The sets were designed by Cedric Gibbons. Sam and Jack Feinberg (Chaney's set musicians) also played uncredited roles in the film; they can be seen playing in the band at Skeeter's nightclub, and also in the street scene where Mae Busch's body is found dead in her car. The movie was filmed on location in Los Angeles, and Lt. Roy Harlacher of the LAPD served as Chaney's technical advisor.[2]
The film was originally to be called either Chinatown or Easy Money. The film was in production from April 12, 1928 to May 18, 1928, and cost $259,000 to produce. The worldwide box office gross was $1,035,000.[3] A still exists showing Chaney in the role of Detective Dan Coghlan.[4]
Plot
The film focuses on the 'Plain Clothes Men', a group of detectives dressed up as average citizens to catch criminals without being noticed. They are especially hated by the underworld due to their constant meeting, during which suspects are analyzed and interrogated extensively. Among the staff is Dan Coghlan (Lon Chaney), a police officer with flat feet and a tough disposition, who is unsatisfied with the lack of adventure. As he is about to quit his job, he is noticed about a croaked jeweler. When arriving there, he finds "Mile-Away" Skeeter Carlson (Wheeler Oakman), a crook who never gets busted for the crimes he commits due to a lack of evidence. (He always claims he was "a mile away" from the crime scene.)
Dan decides to follow him, and after talking to Skeeter's low-life girlfriend Bessie (Mae Busch) without gaining any information, he prevents Skeeter from seducing young Myrtle Sullivan (Anita Page), an innocent flapper who finds excitement in hanging out with crooks. Dan has assigned himself as Myrtle's care-taker, and he disapproves of her boyfriend Marty (Carroll Nye), a dapper gangster without a job. When Skeeter is out of town for two days, Dan grasps this opportunity to manipulate Bessie. After convincing her that Skeeter is planning to dump her for Myrtle, Bessie rats on Skeeter and admits that he murdered the jeweler.
Without wasting any time, Dan sets out to bust Skeeter and his gang, only to find out that one of them is Marty. Shortly after, Bessie's dead body is found in her car, and Dan is convinced that Skeeter is responsible for her death, considering that she was going to testify against him. The case against Skeeter is dismissed by the court, and he immediately reveals his plan to murder Marty. Dan overhears this conversation, and hurries to protect Marty only to catch him in the midst of a fur warehouse robbery. Even though he could turn him in, Dan orders the police to leave Marty alone and helps the young man to go straight, provided that Marty leave town.
Before leaving town, Marty wants to meet Myrtle one last time and sends her a letter, but Skeeter reads it before she can receive it. He tries to force himself on her, but he is interrupted by a police raid. Before they open the door, Skeeter fires a shot right through it - which kills a cop - and then gets away. Upon finding out that Myrtle will testify against him, Skeeter sets out to kill her. Meanwhile, Dan tells Myrtle against his better judgment that he loves her and then proposes marriage to her. Even though she is actually in love with Marty, Myrtle accepts, really just out of gratitude for all that Dan has done for her.
Afterwards, Dan leaves to find Skeeter, and catches him and his men preparing for a get-away. It results in a climactic shootout, during which several policemen and gangsters are killed. Skeeter's men give up after being attacked by tear gas bombs, but Skeeter finds a way to escape onto the rooftop. Dan follows him there, and after yet another shootout, Skeeter is killed. Meanwhile, Marty returns to town in a rage after finding out about Dan and Myrtle's engagement. Marty proposes to Myrtle, but she decides to stay loyal to Dan. Dan realizes that she really loves Marty, and arranges for them to get hitched. Dan tells Marty "You go marry that girl, but if you ever make her unhappy, I'll break your neck!"
Chaney personally chose Anita Page as the leading lady, after seeing the rushes for Our Dancing Daughters (1928), in which she co-starred.[6] By that time, Page was preparing for Bellamy Trial (1929), but she was reassigned to appear in While the City Sleeps.[6] About working with Chaney, Page stated in a 2007 interview:
"Before filming began, Lon talked to me about make-up and explained the action scenes to me. Finally, he gave me one last bit of advice: ‘Never act purely on impulse in important matters,’ he said. ‘Think things over carefully. Then, when you’re sure that you’re right, go ahead. And don’t let anything swerve you from that decision.’"[6]
Los Angeles City Hall, which opened in April 1928, appears on film for perhaps the first time in the background of a few rooftop scenes, especially in the climactic rooftop gun battle.
