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LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

#1
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7/24/08 at 6:14am
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Mr. Harris, this is astonishig news, but news that is not complete. Apparently there is a print out there of this long 'lost' film, just waiting to be found. It was found once before, but the guy who came across it was a low level employee who couldn't get anyone to listen to him. Since that find the print was moved, along with thousands of other prints, to a different location.

Full story here.

LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - LOST CLASSIC FOUND! - SILENT BUT DEADLY (1920's and earlier) - MOVIES BY CATEGORY - THE HORROR DRUNX - Horror Movie Message Boards - Message Board - Yuku

This is far too important to just let go, which is why I bring it to Mr. Harris' attention.

Death to PG-13! And now death to DVNR too!!

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#2
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7/24/08 at 9:39am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

While this was an interesting read and it certainly merits a database search of all said facilities, I will remain skeptical. There are certain parts of his story that simply don't make sense. Why all of the secrecy? If this is true, he found a lost film that would be a publicity boon for whomever ran the facility as well as a money maker for whomever owned the print. In the story, it's treated more like he found an alien spacecraft or Hitler's body, which makes no sense.

Nonetheless, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hopefully this story makes it to Geroge Feltenstein so due dilligence can be performed.
"Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award."
Billy Wilder

"This business has come a long way in the last 30 years, but why should I depress you"
I.A.L. Diamond on the Movie Business (1986)
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#3
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7/24/08 at 10:34am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

The folks who found the 16mm METROPOLIS print had a hard time proving it. No one wanted to believe them, so I can see this as being possible.

Hope so.

Death to PG-13! And now death to DVNR too!!

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#4
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7/24/08 at 1:44pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Michael Blake and various others have spoken up and why this story is a fake. Not to mention the fact that the writer, after keeping this secret for 10 years, has now left and won't be able to be reached until Sunday.

Not to mention that there are several errors in the story.

Check out CHFB for some reactions.

Anything is possible and I hope Warner at least gives a quick look but the story just has too many errors in it.
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#5
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7/24/08 at 2:35pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Also the guy's name "Sid Terror" doesn't inspire too much confidence in his story.
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#6
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7/24/08 at 6:42pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan1
Also the guy's name "Sid Terror" doesn't inspire too much confidence in his story.

Wot! You don't trust a website called Horror Drunx?

I didnt play Dungeons and Dragons all those years and not learn something about courage.
--Bernie Faulkner

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#7
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7/24/08 at 8:37pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - still lost

Shame on me for wasting 10 minutes of my life reading the tall tale in the link.

So, we are supposed to believe that an internet poster who refuses to use his own name and posts on a site that nobody has heard of found a film that archivists and historians spent years looking for? On top of that, said poster keeps quiet about it for 2 decades?

Please. There are more productive, and honorable, ways of increasing traffic at one's website.
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#8
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7/25/08 at 6:01am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

If people don't have more sense, Robert Harris' Insiders section can end up filled with this kind of thread. They haven't exactly been rare lately.


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#9
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7/25/08 at 6:41am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnRice
If people don't have more sense, Robert Harris' Insiders section can end up filled with this kind of thread. They haven't exactly been rare lately.

Well, you know, you find one movie thats had 20 minutes missing for 80 years. Everything comes in 3s, right?
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#10
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7/25/08 at 8:53am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

I doubt this is true.

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did."  T.E. Lawrence

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#11
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7/25/08 at 9:04am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - still lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve...O
...Please. There are more productive, and honorable, ways of increasing traffic at one's website.

Good point about site traffic and the posting was long and annoyingly cluttered with graphics. These "lost film" b.s. stories all sound the same. Some person/executive/manager doesn't want the film released for some ridiculous/sinister/incompetent reason. The person who "finds" the lost film always has an equally b.s. reason for not contacting a legitmate entity like a newspaper or university with this earth shattering cinema news.

This guy added a twist by saying he found LAM years ago and has sat on his ass all this time with this info locked away in his little mind. I give him points for making up a nice convoluted story. He needs to get together with the guy at TCM who posted an equally convoluted b.s. story about how the full Ambersons remained in Brazil since 1941.
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#12
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7/25/08 at 5:38pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - still lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan1
He needs to get together with the guy at TCM who posted an equally convoluted b.s. story about how the full Ambersons remained in Brazil since 1941.
I think that is really the clue. These claims always come with lengthy explanations and lots of intrigue. Reality seems to usually be quite different and simple, such as the fairly complete copy of The Passion of Joan of Arc being found.


