Lon Chaney Sr. in “London After Midnight”
Image by Tom McKinnon
Lon Chaney Sr. (1883-1930)
London After Midnight, also known as The Hypnotist, was a 1927 American silent mystery film with horror overtones, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was based on the short story "The Hypnotist" by Tod Browning, who also directed the film. London After Midnight starred Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran.
The movie is now lost and remains one of the most famous and eagerly sought after of all lost films. The last known copy was destroyed in the 1967 MGM Vault fire. In 2002, Turner Classic Movies aired a reconstructed version, using the original script and film stills, by producer Rick Schmidlin.
In 2014, the only poster known to exist for the film was sold in Dallas, TX for 8,000 making it the most valuable movie poster ever sold at public auction. 1932’s The Mummy held the previous record for a poster’s sale at public auction selling for more than 3,000 in 1997.
