LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT - Lon Chaney Makeup Effects Recreation

[TheCorrectViews]

WONDERFUL POSTING. I am going as him with our band (PLEASE come to THE COVE on Geneva on the Lake Oct 28 2011) and I you are the ONLY posting that I have found. YOU have MADE MY HALLOWEEN COMPLETE. Thank you so much.

Sam

[mohawkmad004]

wow, this is superb! how did you get the actor's eyes to bulge??

[bassie52]

@mohawkmad004 In the original movie, lon chaney used monocles.

[Deppaddicted]

@bassie52 No. He used wire hoops in the eyes sockets. Same thing with his Phantom of the Opera.

[hampsterbrick]

teeth are too big

[BillieJoesGirl06]

Good attempt but the teeth are way too big.

[jpotokar]

All visually poor. From the glued "half moon" rubber pieces under this guy's eyes, (Chaney did NOT do this) to the oversized teeth, and even the wig/hair--all incorrect in appearance and application.

[supersoveld]

Sid Terror discovered it back in 1988. He found it under the title the hypnotist. He made sure it was also named London After Midnight in the vault so someone could find it. He held the film in his hands. He saw the opening title and a still of Lon Chaney. It is still out there.

Article:

thehorrordrunx. yku. com / topic/ 753

This info needs to be given to someone with the power to go back into the vault and take it. Soon enough it truly will fall apart.

[thEannoyingE]

good work but the teeth are hilariously oversized

[BlueRibbonWinner]

Complete and utter failure

[UCSM22]

good work but the thing that destroys it is the teeth are 2 big

[fishkeeper456]

that thing sucks the teath are huge and it looks like crap!!

[thecopykidofthestarz]

teeth are too big

[DementedCaver]

I find it very interesting that Lon Chaney, an actor was able to pull off makeup jobs all by himself that are as good in many ways to what the field of movie makeup has now. He was a master in two categories, makeup and acting. He is a true legend, some of the stuff that he does in these early movies are just totally classic in every way.

[BeatriceYule]

plus the hair isnt long enough

[BeatriceYule]

i think the teeth are way overdone. amd the eyelids go a little to far down. lon chaney was the best! :D

[WillJohn68]

"A" for effort, but the result is so-so.

[Grimreviewer]

cool, great job bravo bravo

[drmoonrat]

The teeth remind me of The Man Who Laughed. Pretty cool looking, I must say.

[razieltalos]

seems to be a decent reproduction, but the teeth are certainly overdone, theyre too big

[DevoutDem]

Makeup is often tauted as the end all in Chaney's technique. His acting talent alone

could capture any of the roles he played with or without makeup. He could change character like the flip of a switch in his movies. I own an original still from "London After Dark" in the scene where Lon Chaney, Sr. is holding a lantern and snarling at the top of a flight of stairs. It haunts me every time I look at it.

[insaneberry]

Okay. I have two problems with this. Chaney did not go really in depth on the make-up with skin tones and he didn't use rubber prosthetics for the eyes. He used circular wires around the eyes to ppull them back. Then there were the dentures and the wig. That is all. The rest was facial contortion. If you get the DVD version of London After Midnight, from Warner Bros., his charatcer basically has to pull off the make-up to reveal himself in one scene. Why do people over-do this sort of thing?

[razieltalos]

well most people arent willing to go to the level of dedication Chaney did, of course today noone would be allowed to do the things he did back then, especially the wires in his nose for Phantom and harnesses from Hunchback and whatnot

[thecopykidofthestarz]

um people still suffer for theyre art even more painfully actualy the harness to make him short still egsists too. but of cours not recomended for use.

[666LordBacon666]

I've actually heard that a University in Utah has a copy of the movie.....

[operaboy81]

Amazing!

[nobodysperfect06]

man, I hope this film is found one day

[ScottEssman]

It's gone, but Turner did a recreation using stills.

[nobodysperfect06]

you really think it's gone forever?

[ScottEssman]

If there are no existing prints and no negative, hope is slim.

