I would agree that the Horror/Universal Horror phenomenon is probably the base for the London After Midnight reaching such a good price.
Your point about the film not having been seen by anyone for the past 70 odd years is spot on - if it were seen by an audience today would it stand up? Probably not as we are somewhat sophisticated and want more from a film - but it probably would if it were seen by Film Scholars...does Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera stand up? Of course it does I hear the crowd shout...but does it really? We all have an opinion - Lon Chaney created iconic images with his make up and that certainly goes to why London After Midnight garnered the attention at Heritage. Phantom stands up because of that and the presence Lon Chaney has on screen - LAM would probably be seen in the same vein. I have to say I would dearly like to see LAM, I have seen Nosferatu and many other silents - none really stand up today but of course just under 100 years ago audiences were less sophisticated or at least expected less than what we have on screen now. Such a film as LAM would be viewed as cheesy by todays audiences but all those years ago... Frankenstein and Dracula were two innovative films and thrilled audiences back then - I was thrilled watching them late at night with my parents allowing me to watch the horror double bills but now there is an element of nostalgia that has me being tender toward those films. I love them like most horror fans do - but do they stand up? Well those films are seen as the grand daddy's to the new horror flicks today and there was iconography and innovation. And certainly those films had their influence from the silent horrors. I am not sure I agree with the point about the hype - If the Frankenstein six sheet, that legendary almost mythical poster with such a great story of discovery behind it, if it should ever come up for sale what would it reach? We can all speculate, I think it would excess all the records...is it about hype? I don't think so I think it is about desire - there must be horror collectors who seek holy grails - LAM would be a grail and wanted in a collection there is no two ways about that. Your comment about Hitchcock's Blackmail is relevant and I think such a poster would reach a good price - probably not LAM territory - but I would cautiously say that there are probably more horror collectors with deep pockets than Hitch...and I don't say that lightly. How many people do you see dressing as a Hitch subject at Halloween? I would say if the average joe saw someone dressed as Chaney from LAM then they would be recognised as a Vampire or Jekyll and Hyde type. The Horror images far outstrip the Hitch images - I have a book that was published back in the early 1970's by Denis Gifford - I can remember seeing images of LAM in there (Lon Chaney in full grin) and wondering about the film - nothing was available of course. Hitch of course is less mainstream. But talking of hype - The Outlaw six sheet had it's hype and look what happened (given there are now four of those posters uncovered) - but here we have an iconic poster that was hyped and it didn't reach anywhere near LAM territory. Why? Because horror reaches more imaginations than Jane Russell's cleavage - probably! And yes LAM is rare - the fact that the film is lost helps the price - if there were 100 one sheets and half sheets etc. on this film then the price reached would not have been made. It is rare and such a poster has to be treated like fine art - one or very few examples exist. 1958 Dracula is rare and has estimates of 12 to 50 examples world wide in UK Quad format. Not LAM territory but hey surely thats rare? And it is extremely desirable - Iconic image as well. But will it ever reach LAM territory? Probably not whether it was hyped or not. As for one of a kind posters reaching the similar money as LAM from the same era - well what if there were a poster for the Edison Frankenstein? Metropolis has done it and there are four of the German three sheets...are they hyped? They certainly have holy grail status...Invisible Man teaser? Got to be another Holy Grail. Lastly - I think it's because Horror has such a fascination and is a great part of nostalgia that such posters go high. Horror is thrill stuff - Hitch is a bit more cerebral. Audiences since the days of theatre liked to be thrilled and what better way than to get the imagination going about being turned into an undead? This Never Happened to the Other Fella.... Adrian Cowdry jboh...@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: JOHN REID Vintage Movie Memorabilia <johnr...@moviemem.com> To: 'Adrian Cowdry' <jboh...