The Dark Eyes of London

Black and white, 35 mm
United Kingdom, 1939, 76 min
Section: Midnight Screenings

Synopsis

Five corpses are washed up from the murky waters of the River Thames. Investigations lead the police to insurance broker Dr Feodor Orloff, and a strange charitable institute for the blind. Lugosi’s second British feature was the first British film to receive an ‘H’ (for ‘Horrific’) certificate – preventing under-16s from seeing it. Gruesome and creepy, it deserved the rating. Against the backdrop of a foggy, gaslit London, Lugosi is superb as the gleefully evil Orloff, imaginatively wreaking terror through hypnotism, electrical torture, and drowning, aided by a monstrous homicidal giant, scarily played by Wilfred Walter. Though the narrative races along, Summers’ direction wisely allows Lugosi’s unique acting style room to breathe, with splendid results. Returning to America, Lugosi would rarely find such understanding: his career drifted into slow decline, as he was increasingly forced into bit parts and Poverty Row B pictures. The Dark Eyes of London, however, remains one of his career highlights.

About the director

Walter Summers (b.1896, Barnstaple, Devon; d. 1973) came from a theatrical family and performed as a child actor before he joined the London Films Company as an assistant in 1912. After serving in the First World War, he left the army as a captain. Returning to film, he worked with Cecil Hepworth, before scripting silent dramas and collaborating with G.B. Samuelson. At British Instructional Films, Summers established himself as a stylish, efficient director, later proving himself as adept with sound films as he was with silents. Though he considered himself “a workman”, he produced quality films, energetically overcoming the limitations of low budgets. He rejoined the Army during the Second World War; this signalled his retirement as a director, though he later returned to the film business.