Man in the Beaver Hat
The Man in the Beaver Hat is the principle character in Tod Browning’s 1927 film London After Midnight.[1] He is considered an undead vampire in the film and subsequent media based on it. He was portrayed by silent film actor Lon Chaney in 1927, a performance much revered even today. Bela Lugosi portrayed him in the 1935 talkie remake Mark of the Vampire alongside Lionel Barrymore.[2]
The Man in the Beaver Hat is regarded heavily today as a horror icon. Though no moving pictures of the original portrayal survive, as the film London After Midnight was lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire, many filmgoers are still tickled by his gruesome looks.[3]
Role in film[edit]
In London After Midnight, the Man is a disguise used by visiting detective Edward Burke from Scotland Yard, who is investigating an apparent suicide in Londoner Roger Balfour’s home. Seemingly, 5 years after the call, gruesome ghoulish figures haunt the Balfour mansion, which had long been abandoned. Unmaintained, the cobwebs and shadows make the locale attractive to Man in the Beaver Hat.
The Man lives in the mansion with the Bat Girl, seemingly his wife. Together, they conduct a business transaction with the terrified real estate people to buy the house. Later, the Man haunts the daughter of Balfour, Lucille, by scaring her in her bedroom and the others at the scene of the crime. Ultimately, he hypnotized nephew of Balfour Sir James Hamlin into thinking it is the night of the murder 5 years before, thus revealing he is the killer and it is not a suicide.
the Man in the Beaver Hat was never heard from again, 90+ years later.
Creation[edit]
Lon Chaney's makeup for the film included sharpened teeth and the hypnotic eye effect, achieved with special wire fittings which he wore like monocles. Based on surviving accounts, he purposefully gave the "vampire" character an absurd quality, because it was the film's Scotland Yard detective character, also played by Chaney, in a disguise. Surviving stills show this was the only time Chaney used his famous makeup case as an on-screen prop.
It is those creation that inspired the face of 2014’s The Babadook.[4] That, as well as 2021’s The Black Phone.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ https://collider.com/lon-chaney-silent-horror-actor-man-of-a-thousand-faces/
- ↑ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-879511-26-6
- ↑ https://www.amazon.ca/London-After-Midnight-Marie-COOLIDGE-RASK/dp/B000JD69O4
- ↑ https://mountainx.com/movies/interview-with-the-babadooks-writer-director-jennifer-kent/
- ↑ https://collider.com/the-black-phone-poster-ethan-hawke/
