A famous work, sadly famous film, with a lot of details and stories, even deaths, truths mixed with myth, which make up a varied paraphernalia of one of the films known as cursed, and that has sadly been lost in time. The great Lon Chaney stars in this work, considered the first great horror movie star, in one of the first film versions with vampires as protagonists, directed by the prolific and appreciable director Tod Browning, who in turn also participates in the elaboration of the script, based on his own story, "The Hypnotist", with the collaboration of Waldemar Young and Joseph Farnham. The film tells the grim story of a wealthy man, an individual millionaire who one day is found dead in his luxurious mansion, next to a supposed suicide note; without getting to solve the case, an individual, years later, tries to solve the murder, while in the abandoned and dark residence, tenebrous beings roam, being born the possibility that they are vampires. The film, shortly after being released, was destroyed in a fire, and gradually the remaining copies that were around the world suffered simile destiny, and it is pertinent to indicate that this article is based not on the picture, obviously, but on a reconstruction, an approximation to what the movie was once.
On a lonely and silent night, the millionaire Roger Balfour is found dead, leaving orphanless his daughter Lucille Balfour (Marceline Day). Professor Edward C. Burke (Chaney) investigates a little of the case, interrogates, first Sir James Hamlin (Henry B. Walthall), neighbor of the deceased, as well as Williams (Percy Williams), the butler. Arthur Hibbs (Conrad Nagel), Hamlin's nephew, is also questioned, but a solution is not reached, the case is filed as suicide. Five years later, in the abandoned mansion, two passersby see, horrified, lights and dark characters moving, catalog them as death people, consider them vampires. The mansion is now rented, the signature of the late Balfour is included in the rental agreement. Hamlin calls Burke again, they go to the cemetery, and discover that the tomb is empty. The new maid is interrogated, who claims to have seen a vampire torment her, and then fly away. Lucille and Hibbs are attracted, while in the mansion, the dark beings continue to meet at night, but apparently they are not vampires. Burke hypnotizes Hibbs, continues to investigate, people is worried over Lucille, disappeared, then Hamlin is also hypnotized, and during his hypnosis, rebuilds and confesses being the murderer, as Balfour would benefit him with his will, in addition, he wishes Lucille. The mystery is solved.
We are in front of a very famous lost film, considered one of the holy grails of the cinematographic world, one more work of the glorious, old and extinct silent cinema that is lost, a time in which the masterpieces were certainly not very scarce, but in which equally, the sadly egregious stories of masterpieces, for one reason or another, lost, that deprive the world of audiovisual delight were not very scarce either. That said, we point that the present article is based on a reconstruction of the lost feature film, reconstruction work by Rick Schmidlin, based on stills, photographs, immobile images, that bring us closer to the sadly inaccessible, the filmic work. What has been said, is not a film on which this writing is based, but on the images, which the camera studies slowly, focusing on the details of the same, repeatedly studying the faces of the protagonists, simulating forced close-ups, trying to capture the gestures and pouts of the actors; in other words, simulating action, trying to get closer to the cinematographic language, but naturally, it is not more than that, an attempt. In such a situation, it is a singular task to review, as the peculiar work on which the review is based, it is not a film, it is far from it, it is an attempt at recreation, which rests on hieratic images, lacking movement, lacking life, which almost only makes us regret even more the loss of the cinematic treasure.
And it is that, as logically as naturally, based on static images, in the present work all the interpretative power of Chaney is lost, remaining only the iconic image created by the man of the thousand faces, with the sharp teeth -the legend said that these dental pieces were true, myth of course- the dark hat and suit, remains that memorable appearance, although it is obvious that all the filmic force of the character is as lost as the film itself. Not being a film properly, but an approximation to it, this article will also be an approximation to what was once the film, because in this well-intentioned but sterile attempt to recreate it, every cinematographic virtue has evanesced. In this way what the author of this work tries is to approach those lost virtues, but the remoteness is insurmountable, the lack of movement destroys something that can not be considered a film, it is only to observe the photographs, but of course, depending on the glass with which you look at the current circumstances, this can be much more than having nothing at all. Thus, for example, we are dealing with a film that shares fate with
Greed (1924), by Erich von Stroheim, in its original version, and its more than nine hours of footage, also with
The Mountain Eagle (1926), by the maestro Hitchcock, among other works unfortunately disappeared, being each case different, of course, the loss is partial or total, being total in the feature that occupies us.