@aol.com>; MoPo-L <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Sent: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 9:42 Subject: RE: [MOPO] What makes London After Midnight so valuable? All very good points Adrian I just keep getting back to the fact that virtually no living soul has actually seen this film. The stills might show iconic images and it might have been fairly ground breaking at the time but I wonder if it would be a disappointment if it turned up today. I think Tom was right on the mark when he talked about hype. I don’t want to denigrate the poster in any way but I just find it interesting the way values are put on movie posters. It goes to show what a subjective thing it all is. Let’s say a one sheet for Hitchcock’s Blackmail turned up. To me, that would leave London After Midnight for dead but I doubt it would go for anything close to the 400k plus. I suppose there might be other rare “one of a kind” posters for truly great films of the era that wouldn’t go close to the price achieved by London After Midnight. It all seems to be part of the Horror/Universal Horror phenomenon that has separated that genre from all others in our hobby. Regards John JOHN REID VINTAGE MOVIE MEMORABILIA www.moviemem.com PO Box 92 Elanora Qld 4221 Australia From: Adrian Cowdry [mailto:jboh...@aol.com] Sent: Monday, 24 November 2014 6:01 PM To: johnr...@moviemem.com; MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: Re: [MOPO] What makes London After Midnight so valuable? The fact that hardly anything survives on this film - so yes the rarity makes it valuable. The film is unseen and is an icon of the silent horror films - having read the recent "recreation" in book form it's a bit cheesy - not quite up to Dracula but it certainly trawls along with those silent Horror's of the time - perhaps not as good as Nosferatu but certainly it has iconic images of Lon Chaney. The poster surely drops into the same vein as the Universal Monsters that reach very high prices - how many of those posters are available? How man London After Midnight? As we all know Horror and Sci Fi are the big parts of this hobby that grab the attention of collectors - Metropolis, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dracula, and even the more common titles Forbidden Planet, Day the Earth Stood Still - all are innovative films and stand tall in cinema history. Perhaps that is the main reason London After Midnight is worth so much - I should add that the price paid for this poster is what the buyer wanted to pay and it is that valuable to him and possibly the underbidder - an item like this will garner such attention but it comes down to what the buyer wants to pay - if it were a King Kong three sheet or Outlaw six sheet that there are enough in circulation to have a going rate. London After Midnight is one poster that will reach it's own level of value. So is it such an innovative film to garner this much value? Probably. I would say that is the main reason this poster is this valuable = or the buyer decided he would pay this much for the poster because it is an innovative film and it is extremely rare. It is an interesting question that you raise John - because I would ask why certain posters have become so valuable - not quite in the same vein but why is Attack of the 50ft Woman got such a price tag? And why has Breakfast at Tiffany's got such a price tag? 50ft Woman has a great cheesy image but the film is not innovative, it has to be one of the worst movies of the sci fi era yet the poster has a high price tag compared to say Invaders from Mars or The Astounding She Monster. And Brealfast at Tiffany's we all know is the ladies favorite and presents Audrey Hepburn in the little black number by Dior yet it is relatively common - I have had this discussion with good friends within the business and hobby and we are of the opinion that some posters reach prices that they shouldn't - yes those of us lucky enough to be selling such posters are happy but the question I ask is why are such posters tagged with a high price? No one can say these two films are innovative - a 50ft Woman wandering about the country and a film about a sophisticated call girl (if it were the book of Tiffany's with Miss Golightly the fragile creature who has a wing or two down then I can understand but the film is not that great - in my opinion). This Never Happened to the Other Fella.... Adrian Cowdry jboh...@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: JOHN REID Vintage Movie Memorabilia <johnr...@moviemem.com> To: MoPo-L <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Sent: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 0:26 Subject: [MOPO] What makes London After Midnight so valuable? I would be interested in your opinions as to what makes London After Midnight such a valuable poster. Obviously, it’s rarity is a factor and the artwork is impressive but there are plenty of other rare posters from that era for truly great films that wouldn’t go for even a fraction of the price that was achieved on the weekend. The interesting thing to me is that the film has not been seen by anyone for at least 75 years. I know it was “recreated” some years ago from a collection of stills but the recreation might well be far removed from the original version. Just curious about your thoughts. JOHN REID VINTAGE MOVIE MEMORABILIA www.moviemem.com PO Box 92 Elanora Qld 4221 Australia To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1 Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