[nobodysperfect06]

man, do you think this film was not very popular? maybe thats why they didn't make enough copies?

[ScottEssman]

Chaney was a huge star by 1923... this film came out in 1927... so it was not the lack of popularity that was the problem...it was just one of those "lost" films that doesn't exist now 81 years later due to mishandling, accidents, etc.

[nobodysperfect06]

oh ok, also weren't films back then very fragile and brittle? and I heard studios didn't have the foresight back then to preserve films, like they didn't think it would be worth it for future use, like newspapers for example, when we are done reading them, we throw them away, was is the same with films back then?

[ScottEssman]

Yes, films were definitely NOT preserved like now and were not thought to have much archival value. Also true that the film stocks back then were more fragile. Film preservationists have helped restore silents. With LONDON, "the last known print was destroyed in 1965 in an electrical fire broke out in the vault that destroyed countless films from the silent era. One copy of the film may exist in a private collection in Canada, but the owner has declined to bring the print forward."--Wikipedia

[nobodysperfect06]

man, I wonder why the owner doesn't want to bring the print out to the public? he would make millions

[ScottEssman]

Just a rumor... Ted Turner owns much of the MGM library, so they technically have the rights to LONDON... you should catch the still recreation that they did a few years ago.

[nobodysperfect06]

yeah I know, I heard about it, but still, it does not even come close to being the real, moving thing, but it will have to do for now

[razieltalos]

dont count on ted turner for much considering how he destroyed the NWA when he decided to start WCW i dont put much faith in that greedy hick

[CallumJStewart]

Fuckin' A.

[Filmwolf02]

The majority of the film stock used during the silent era was silver nitrate based. Silver nitrate has the tendency to literally breakdown and decay over time, turning into a highly volatile powder. Also, some studios, in order to create extra revenue and free up storage space, would simply sell the film prints off so that the silver could be reclaimed through a chemical wash process (which of course, destroyed the movie).

[ChrisStockslager]

Pretty much. Think of it, no VHS, no DVD, no TV. So, they'd show it for a few months, possibly re-release it, and do pretty much nothing else with it. Well, up until TV came along in the 50s and VHS's in the 80s. Think if "London After Midnight" was shown on television, and the studio kept the print! Hey, I just thought of that. It could very well be possible! Yay! :)

[creepsomber]

Didn't Chaney actually use painful wires to make his eyes bulge?

[ScottEssman]

For LOM, he used some manner of effect to make the lower eyelids look pulled down. And yes, he used wires, straps, putty, fish skin, and different food products to create his characters in the horror films. Read Michael Blake's books for a full description of his techniques.

[axeamnas]

@creepsomber yes and he used painful false animal teeth that he could only wear for a few minutes at a time

[KurtsFan]

very great work man. you should make a tips page to show us uneducated people how to do some of this lol. Ive been trying to come up with some of Chaney's techniques but havent came up with one. What stuff do you use as far as putte and such?

[ScottEssman]

Corbin used appliances for the eyebags for this makeup. Chaney didn't have access to flexible foam rubber when he worked in the 1920s. If you wanna know how to do an appliance makeup step-by-step, check GLENN STRANGE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER MAKEUP on YouTube.

[KurtsFan]

ok thanks man. you guys are awesome.

[ScottEssman]

Not me - Corbin Booth did the makeup and Chaney was the inspiration. Check SPECIAL MAKEUP EFFECTS GLENN STRANGE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER MAKEUP on YouTube for more.

[filmaddict818]

Your make-up effects are very good.

However (I know you probably shouldn't) Chaney used putte and wires in his not pieces. Otherwise great job!!

[ScottEssman]

Yes, of course... they didn't refine foam latex appliances until the 1930s after Chaney had passed...as in the Jack Pierce tribute, we did this Lon Chaney tribute using appliances to recreate his classic makeups.

[filmaddict818]

Love the teeth as well

[ScottEssman]

Teeth were made in New York by FX wiz Mike Marino.