Given that London AFTER MIDNIGHT may never be found intact, the "stills restoration" that's been done is indeed a commendable effort. Like the French montage LA JETEE (which was remade by Terry Gilliam as 12 MONKEYS), this version of the Lost Chaney will suffice until something better comes along. There's striking imagery throughout (which the stills, which are simply frozen feature film frames, anyway, clearly convey) and the editing keeps things moving at a fairly brisk pace. The use of slow zooms and pans to zero in on significant details for dramatic effect- something that didn't happen in feature films of the period- add immeasurably to the proceedings. (In fact, one suspects, the "stills restoration" may, in some ways, outshine the "persistence of vision" Browning version: Browning's sense of pacing was always slow and deliberate- sometimes detrimentally so.) All in all, it's a painstaking pastiche and we'll just have to settle for that for the nonce.
Review of London After Midnight
