London

he most tantalizing of the "lost" Tod Browning films, London After Midnight has gained a near-legendary status in recent years, especially since so many critics of the 1930s considered the film as vastly superior to its 1935 remake, Mark of the Vampire. Clearly inspired by the stage version of Dracula, the story concerns a fog-ridden London neighborhood that seems to have become a breeding ground for vampires. Ever since the mysterious death of wealthy old Mr. Balfour, strange things have been happening, prompting Scotland Yard inspector Edmund Burke (Lon Chaney) to investigate. For a while, it looks as though Burke is as stymied as the local authorities, especially when heroine Lucy Balfour (Marceline Day) is confronted with the "living corpse" of her father. But it soon develops that both Burke and Lucy are working in concert, staging an elaborate hoax to trap her dad's murderer into a confession. It is giving nothing away at this late date to reveal that Burke and the mysterious, fang-toothed "vampire man" Mooney are one in the same; indeed, this plot revelation hardly took anyone by surprise in 1927. A shooting script for London After Midnight still exists, suggesting that, if anything, the much-maligned Mark of a Vampire (in which the main "detective" role was split between Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi) was an improvement on the original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank (2013)
DVDRip | 720x404 | .MKV/AVC @ 1607 Kbps | 1h 0mn | 691 MiB
Audio: English AAC 128 kbps, 2 channels | Subs: None
Genre: Documentary | History

Dan Cruickshank follows in the footsteps of John Stow and John Strype, two of Londons greatest chroniclers, to explore one of the most dramatic centuries in the history of London. The 17th century saw London plunged into a series of devastating disasters. The Civil War, a murderous plague and the destruction that was the great fire should have seen the small medieval city all but destroyed. Yet somehow, London not only survived but emerged as one of the wealthiest and most influential cities in Europe.

BBC - The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank (2012)
HDTV 360p | AVI | 640x360 | XviD@2853 Kbps | English MP3@128 Kbps | 2 channels | 59mn 12s | 1.24 GiB
HDTV 720p | MKV | 1280x720 | AVC@2306 Kbps | English AAC@93 Kbps | 2 channels | 59mn 12s | 1017 MiB
Genre: Documentary

Dan Cruickshank explores the mysteries and secrets of the bridges that have made London what it is. He uncovers stories of Bronze-Age relics emerging from the Vauxhall shore, of why London Bridge was falling down, of midnight corpses splashing beneath Waterloo Bridge, and above all, of the sublime ambition of London's bridge builders themselves.