The Bootleg Files: London After Midnight

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 934: “London After Midnight” (2025 AI-fueled reconstruction of the lost 1927 film).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It rips off a 2002 copyright-protected reconstruction of lost the film.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Definitely not.

Among the vast and woeful realm of lost films, the 1927 Lon Chaney-starring vampiric mystery feature “London After Midnight” is among the most sought-after titles. Back in 2000, I interviewed Jon Mirsalis, a Chaney historian and film preservationist, for an article on Film Threat – this was when Film Threat was still readable, of course – and I asked him about this Tod Browning-directed film, which was considered lost after the last known surviving print was destroyed in a 1967 vault fire at the MGM studios. In that interview, Mirsalis openly questioned whether “London After Midnight” was the lost classic that too many people imagined it had to be.
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In Search of ‘London After Midnight’

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Phil Hall

Tod Browning’s 1927 “London After Midnight” starring Lon Chaney is the most famous lost film of all time. In this episode of “The Online Movie Show,” film historian Daniel Titley, author of the upcoming book “London After Midnight: The Lost Film,” discusses the film’s complex history and whether it will ever seen again.

The episode can be heard here.

Horror Films: The Silent Years

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Phil Hall

This episode celebrates the birth and development of the horror film genre, from the 1890s through the 1920s. Our guest is Troy Howarth, co-author of “Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era (Volume 1),” and we celebrate the horrific output of the Edison studios, German icon F.W. Murnau, the Lon Chaney-Tod Browning canon, and other masters of silent horror flicks.

“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.

The episode can be heard here.

Freaks (1932)

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

For a very long time I avidly avoided Tod Browning’s “Freaks” simply because it was one of those films that I was intimidated by. While very few films leave me tainted, “Freaks” is a film I was afraid would be cheap, exploitative, and nauseating. “Freaks” is by all accounts one of the most downbeat horror classics ever made. Especially in the face of director Browning’s horror classic “Dracula.”

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