London After Midnight is Lon Chaney’s most famous lost film, as a detective who disguises himself as a vampire to solve a murder, in a mystery that still fascinates film lovers.
London After Midnight (1927), directed by Tod Browning, stars Chaney in a double role: Inspector Burke, a Scotland Yard detective, and a mysterious man in a beaver hat with sharp teeth, who appears to be a vampire. Burke uses the vampire disguise to frighten a suspect into confessing to a murder that was staged as a suicide.
Chaney’s vampire, with a top hat, a cape and a ghastly grin, became an iconic image, even though the film itself is now lost, with only stills and a reconstruction surviving. His Burke, calm and clever, shows Chaney as a detective as well as a monster.
It is a signature role because it is Chaney’s most sought-after lost film, and because its vampire image influenced horror cinema for decades.