Quintessential early cinema.

[peter johnson]

This thread is veering a bit, but on the topic of destroyed film, I have to make note of the fact that MGM sold most of the videotape that Zappa used to create "200 Motels" to be taped over & re-used.  Now that's really gone for good . . .

peter johnson/denny crane

[pinkandbluefilms]

MGM has been notorious for things like that from day one. They bought up and attempted to destroy all the prints of film like "Murder on Thornton Square" ,  and the Mamoulian "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" (Marnau's Jekyll is, of course, lost and Lugosi had a small part in it) . Of course, they have misplaced a few of their own, such as "London after Midnight" of course. Now the consensus seems to be that it's probably not that great a film, which I would be tempted to disagree with, judging from the still re-creation of TCM. Browning has been taking so much critical flack over the last few years that the negative 'assessment' over an unseen film seems hopelessly silly. Still, if I had my rathers, the Browning work I would hope most to see is the fully restored " West of Zanzibar".

Louis Brook's 'The Canary Murder Case' was lost for half of forever and when it turned up, proved very disappointing,
especially in light of the work she did with Pabst. Still, much of her early film work is lost, as is all but one of Olive Thomas' films and most of Theda Bera's work.

This thread is veering a bit, but on the topic of destroyed film, I have to make note of the fact that MGM sold most of the videotape that Zappa used to create "200 Motels" to be taped over & re-used.  Now that's really gone for good . . .

peter johnson/denny crane

[peter johnson]

And then, of course, there is the mythologically missing sequence of what happens to the men shaken off the log in "King Kong" -- there was an excellent attempt at recreating it by the people who did the Jack Black remake a few years ago.

Of course, if you read the fan literature, there are still people claiming to have seen the original footage restored to the film in the Phillippines, or Finland, or wherever -- But, of course, Edison's "Frankenstein" was also thought to be lost for good before a print turned up literally in someone's attic --

Somewhere out there in an old dark house, there lurks the remaining nitrite print of "London After Midnight", slowly decaying . . .

peter lon/denny chaney

[pinkandbluefilms]

They found "Passion of Joan of Arc' in a closet at a mental hospital, so it's possible, dammit. The still recreation makes one salivate even more. Too, the re-make, "Mark of the Vampire' was better than given credit for. By all reports Browning was obsessive about achieving the right atmosphere, which did top 'Dracula" visually. While it is a bit talkative, the ending was the same ending in "London", so why that was such a shock remains a mystery, other than short term memory of reviewers.  The last report was that Turner had put a hefty million dollar plus reward bounty on London.


Somewhere out there in an old dark house, there lurks the remaining nitrite print of "London After Midnight", slowly decaying . . .

peter lon/denny chaney
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