LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT ai

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Been playing around with Perplexity.ai and, on a whim, asked it about LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. Delivered the standard answers - lost, never found, frames etc etc - but it did include something I didn’t know: that there’s a full script out there (which I should've known, given the photo recreation of the film from 2002 but hey). Anyhow, got me to thinking: given that there’s a script and plenty of stills and fragments (and the 2002 reconstruction) extant, could AI be used to recreate the complete film as it was when it premiered? A search for the 2002 recreation yielded this bit of brilliance, from someone who made an amazing (though obviously not perfect) go at recreating a few minutes of the film with AI. Excited by the potential here and what it could mean for lost films as a whole.

DAS PHANTOM DER OPER images(!)

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A reddit user found images (via the Internet Archive’s collection of German film journal Lichtbild-Bühne) from this 1916 grail of lost films – one from which no images (even promotional) were known to exist. As if I didn't want to see this film found enough…

phantom carrying christine down stairs?

My previous resurfacing of my initial write-up featuring early promotional texts and a description of the plot (note: add tag).

"it's basically a miracle..."

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Amazonas, Maior Rio do Mundo (Amazon: Longest River in the World)was stolen from the original director, Silvino Santos, shortly after it was made in 1918. Just over a decade later, it had completely disappeared. The film resurfaced earlier this year in a Czech archive and was identified by specialists in Italy and Brazil.

“It’s basically a miracle,” said Sávio Stoco, the Brazilian expert on Santos who confirmed the discovery. “We didn’t have the slightest hope that this work would one day be found.”

...

The 1918 film is considered a rare gem of Brazilian cinematography for its length, subject matter, and quality of composition. Featuring fascinating footage of the Amazon forest’s diverse landscapes and inhabitants – including some of the earliest known moving images of the Indigenous Witoto people – the feature-length film “mixes different dimensions of the documentary genre into a very enjoyable narrative for the viewer”, explains Stoco, a professor of visual arts at the federal university of Pará in Belém.

DRAKULA HALÁLA (1921)

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While working on a PostScript for my umpteenth rewatch (though first on Blu) of Murnau's NOSFERATU (coming later today), I came across this little bit of lost film gold: NOSFERATU wasn't the first on-screen appearance of Dracula (or litigious analogue) but the second. The first was a Hungarian film, now lost, DRAKULA HALÁLA, (DRACULA'S DEATH), directed by Károly Lajthay.

poster for DRAKULA HALÁLA (1921), a lost Hungarian film featuring the first onscreen appearance of Dracula

The plot - which doesn't follow the plot of the novel but sounds fascinating nonetheless:

A woman experiences frightening visions after being admitted to an insane asylum, where one of the inmates claims to be Drakula. She has trouble determining whether the inmate's visions are real or merely nightmares.

Apparently only a few images, featuring stars Paul Askonas (Dracula) and Margaret Lix (Mary) from the film survive:

An announcement of its release:

As fascinating as all of this is – and it is, utterly, profoundly, for this Dracula nut who grew up making lists of vampire films with his grandfather – it’s who was, along with Lajthay, credited as a writer that floored me:

The film was written by Lajthay and Mihály Kertész who had was also a prominent film director in Budapest and became better known as using the name Michael Curtiz, the director of American productions such as DOCTOR X (1932), MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933) and CASABLANCA (1942).

Now I really, REALLY want to see this – nevermind CASABLANCA: MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM is one of my favorites. And thus, my passion for lost films – tragic and without resolution though it may be – continues...

DAS PHANTOM DER OPER (1916)

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The 1912 Jekyll and Hyde made me want to resurface this post on the lost 1916 version of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, which is, for me - much as I want to see LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - the ultimate lost film.

This thread at The Classic Horror Board features some great information and discussion - especially this one, which includes the poster’s translation of a synopsis of the film (which seems to be quite faithful to Leroux's original) as well as the following translation of a review; image above from linked post.

"Fantastic drama  with Aud Egede Nissen. During the construction of an opera house, its designer had installed various mechanical and technological contrivances that ensured he could secretly access the rooms in the cellar. One day, illness prevents the diva from appearing as Gretchen [in Faust], and the designer - in the guise of an old regular visitor to the opera known by the name 'Phantom' - recommends an ingénue to the director to take her place; a recommendation the director accepts. The ingénue's appearance proves a success, only for her to then find herself held captive in the underground rooms by the ugly Phantom, who is in love with her. She is rescued by her fiancé and a Persian, while the master builder meets with his death. The subject matter is good, and the photography, acting and sets very good."

Will update accordingly if I find any new info.