The Unholy Grail for Horror Fans in the lost film, "London After Midnight."

London After Midnight is a lost 1927 American silent mystery horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney, with Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall, and Polly Moran. The film was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and was written by Waldemar Young, based on the story "The Hypnotist" which was written by Browning. The film cost $151,666.14 to produce and grossed $1,004,000 (equivalent to $18,173,939 in 2024). Chaney's real-life make-up case can be seen in the last scene of the film sitting on a table, the only time it ever appeared in a film.

The last known copy of the film was destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire, making it one of the most sought-after lost silent films. There were a number of photo stills of the movie as well as the original scripts for the voice cards. there have been several attempt to reconstruct the film from the photos and using AI, there are a couple to watch on YoutTube. This is the one I currently like the best.

By the way, Tod Browning remade the film as a talkie in 1935, as Mark of the Vampire, starring Bela Lugosi.