London After Midnight on a kinescope?

[sepiatone]

Here's a 2011 discussion of LAM having possibly been played on early television but not kinescoped which could have preserved the movie .
http://archive.org/post/381659/possible ... -kinescope" target="_blank

[Jack Theakston]

Well, SURELY since a film existed it played on television... because in the '50s and '60s, silent features were such a great sell on TV.

And... there was one print only sent to one TV studio, AND they re-recorded it as a kinescope?

Why is it when LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is brought up, the public's brain cells stop working?

[sepiatone]

I kind of agree, since love and angst for this film has only accumulated with the ensuing decades. The kinescope is wishful thinking at best.

[Michael O'Regan]

Personally speaking, I can never understand why all the fuss about this particular lost film. After all, those who have seen it have said it's not a great film anyway.

[entredeuxguerres]

Personally speaking, I can never understand why all the fuss about this particular lost film.

Nor can I, after seeing the reconstruction on TCM. All that lamentation might be better reserved for the lost (or locked away in vaults) films of Norma Talmadge; now that's worth crying about.

[FrankFay]

For one thing, why would a kinescope be made of a movie when a print existed.

[Tommy Stathes]

Eric,

It was certainly done, but likely not the norm at all. I think the most common instance would be kiddie shows...such as Howdy Doody and plenty of other low-end local shows. They regularly showed silent comedies, cartoons, and sound cartoons as well in between hosted segments (or narrated by the hosts) and kinescopes were made of a lot of these shows, including the old films shown on the programs. So, there’s that possibility. But highly unlikely for a feature to be “preserved” this way.

And yeah, it’s strange that there’s so much hype over this one film. There are thousands of lost films, and thousands of extant rare films that are inaccessible in archives and private collections. Why not direct the frustration a little more evenly across the board?

[boblipton]

In all likelihood, the reason people obsess over London After Midnight is due to one man: Forrest J. Ackerman. A lot of people became interested in old movies, particularly old monster movies, by way of Famous Monsters of Filmland, which 4E edited and in which he talked and talked about this particular movie.

Bob

[FrankFay]

Chaney's film survival rate is fine- we don't need London After Midnight to appreciate him.

What I'd rather see turn up is one of Theda Bara's features- maybe Romeo and Juliet. Or the William Gillette version of Sherlock Holmes.

[Wm. Charles Morrow]

Chaney's film survival rate is fine- we don't need London After Midnight to appreciate him.

Yep, and when it comes to his lost films, there's The Miracle Man, Treasure Island, and A Blind Bargain, any one of which would be (in my opinion) a more exciting "find."

[FrankFay]

I'd like to see QUINCY ADAMS SAWYER(1922)- I've read the novel, a charming melodrama. John Bowers and Blanche Sweet as the hero and heroine, Chaney as the villain, with Brabara La Marr, Louise Fazenda & Gail Henry in the cast.

[didi-5]

As soon as that link referred to Sid Terror, my eyes glazed over. Nothing new here.

[mndean]

As soon as that link referred to Sid Terror, my eyes glazed over. Nothing new here.

One day you'll get like me, where at the first mention of LAM, my eyes glaze. Even in my days of being at a.m.s. I got bored with the inevitable April 1st LAM gag.

[syd]

Lon Chaney's Tower of Lies (1925)
would be of interest for the stories
the character Jan (played by Chaney)
pantomimes. While telling the stories
he plays all of the parts.

Biographies of Lon Chaney state that
he entertained his deaf parents with
stories where he would play all of the
characters

[Agnes]

The Chaney I have always wanted to see was "Miracle Man".
The entire cast on that was spectacular. The one clip that survived just makes me want to see it all the more.

Conversly, the comments I heard on a doc from folks who saw LAM & considered it "just OK"
Puts LAM @ the bottom of my Chaney wish-list.

It might be nice for completists, but there are better films we haven't seen; even better Chaneys.

[sepiatone]

for those who have seen THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD, did anyone recognize Clark Gable or Carole Lombard? they both are in it, not in the same scene, but as unknowns in bit parts.

[seaquest]

I completely agree! There has always been a load of undue hype attached to this film. It's a pity that thousands of true classics are rotting away while people endlessly prattle on about lam. There are so many superior films worth worrying about.

[sepiatone]

Then what's the deal behind London After Midnight and this 1973 advertisement stating the film was available on 8mm ?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12170#p84606" target="_blank

I've run into the add in the past but didn't know whether it was a major goof/typo or that is was legit. I think this promotional is reproduced in Philip Riley's text reconstruction of "London After Midnight".

