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Lon Chaney
Topic Started: Jul 13 2006, 08:31 AM (813 Views)
Laughing Gravy
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According to Fangoria, that long-awaited restoration of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) is finally on the schedule, for January 2007.

I am a huge fan of Chaney, and this is his greatest role as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, no 35mm prints of the film survive; all we've got has looked pretty clunky over the years.

The great J. Theakston has been working on this, and here's what he posted several months ago over at the HTF:


"The film is mastered from a 1926 show-at-home print of outstanding quality. The score is by Donald Hunsberger with assistance and conducted by Robert Israel with full orchestra in the Czech Republic. Among the many special features will be a commentary by Chaney author/historian Michael F. Blake, a previously unseen Chaney short from 1915, and 20 3-D slides taken on the set of the film (anaglyph conversions by Dan "Mr. 3-D" Symmes)."

Incidentally, Mr. Blake has written (at last count) three books on Chaney and his films, and they're heartily recommended.

The Special Edition of Phantom of the Opera is one of the great silent film restorations, and Warners offers a Chaney collection that includes The Unknown. Hopefully, the future will give us HE Who Gets Slapped, Tell it to the Marines, and other Chaney classics.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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The Batman
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This sounds great, LG. Who is releasing it and where will it be available?

Also, who put out the Phantom of the Opera Special Edition and when did the Warners Lon Chaney collection come out? I don't remember seeing either one of those. Thanks.
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George Kaplan
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I've waited for this one for a long time. Here's hoping it sells big and encourages the restoration of other Chaney films. Wouldn't it be great if someone thought to combine on disc the silent and sound versions of The Unholy Three?
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The Lon Chaney Collection is from Warners; it includes Ace of Hearts, The Unknown, Laugh Clown Laugh, the documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces, and that recreation of London After Midnight done with stills and music.

Phantom of the Opera: Ultimate Edition (with a restored 1929 version, and the original 1925 version) is from Milestone/Image, and it's a remarkable restoration, on a par with the special edition of Metropolis of a few years ago.

"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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The Batman
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Thanks, LG. I will be looking for both of those sets this week.
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mort bakaprevski
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Happy Birthday, Lon Chaney! London After Midnight Found at Last!

Posted on April 1, 2013 by drfilm


Indianapolis, IN-Born April 1, 1883, Lon Chaney was one of the greatest of silent film stars. Best remembered for his roles in Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Chaney was known the world over for his chameleon-like ability to inhabit strange and different roles. One of his most famous was as a vampire in London After Midnight (1927), a film that has not been seen in public since at least 1970, and probably well before. The last known copy perished in a vault fire, and no copies were known to exist in private hands.

Until today.

Preservationist Eric Grayson, who independently seeks out rare films to preserve and share them, discovered a print in a private collection in October.

"Like so many silent film finds, it wasn’t where you’d expect to find it at all,” Grayson said in a telephone interview. "People have been searching for it for decades. There was a rumor that the film had been in San Francisco, in Sweden, or that a French 9.5mm print survived. This was in the basement of a collector in rural Illinois."

The print, on 35mm safety stock, was a surprise to everyone. As far as anyone knew, no prints had been made since the 1920s.

"This guy was a bigwig in the local theater circuit, and he wanted a print, so he asked MGM, and they made him one. It was struck in 1956, so it’s in good shape and looks better than a lot of the other Lon Chaney pictures that have survived," Grayson said.

Such things are unusual, but not unique. A 35mm print of Chaney’s West of Zanzibar (1928), printed under similar circumstances, has been bouncing from collector to collector for some years now. Also, Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman (1928), long thought to be lost, showed up in a near-mint 16mm print in a private collection a few years ago.

Grayson stated that the print required a little cleaning and special care, but is essentially projectable as-is. He quietly prepared a special high-definition digital transfer and then had a special card up his sleeve.

"London After Midnight will premiere on TCM," said programming president Charlie Tabesh. "Eric basically blackmailed us to do what he wanted. We didn't have a choice."

Grayson, an ardent film preservationist, has been trying to sell an independently made television show for several years now. Entitled Dr. Film, the show promotes film preservation while also being a silly tribute to old-fashioned movie hosts.

"He said he’d sent us several copies of his pilot," Tabesh said, "but frankly we’d never seen it. Then, when London After Midnight showed up, he called us and said that we weren't getting it unless it became part of the first Dr. Film episode on TCM."

Grayson wasn’t kidding. He has wanted to share other films from his collection for years, but runs into a lot of audience apathy. Having dealt with archives for many years, he knew about a special loophole that would cement his case.

"I told them if they didn't green-light a few episodes of Dr. Film, then I would donate London After Midnight to an archive, with the stipulation that Warner Brothers, the copyright owner, couldn’t access it. There are a lot of films at archives with silly stipulations on them like that, and they have to be honored."

"Eric is lucky," said another film collector, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Frankly, his pilot for Dr. Film was awful. He’s so passionate about preserving oddball films that the ones he picked for the pilot episode were just appalling. Sure, they were rare, but who cares? TCM is so stodgy and stuck in its ways that something like his goofy take on Dr. Film would normally just leave them wondering what they were seeing."

Instead, Grayson has a six-episode commitment from TCM for his new show, headlined by a Lon Chaney retrospective as the first installment. He promises to showcase films that others have ignored and abused over the years.

"London After Midnight won't be the only lost film we show," Grayson said. "It will just be the most famous one."

And what of the timing of the announcement? Some might question the revelation on April Fools’ Day.

"Yes," Grayson said, "but it’s also Lon Chaney’s 130th birthday, so we thought it was appropriate. I can’t show any of the film because of my contractual agreement with TCM, but I’ll put up a YouTube video that should quiet most of the doubts."

London After Midnight debuts on December 17, the 86th anniversary of the film’s release.

Dr. Film will continue on the next 5 Friday nights afterward on TCM.

"If enough people watch, then TCM will have us do more. I've got more movies… we just have to see if people care enough to watch them."
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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The Batman
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We'll just assume you are sharing an April Fool's Day joke with us. You didn't really think this news item was true?

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mort bakaprevski
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It's not???????
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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The Batman
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If that's an honest answer, no, it's not. A variation of this story gets posted online every April 1st.

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mort bakaprevski
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Gee whillikers!
"Nov Shmoz Ka Pop."
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Frank Hale
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Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, Mr. Bats.

Don't know where Mort picked this up, but Eric Grayson is a regular at Nitrateville.
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mort bakaprevski
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Frank Hale
Apr 1 2013, 03:53 PM
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, Mr. Bats.

Well put, sir.

I saw it on Scarlet Street..... where every one immediately assumed it was a gag. Thought every one here would as well.
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The Batman
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Thanks, Frank. You never know what people will believe.
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mort bakaprevski
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Heyyyyy, waitaminnit. Seems this lost film came from the files of F. Gwynplaine MacInytyre. Maybe it's got some validity after all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/nyregion/12froggy.html?emc=eta1&_r=0
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