Critical Comments
"Now and then Lon Chaney tosses his make-up kit over the fence and acts like a human being. He appears "as is" in this picture, which shows crook stuff at its highest tempo, dwarfing THE BIG CITY to the size of a newsreel, and proving that an occasional straight role is fine balance for big character actors. He gives a remarkable characterization of a tough dick. A well-knit story, exceptionally cast and directed." ---Photoplay
"I may have mentioned in this space that I have always considered TELL IT TO THE MARINES Lon Chaney's best picture. This for the reason that in it Chaney didn't make up. Whether I've mentioned it or not, the opinion is now revised. I consider WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS Chaney's best picture. After all, he did have a marine uniform in the other picture. In this he works straight as to attire as well as character. He's a detective, a big city detective, and I think it's well nigh time somebody did a detective without making him funny. Chaney does so." ---Exhibitors Herald
"To begin with, Lon Chaney doesn't do at all in a semi-heroic role. You can't disassociate him from something monstrous and all the bizarre characters he has ever played come up to confront the spectator. Good judgement ought to have barred Chaney from the role in the first place. Therefore, a misplaced star turns what might have been a stirring meller into second grade quality program output, wholly dependent on Chaney's name." ---Variety
"Though this is an underworld drama, the theme is exactly the same as that of Laugh, Clown, Laugh. And Lon Chaney is again the somewhat dilapidated looking would-be lover who laughs while his heart is breaking. Very exciting but I think Lon Chaney should pick on girls nearer his own age." ---Motion Picture Magazine[2]
Tag Lines
"You've seen Chaney as a crook Now you see him as a master detective in one of his most exciting performances!" --- (Print Ad-Provo Sunday Herald, ((Provo, Utah)) 11/11/28)
"CHANEY, as a detective, single-handed, corners the city's most dangerous "mob" in their hide-away- and then finds he has bitten off more than he can chew!" --- (Print Ad- Dodge City Daily Globe, ((Dodge City, Ks.)) 21 January 1929)
"Detectives, the underworld, thrills and a glorious romance. The real inside story of how New York plain clothes men battle the forces of crime day and night." --- (Print Ad- Watkins Express, ((Watkins Glen, NY)) 13 December 1928)
Survival status
The film was released silent, but was also released in some areas equipped with sound effects and a musical score. All of the extant prints of While the City Sleeps are missing portions from reels 6 and 7, and nitrate decomposition has affected some portions of the surviving reels. but this does not significantly affect the storyline. The partial sound prints no longer exist.[2]
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted, characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed, earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces".
Laugh, Clown, Laugh is a 1928 American silent drama film starring Lon Chaney and Loretta Young. The movie was directed by Herbert Brenon and produced by Irving G. Thalberg for MGM Pictures. A sound version of this film was released in the second half of 1928 and featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The film was written by Elizabeth Meehan, based on the 1923 Broadway stage production Laugh, Clown, Laugh by David Belasco and Tom Cushing, which in turn was based on a 1919 play Ridi, Pagliaccio by Fausto Maria Martini.
West of Zanzibar is a 1928 American synchronized sound film directed by Tod Browning. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The screenplay concerns a vengeful stage magician named Phroso who becomes paralyzed in a brawl with a rival. The supporting cast includes Mary Nolan and Warner Baxter. The screenplay was written by Elliott J. Clawson, based on a play named Kongo by Charles de Vonde and Kilbourn Gordon. Walter Huston starred in the stage play and later played Phroso again in the 1932 sound film remake of the same story which was also called Kongo.
Danger, Go Slow is a 1918 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and starring Mae Murray, Jack Mulhall and Lon Chaney. Robert Z. Leonard and Mae Murray co-wrote the screenplay together. The film is today considered lost.
Daredevil Jack is a 1920 American silent 15-chapter action film serial directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey and featuring Lon Chaney as a villain. The chapters were shown weekly between February and May 1920. The serial's working titles were Daredevil Durant or Dead or Alive. An incomplete copy of the film is housed in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
The Unholy Three is a 1925 American silent crime melodrama film involving a trio of circus conmen, directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. The supporting cast features Mae Busch, Matt Moore, Victor McLaglen, and Harry Earles. The Unholy Three marks the establishment of the notable artistic alliance between director Browning and actor Chaney that would deliver eight films to M-G-M studios during the late silent film era.