They flutter behind you, your possible pasts.
Some bright-eyed and crazy, some frightened and lost.
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#13
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7/25/08 at 6:55pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Well, to be fair, lost films are being found every year. I honestly think a copy of this film could be out there somewhere but the story told by this guy just has too many holes and just seems to simple. I'm positive someone at Warner has probably heard of this so it would only take an hour to check out how legit the story is.

The biggest problem I have with the story is why on Earth would he wait so long to tell this story? Why announce it two days ago? Why not five years ago? Why not four? What was so special about two days ago and why post it on a site that doesn't have many members?

Also, if this story is really true, why do you announce it to the world and then disappear for five days knowing that people are going to want questions answered on the subject?

Finally, as Michael Blake pointed out, every expert in the film has been searching for a copy of this since that vault fire. When Warner/Turner did their Chaney set (with the photo LAM), the workers of that had all access to everything in Warner's vault yet they never came away with anything involving this film. It's not like people haven't been looking for this movie.
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#14
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7/25/08 at 10:34pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

this should be merged with the other thread
dvd aficionado
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#15
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7/26/08 at 7:03am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassy_w
The folks who found the 16mm METROPOLIS print had a hard time proving it. No one wanted to believe them, so I can see this as being possible.

Hope so.

Not the case. The found Metropolis footage was located by legitimate film experts at a legitimate location and reported to the local press. The story was then sent out over all the international wire services. This LAM thing comes form only one "source", that Horror film fan site. No comparison.
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#16
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7/27/08 at 4:11pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Elliott
Not to mention the fact that the writer, after keeping this secret for 10 years, has now left and won't be able to be reached until Sunday (07/27/08).

Sunday is here and so far Mr. Sid Terror has not re-appeared on that "Horror Drunx" board.
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#17
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7/28/08 at 11:05am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Sunday is here and so far Mr. Sid Terror has not re-appeared on that "Horror Drunx" board.


He's back and has left a lengthy message. As much as I would like to believe him, it's hard when then bulk of his message is a threat to not question his story or they'll delete your posts....and in another paragraph mentions that he wants to have an open dialogue.
"Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award."
Billy Wilder

"This business has come a long way in the last 30 years, but why should I depress you"
I.A.L. Diamond on the Movie Business (1986)
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#18
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7/28/08 at 11:08am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by nhu
Sunday is here and so far Mr. Sid Terror has not re-appeared on that "Horror Drunx" board.

Now he's back and has replied. More convoluted nonsense. I can't figure out what his game is though. Ultimately he will look like a fool or a liar. Very odd.

This "Sid Terror" guy replies
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#19
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7/28/08 at 2:01pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

When Turner had their facility on Washington Blvd in Culver City, it was not, to the best of my knowledge, a NITRATE facility.

That said, one never knows...

RAH

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did."  T.E. Lawrence

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#20
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7/28/08 at 7:08pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Mr. Harris, could you comment on how studios approach these types of facilities. What I'd like to know is if they have people going through these vaults and actually looking for anything that could be lost. Not just films but deleted scenes, outtakes or anything else that might have been saved from the old days.

Over the past few years there have been countless lost films found ranging from Lang's epic to Chaney pictures and even BEYOND THE ROCKS of course. Since these things are turning up left and right, are the studios always looking for them or is it really up to the middle guys to find them.
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#21
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7/29/08 at 9:11am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Certainly one of the more successful hoaxsters, given the stir he's created. I wonder if he's the same guy that "found" The Magnificent Andersons in Brazil a few months ago and then conveniently vanished.

I have no doubt he put the phony "aka" into the film asset database that Ted Newsom found. But the rest of the story doesn't add up in the least.

"This movie has warped my fragile little mind."

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#22
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7/30/08 at 11:40am
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Zimmer
...Certainly one of the more successful hoaxsters, given the stir he's created...

It's stranger than the average hoax which is usually some harmless nonsense on the internet. I said before that I couldn't figure out what Sid Terror's was about with this whole huge confusing thing.

But now I think he wants to make himself out to be some kind of a hero to the legions of escaped mental patients (check out their avatars) on that website. We know LAM is verifiably lost, burnt to a crisp is a fire long ago. So when LAM fails to turn up Sid can say that "the executives at company X" or "the archivists at University X" or other suitable bogeymen "do not want LAM released" for whatever paranoid reasons. By doing this he becomes the Good Guy to everybody elses' Bad Guy. Sid wants it released but the Bad Guys just won't let it happen, and screw the facts along the way.
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#23
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7/30/08 at 5:55pm
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Re: LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is not lost

I'm in agreement with CameronMcC

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did."  T.E. Lawrence

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