Scott]

Their is a film that Laurel and Hardy apperaed in.  The parts of the film that were in color, are lost, but because the portion that Laurel and hardy appeared in were shot economically in B&W

"The Rogue Song". The Laurel and Hardy segments were shot in color (2-strip), as well. Only one of the L&H segments survive.

[Dr. Blasko]

At this point, a film like LAM is probably lost forever, though the same had been said for films like Edison's Frankenstein and Nosferatu. Heck, just recently a long lost Charlie Chaplin propaganda film was uncovered, so there's always the possibility that it exists somewhere. For a fun, but also informative look at some of these lost horror films, I recommend this video:

Top 10 Lost Horror Films - Cinemassacre

[Mike Scott]

For a fun, but also informative look at some of these lost horror films, I recommend this video:

Thanks for posting that! I'd seen it before, but it was fun the see it again.