The Wicked Darling is a 1919 American silent crime film directed by Tod Browning, and starring Priscilla Dean, Wellington A. Playter and Lon Chaney as pickpocket "Stoop" Connors. This was the first time Lon Chaney appeared in a Tod Browning film, and many other collaborations between the two men would follow.
Outside the Law is a 1920 American pre-Code crime film produced, directed and co-written by Tod Browning and starring Priscilla Dean, Lon Chaney and Wheeler Oakman.
The Blackbird is a 1926 American silent crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. The screenplay was written by Waldemar Young, based on a story "The Mockingbird" by Tod Browning. Cedric Gibbons and Arnold Gillespie handled the set design. Makeup man Cecil Holland also played one of the old men living at the mission. Character actors Eddie Sturgis and Willie Fung appeared in several other Lon Chaney movies during this time period. The film took 31 days to shoot at a cost of $166,000. The tagline was "Lon Chaney in his successor to The Unholy Three". Stills on the internet shows Chaney in his dual role. In April 2012, the film became available on DVD from the Warner Archive collection.
The Big City is a 1928 American silent crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. Waldemar Young wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Tod Browning. The film is now lost.
The Forbidden Room is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and featuring Murdock MacQuarrie, Pauline Bush and Lon Chaney. The film's working title was originally The Web of Circumstance. The film is now considered to be lost.
By the Sun's Rays is a 1914 American short silent Western film directed by Charles Giblyn and featuring Lon Chaney and Murdock MacQuarrie. It is one of the earliest surviving films of Lon Chaney, with several prints existing in private film collections and a video release in 1995. A still from the film exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of the villainous "Frank Lawlor".
Her Bounty is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and written by his wife Ida May Park, and featuring Lon Chaney and Pauline Bush. This was the first film Chaney worked on with the filmmaking team of Joe De Grasse and Ida May Park, to be followed by many more. The film is now considered to be lost.
The Stool Pigeon is a 1915 American crime film directed by Lon Chaney and starring J. Warren Kerrigan, Vera Sisson and George Periolat. Chaney did not appear in the film himself. The film is considered to be lost.
The Stronger Mind is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and featuring Lon Chaney, Murdock MacQuarrie and Pauline Bush. Chaney did not routinely work for the United production unit at Universal, and was obviously sent over as a one-time loan-out for this production. It is now considered to be a lost film. A still exists showing MacQuarrie and Chaney as the two bank robbers.
Father and the Boys is a 1915 American silent comedy film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Ida May Park, and co-starring Lon Chaney and Digby Bell. It is based on a popular 1908 Broadway play produced by Charles Frohman, called Father and the Boys by George Ade. This was Louise Lovely's American film debut after emigrating from Australia. She made a total of 8 films with Chaney during this time period.
Stronger Than Death is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse, written by Bess Meredyth, and featuring Lon Chaney and Arthur Shirley. The film is notable for featuring two expatriate Australian actors together in the cast, Louise Lovely and Arthur Shirley. This was Louise Lovely's first American film - indeed it was the first time the actor, whose real name was Louise Carbasse, was credited as "Louise Lovely". The stage name was given to her by Carl Laemmle. Chaney had a relatively small role in this film as the attorney.
Dolly's Scoop is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Joe De Grasse and featuring Lon Chaney. It was written by Ida May Park, based on a story by Hugh Weir. This was one of the few silent films that subtitled the actors' dialogue at the bottom of the screen, instead of using title cards. Also, this was one of the only Lon Chaney films in which Chaney wound up getting the girl at the end of the picture. A still exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of the reporter, Dan Fisher.
Victory is a surviving 1919 American action film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Jack Holt, Seena Owen, Lon Chaney, Wallace Beery and Bull Montana. The film is an adaptation of the 1915 eponymous novel by Joseph Conrad. The screenplay was written by Jules Furthman and Ben Carré was the art director.
The Light in the Dark is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Clarence Brown and stars Lon Chaney and Hope Hampton. A still exists showing Lon Chaney in the role of Tony Pantelli. Some scenes were filmed in Color.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
_01.jpg){kind=link}