While the City Sleeps (partially lost Lon Chaney crime drama film; 1928)

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While the city sleeps.jpg

Poster for the film.

Status: Partially Lost

While the City Sleeps is an American silent crime drama film, released on September 15, 1928. The movie was directed by Jack Conway, and starred Lon Chaney, Anita Page, Carroll Nye, Wheeler Oakman, and Mae Busch.[1]

Plot

Daniel Aloysius Coghlan is a plain clothes man, a detective on the beat in New York City. He is investigating a murder in a jewelry store, when a hearse drives up with Skeeter Carlson, an undertaker known as "Mile-Away" because whenever he is asked of his whereabouts when a crime was committed, he was always "a mile away." Dan hopes to get information from Bessie, Mile- Away's former girlfriend, but she refuses to cooperate. Mile-Away has dumped Bessie for Myrtle, and Dan warns Myrtle not to get mixed up with a crook. Dan is an old friend of Myrtle's mother, who tells Dan that Myrtle has been dating Marty. Marty is not much of a catch, as he does not have a job and spends his time taking Myrtle to dance halls. Dan lives in a rooming house run by Minnie McGinnis, a widow who is sweet on Dan. He gets a call from Mrs. Sullivan saying that Myrtle is out late at a dance hall with Marty, and Dan goes to investigate. Mile-Away wants to get rid of Marty so he can have a crack at Myrtle, but Dan shows up and drags Myrtle home. Marty is miffed at Dan, and Mile-Away offers him a chance to make some easy money. Dan goes to work on Bessie, telling her that Mile-Away dumped him for a younger girl, and Bessie tells Dan that Mile-Away murdered the jeweler. Dan goes to see Mile-Away, where he finds Marty working for him. Dan captures the gang, but the case against Mile-Away falls apart when Bessie is captured by the gang and is unable to testify.

Mile-Away plans to heist some furs, and Marty is to be shot during the robbery. While the heist is underway, Dan slips in and shows Marty how they planned to bump him off. He tells Marty he will let him go if he leaves town. Dan captures one of Mile-Away's gang and gives him the third degree until he squeals on Mile-Away. Marty sends a note to Myrtle saying he's leaving town and going straight, but Mile-Away intercepts the note and tricks Myrtle into thinking Marty is upstairs in a private room, and when she goes to the room, Mile-Away attacks her. Dan arrives and breaks down the door, but Mile-Away escapes after shooting through the door and killing a policeman. Realizing that Myrtle will testify against him, Mile-Away takes a gun and goes after her. Myrtle finds Dan and tells him that Mile-Away is after her. Dan calls headquarters for officers to protect Myrtle, and arranges for her to stay at the boarding house with him. Three weeks pass, and Mile-Away has been hiding out in the attic of a deserted house. Spending weeks with Myrtle, Dan has fallen for her; he proposes marriage and she accepts. Mile-Away's hideout is spotted, and Dan and the police have him surrounded. The police throw in tear gas bombs and the crooks surrender, but Mile-Away escapes. Dan chases him over the roof of the building where Mile- Away is shot by one of the officers. Marty finds Myrtle and she admits that she really loves him, not Dan, but she feels obligated to marry Dan after all he had done for her. Marty leaves, but Dan has detectives pick him up at the train station. He tells Marty to marry Myrtle, but that if he makes her unhappy, Dan will break his neck. The couple race off to the marriage bureau, and Dan returns home where he finds Mrs. McGinnis waiting to cook him dinner.[2]

Availability

The film mostly survives, though portions of reels six and seven are missing, with several scenes lost. On top of that, the film also suffers from nitrate decomposition, with the surviving reels affected in some areas. Even with those factors, the film, which originally ran at 70 minutes, is only missing a few minutes, and the store is not effected heavily.

The film also came out during release to some theatres with a soundtrack, featuring music for the film and even sound effects. The entire soundtrack version of the film has been lost.

Gallery

Videos

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See Also

External Links

References

  1. Silentera listing of the film. Retrieved 15 Mar '23
  2. Synopsis from lonchaney.org Retrieved 15 Mar '23