Tod Browning, Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, silent film, silent movie stars, free classic film, old movies, silent film streaming, silent era, archive films, rare films, silent drama, silent classics, classic crime movies, lost film

   Lon Chaney, Marceline Day and Edna Tichenor

Directed by             Tod Browning
Written by             Waldemar Young (scenario), Joseph Farnham (titles)
Based on                 "The Hypnotist" by Tod Browning
Starring                   Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall
Cinematography     Merritt B. Gerstad
Distributed by         Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date            December 3, 1927 (United States)
Running time          69 mins.
Country                   United States
Language                 Silent, English intertitles

We have included this film in our program to illustrate the work and contributions of our star Marceline Day.

"London After Midnight" is a classic mystery thriller and a crime drama. The last known copy of the film perished in 1967 in the MGM vaults fire that also destroyed another film with Lon Chaney and Marceline Day,  "The Big City".   The film is not available for viewing, this is why we have to rely on newspaper articles from the 1920ies.  "London After Midnight" is considered the most sought after of all lost films. 

Here are just a few of the reviews for this film:
   
The motion picture has supplied the latest step in modern detective fiction by presenting that great master of characterization, Lon Chaney, in "London After Midnight," a strange, fascinating story of crime detection. 

The story revolves around the supposed suicide of Roger Balfour, whose pretty daughter Lucille is then adopted by Balfour's executor, Sir James Hamlin.  Burke, a Scotland Yard man. investigates the case, but reports suicide.  Five years later Burke gets a staggering, dramatic clue, and decides to re-open the case, employing hypnotism in elucidating the mysterious crime.

This is the best picture Chaney has given us and will be seen and marveled at by thousands of his admirers everywhere.  The very strong supporting cast includes several favorites, including Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Polly Moran and Henry B. Walthall.  (Frankston & Somerville Standard)
 
The development of the story introduces "ghosts" and many weird denizens of worlds unknown and the tracking down of the criminal is eventually accomplished in the most dramatic, awe-inspiring circumstances. (Morning Bulletin)
 
''London After Midnight," starring Lon Chaney, is the last word in modern detective fiction - it will galvanize all who see it with astonishment and expectancy, while a very tender love story is part of the theme.  That dainty Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer player, Marceline Day, heads the supporting cast opposite "the man of 1000 faces," and Conrad Nagel, admired of millions of fans, together with Henry B. Walthall, famous character actor, and Polly Moran, popular comedienne, appear in the unusually strong cast.  (Northern Star)
 
It is a remarkable story of crime detection, employing hypnotism and psychology in reconstructing a murder to bring the felon to justice. A strange English mansion, over which hang sinister legends and astounding myths, is the eerie background of the plot.

The Man of a Thousand Faces plays the role of a Scotland Yard detective, assigned to the task of ferreting out a strange plot. As a student of hypnotism he pits his knowledge against superstitions beliefs, and solves a mystery that, when the supernatural is explained away, is a remarkable scientific exposition of the craft of the modern investigator of crime.  Miss Marceline Day has the leading feminine role. (The Advertiser)
 
In addition, there is a tender romance surrounding the daughter of the murdered man, played by Marceline Day in a convincing manner. (The Mercury)
 
If Lon Chaney elects never to make another picture, then he will have done the cinema  public a great injustice, for he has proved. time and again, that he is indisputably the screen's finest character actor.  In "London After Midnight" "the man of a thousand faces" offers an entirely new type of role, that of Inspector Burke, the smartest man in Scotland Yard, and, in many ways, surpasses all his previous performances.  Flapping bats, hooting owls, scurrying mice, and armadillos which crawl about as though worked by clockwork, men with faces bland as wax, who enter rooms in the form of a cloud of smoke and, most marvelous of all - the living dead; these are but a few of the eerie concomitants which make "London After Midnight" the thrilling mystery drama it is. (Auckland Star)
 
Pulsating drama, black mystery, powerful emotional forces, comedy and love combine: a mighty screen thrill that keeps the onlooker on the very tiptoe of astonishment and anticipation until the criminal is brought to justice.