What was captured in a moment, however, is a dark story, mystery, intrigue and uncertainty, hypnotism and paranormal themes, shady, and of course, terror. Is the second film about vampires, after the legendary
Nosferatu (1922), in which the protagonists are vampires, and in which the other characters in the story are terrified of the atrocities of these creatures. The makeup is characteristic of this thematic current in the cinema, laying the foundations of what would be the visual guidelines of this type of cinema, it was beginning to give birth to the vampire cinema, a tradition that will be widely continued until today, but that in those years, early 20s, and with the arrival of sound as an imminent novelty to the world of cinema, was just beginning, being then other great titans who will follow the current, as for example the huge Carl Theodor Dreyer and his
Vampyr (1932). With all that happened, it is a film that is considered cursed, in which bizarre deaths are involved, Chaney died a few years after the premiere, a victim of lung cancer, some other death of the film production staff was given, in addition to the unfortunate incidents of repeated fires, caused in part by the highly inflammable material that was worked on at the beginning of the cinema. In addition to alienated stories in which it was claimed that the dark beings in the film, incarnating vampires, were really vampiric beings; a vast paraphernalia that increases the fame and cursed reputation of the film. Among the ill-fated events, bad reactions of some spectators, suicides and murders, even led to the movie being banned by orders of a judge in the United States. Anyway, having worked with Griffith, Tod Browning is a filmmaker who was already seasoned, prolific filmmaker who had other collaborations with Chaney, among the best works of both, the rumor was circulating that a private collector had a copy in his power, and why not to dream about one day appearing the cinematic treasure, if it came to light the new and improved version of
Metropolis (1927), dreaming costs nothing.
A famous work, sadly famous film, with a lot of details and stories, even deaths, truths mixed with myth, which make up a varied paraphernalia of one of the films known as cursed, and that has sadly been lost in time. The great Lon Chaney stars in this work, considered the first great horror movie star, in one of the first film versions with vampires as protagonists, directed by the prolific and appreciable director Tod Browning, who in turn also participates in the elaboration of the script, based on his own story, "The Hypnotist", with the collaboration of Waldemar Young and Joseph Farnham. The film tells the grim story of a wealthy man, an individual millionaire who one day is found dead in his luxurious mansion, next to a supposed suicide note; without getting to solve the case, an individual, years later, tries to solve the murder, while in the abandoned and dark residence, tenebrous beings roam, being born the possibility that they are vampires. The film, shortly after being released, was destroyed in a fire, and gradually the remaining copies that were around the world suffered simile destiny, and it is pertinent to indicate that this article is based not on the picture, obviously, but on a reconstruction, an approximation to what the movie was once.
On a lonely and silent night, the millionaire Roger Balfour is found dead, leaving orphanless his daughter Lucille Balfour (Marceline Day). Professor Edward C. Burke (Chaney) investigates a little of the case, interrogates, first Sir James Hamlin (Henry B. Walthall), neighbor of the deceased, as well as Williams (Percy Williams), the butler. Arthur Hibbs (Conrad Nagel), Hamlin's nephew, is also questioned, but a solution is not reached, the case is filed as suicide. Five years later, in the abandoned mansion, two passersby see, horrified, lights and dark characters moving, catalog them as death people, consider them vampires. The mansion is now rented, the signature of the late Balfour is included in the rental agreement. Hamlin calls Burke again, they go to the cemetery, and discover that the tomb is empty. The new maid is interrogated, who claims to have seen a vampire torment her, and then fly away. Lucille and Hibbs are attracted, while in the mansion, the dark beings continue to meet at night, but apparently they are not vampires. Burke hypnotizes Hibbs, continues to investigate, people is worried over Lucille, disappeared, then Hamlin is also hypnotized, and during his hypnosis, rebuilds and confesses being the murderer, as Balfour would benefit him with his will, in addition, he wishes Lucille. The mystery is solved.
We are in front of a very famous lost film, considered one of the holy grails of the cinematographic world, one more work of the glorious, old and extinct silent cinema that is lost, a time in which the masterpieces were certainly not very scarce, but in which equally, the sadly egregious stories of masterpieces, for one reason or another, lost, that deprive the world of audiovisual delight were not very scarce either. That said, we point that the present article is based on a reconstruction of the lost feature film, reconstruction work by Rick Schmidlin, based on stills, photographs, immobile images, that bring us closer to the sadly inaccessible, the filmic work. What has been said, is not a film on which this writing is based, but on the images, which the camera studies slowly, focusing on the details of the same, repeatedly studying the faces of the protagonists, simulating forced close-ups, trying to capture the gestures and pouts of the actors; in other words, simulating action, trying to get closer to the cinematographic language, but naturally, it is not more than that, an attempt. In such a situation, it is a singular task to review, as the peculiar work on which the review is based, it is not a film, it is far from it, it is an attempt at recreation, which rests on hieratic images, lacking movement, lacking life, which almost only makes us regret even more the loss of the cinematic treasure.
And it is that, as logically as naturally, based on static images, in the present work all the interpretative power of Chaney is lost, remaining only the iconic image created by the man of the thousand faces, with the sharp teeth -the legend said that these dental pieces were true, myth of course- the dark hat and suit, remains that memorable appearance, although it is obvious that all the filmic force of the character is as lost as the film itself. Not being a film properly, but an approximation to it, this article will also be an approximation to what was once the film, because in this well-intentioned but sterile attempt to recreate it, every cinematographic virtue has evanesced. In this way what the author of this work tries is to approach those lost virtues, but the remoteness is insurmountable, the lack of movement destroys something that can not be considered a film, it is only to observe the photographs, but of course, depending on the glass with which you look at the current circumstances, this can be much more than having nothing at all. Thus, for example, we are dealing with a film that shares fate with Greed (1924), by Erich von Stroheim, in its original version, and its more than nine hours of footage, also with The Mountain Eagle (1926), by the maestro Hitchcock, among other works unfortunately disappeared, being each case different, of course, the loss is partial or total, being total in the feature that occupies us.
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