London After Midnight (1927)

Summary: When Roger Balfour is found shot dead in his London home, his death is declared a suicide by Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard, even though the executor of Balfour's estate, Sir James Hamlin, insists his friend never would have taken his own life. Five years later, the abandoned house comes to life again with the arrival of two sinister-looking tenants: a fiendish-looking man with pointed teeth and a pale young woman in a long gown. The presence of new tenants prompts Sir James to call in Inspector Burke again. Could these be the real killers?           Overall: Let’s first note that basically by 2007...the only copies of the film that exist is the “Turner Classic Movies” version where they’ve taken screen shots/photographs from the time, and placed music on them, similar to how the movie originally looked. Given that it was a silent film, we lose nothing in terms of spoken dialogue but clearly, we still miss Tod Browning’s cinematography. It’s a noble re-creation and something you just gotta accept. It’s a decent film and obviously made me wanna see the original even more...but as I said, it doesn’t exist, at all. But Chaney’s mask is supreme and a good fright for sure!           Comparison: Mark of the Vampire meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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