[Christopher Jacobs]

Then what's the deal behind London After Midnight and this 1973 advertisement stating the film was available on 8mm ?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12170#p84606" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

I've run into the add in the past but didn't know whether it was a major goof/typo or that is was legit. I think this promotional is reproduced in Philip Riley's text reconstruction of "London After Midnight".

You need to read the entire website linked from another post in that discussion thread. Quite entertaining.

[Bob Birchard]

For one thing, why would a kinescope be made of a movie when a print existed.

Well, weird things do happen. I have some kinescopes from The Gabby Hayes Show made by a guy who worked in the kine department at NBC in Hollywood. He kinescoped the Western features and ignored the Gabby Hayes wrap-arounds. Today, of course, there are better versions available of the features, and collectors (well, some collectors) would kill to see the Gabby Hayes live wrap-arounds.

That said, the original post on archive.com was purely speculative. M-G-M did not release any of their films to TV until 1959 (except for excerpts in the 1955 series M-G-M Parade), and I have the M-G-M TV source book listing all the released titles. The only silents are things like Ben-Hur and The Big Parade that were reissued in the 1930s with sound tracks.

As far as I know M-G-M never released any SILENT silents to TV until the Gold Key deal for a handful of films in the 1970s. LAM was not in this group, nor has it surfaced since, and in any event the Gold Key deal came long after anyone might be kinescoping TV broadcasts (with rare armed forces and foreign market exceptions).

[Jay Salsberg]

The existence of LAM has been the topic of considerable discussion over on the CHFB (Classic Horror Film Board) for years. The thread never dies. There is one particularly obsessive/compulsive individual who keeps bringing it up every few months, and refuses to listen to logic or reason or plain old common sense. He knows there's a print out there, and he's not going to shut up until somebody finds it.

Thank God for the sanity of Nitrateville.

[FrankFay]

Then what's the deal behind London After Midnight and this 1973 advertisement stating the film was available on 8mm ?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12170#p84606" target="_blank" target="_blank

I've run into the add in the past but didn't know whether it was a major goof/typo or that is was legit. I think this promotional is reproduced in Philip Riley's text reconstruction of "London After Midnight".

Suffice it to say, this was part of a joke. Unfortunately, like many good jokes it has gained a life of its own.

[sepiatone]

Then what's the deal behind London After Midnight and this 1973 advertisement stating the film was available on 8mm ?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12170#p84606" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

I've run into the add in the past but didn't know whether it was a major goof/typo or that is was legit. I think this promotional is reproduced in Philip Riley's text reconstruction of "London After Midnight".

You need to read the entire website linked from another post in that discussion thread. Quite entertaining.

thanks Chris. Speculating, if or when someone ever finds it, their life will never be the same. They'll be part of history, both hero and hassled

thanks Eric!

[boblipton]

Isn't it getting to the point where we need a separate category for LAM threads?

Bob

[bobfells]

It's easy to agree that there are better lost Chaney films to drool over than LAM, but notice that there are already 23 responses in the past day to this one post! Perhaps inadvertently attesting to the "Holy Grail" hold that LAM has on us. I saw this yesterday and didn't even click on it but this afternoon when I saw it had garnered almost two dozen responses I felt I should check it out.

As long as we're in the neighborhood, here is a shot of Chaney in a different pose that the usual photo that we have all seen a million times. I almost forgot that I had this photo but then I remembered placing it in the same can where I store my 16mm print of LAM. [I'm just kidding, do you hear? I'M JUST KIDDING!!!!]

[Richard Finegan]

For those who have seen THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD, did anyone recognize Clark Gable or Carole Lombard? They both are in it, not in the same scene, but as unknowns in bit parts.

I was pretty sure I spotted Lombard, but not so sure about Gable. But unfortunately when watching it on the big screen at a festival, one doesn't have the luxury of rewinding or pausing the film to look again!

[silentfilm]

As much as I hate to add to the LAM rumor mill, Chaney expert Jon Mirsalis has posted on his Facebook page that minute-long clips from London After Midnight and A Blind Bargain may have been found in a private collection. He is investigating, so don't get your hopes up yet.

[rogerskarsten]

As much as I hate to add to the LAM rumor mill, Chaney expert Jon Mirsalis has posted on his Facebook page that minute-long clips from London After Midnight and A Blind Bargain may have been found in a private collection. He is investigating, so don't get your hopes up yet.

If this alleged clip is a minute long, it probably contains two intertitles (each 25 seconds long) on either side of ten seconds of Polly Moran doing a double take.

[Scoundrel]

Only a minute each of the two most wanted Chaney films ...

and no listing for Jon on Facebook.

How interesting.

[s.w.a.c.]

and no listing for Jon on Facebook.

Oh, he's there all right.