The famous players in the picture give strong memorable performances. Chaney is wonderful - it is undoubtedly his greatest achievement - and he always dominates the action.  "London After Midnight" is in every respect the greatest detective story yet brought to the screen, and should not be missed by any picturegoer. (The Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express)


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   Marceline Day

   Lon Chaney and Marceline Day

Directed by                Tod Browning
Written by                 Tod Browning, Waldemar Young
Starring                      Lon Chaney, Marceline Day
Cinematography        Henry Sharp
Editing by                   Harry Reynolds, Irving Thalberg (uncredited)
Distributed by           MGM
Release date                March 24, 1928
Country                       United States
Language                     Silent, English intertitles

This film is part of our series 'Hidden Gems'. It can be watched by registered users who make a donation. For more details, please click here.

"The Big City" is a classic crime drama.  We have included this film in our program to illustrate the work and contributions of our star Marceline Day.

The last known copy of the film "The Big City" perished in 1967 in the MGM vaults fire that also destroyed "London after Midnight".  Silent Era lists this film as "survival status: unknown".  It is not available for viewing, so we have to rely on newspaper articles from the 1920ies.  If you have any information about a surviving copy of the film please let us know.

Here are just a few of the reviews for this film:
 
No one in the world can look so 'hard boiled' and menacing as this Lon Chaney  and few can look so sympathetic in the very same role.  In his latest starring vehicle, "The Big City", Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's gripping romance of New York's underworld, Chaney plays the role of a hardened detective.  And no character could demand more of an actor's histrionic talents.  He has to be the very embodiment of the law - and still be as human as anyone else.  Few beside Lon Chaney could play this complex role adequately, and of it Chaney has made a masterpiece of motion picture acting.

"The Big City" is a delicate romance told in a setting of NIGHT CLUBS AND BRIGHT LIGHTS, holdups and police and gangster battles woven into an amazing blend of thrills and surprises.  Marceline Day in the role of a little shop girl, innocently caught in the underworld, is appealing. (Mirror)
 
Chaney plays the role of a police sleuth, and Betty Compson is seen as a member of the underworld. Marceline Day, however, has the big female lead as a shop girl who is enmeshed in an  plot engineered by a detective.  A very ingenious plot and well acted by a very fine cast. (Portland Guardian)
 
Chaney and his associates come in conflict with a gang of jewel thieves: a sensational hold-up of a popular night club, gun battles and duels of wits between the detectives and gangsters; these are all breathlessly exciting backgrounds for a charming love idyll of a boy and a girl.  Miss Day, a shop girl innocently enmeshed in the underworld, has some remarkable scenes. (Recorder)
 
Marceline Day in the role of a little shop girl, innocently caught in the underworld, is appealingly sweet. (Sunday Times)
 
"The Big City" is a delicate romance, told in a setting of night clubs and bright lights, police raids in the underworld and battles of "crooks," woven into an astonishing blend of thrills, surprises, and romance.  In this colorful, swift-moving picture of New York night life, Lon Chaney plays the role of a detective, and, avoiding the use of elaborate disguises which characterized many of his previous appearances, he gives a truly marvelous performance.  Briefly, the story is that Chuck Collins, a New York detective, is detailed to circumnavigate the machinations of a gang of cabaret thieves.  Assuming the role of proprietor of a dance hall, he is accepted by the underworld as a fellow-gangster.  Move and counter-move follow in rapid succession, and finally Chuck captures the entire gang.  The leading feminine role, taken by Marceline Day, is that of a shop girl enmeshed in the underworld plot engineered by Chuck, and an admirable study she makes of it, too. (The Brisbane Courier)
 
A vivid story of the underworld of New York, it shows just how far the influence of a young girl of strong character and high ideals can affect the lives of people born and bred to crime.  Marceline Day lives up to her name as 'Sunshine', the sweetness of  her smile capturing all hearts. (The Register)
 
Marceline Day does splendidly with her role. (Motion Picture News) 
 
Marceline Day, as Sunshine, has never played with more charm and depth. (Picture Play Magazine)

   Lon Chaney and Marceline Day

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