Midnight Screenings 2008 / The Dark Eyes of London / United Kingdom 1939
The first British film to receive an ‘H’ (for ‘Horrific’) certificate, preventing under-16s from seeing it, this gruesome chiller deserved the rating. Legendary screen Dracula Bela Lugosi gives one of his greatest performances as a deranged insurance broker up to no good in foggy, gaslit London.
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.
76 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Walter Summers
/ Screenplay Patrick Kirwan, Walter Summers, John F. Argyle
/ Dir. of Photography Bryan Langley
/ Music Guy Jones
/ Editor E.R. Richards
/ Producer John Argyle
/ Production John Argyle Productions
/ Cast Bela Lugosi, Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt, Edmon Ryan, Wilfred Walter
/ Contact BFI, Connaissance du cinéma
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.
BFI
21 Stephen Street, W1T 1LN, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 255 1444
Fax: +44 207 436 7950
E-mail: [email protected]
Connaissance du cinéma
122 rue La Boétie, 750 08, Paris
France
Phone: +33 1 435 901 01
Fax: +33 1 435 964 41
E-mail: [email protected]
Vic Pratt
Film Institution Rep.
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