While London Sleeps

For the 1922 film often known by this title, see Cocaine (1922 film).

While London Sleeps is a silent 1926 Warner Bros. film about a police-dog, Rinty, who helps Scotland Yard defeat a dangerous criminal organisation known as the Mediterranean Brotherhood that operates out of the Limehouse district of London. Walter Morosco wrote the screenplay. It was the first of many films directed by Howard Bretherton, and one of several created for Rin Tin Tin, a German Shepherd dog used in films during the 1920s and 1930s. The film appears to be lost.^[2][3] The British release prints censored the more horrific aspects of the film.^[4]

While London Sleeps
Still from the film
Directed by	Howard Bretherton
Written by	Walter Morosco
Starring	Rin Tin Tin Helene Costello Walter Merrill
Cinematography	Frank Kesson
Production company	Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	November 27, 1926 (1926-11-27)
Running time	66 minutes 52 minutes (edited British print)
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English Intertitles)
Budget	$119,000[1]
Box office	$332,000[1]

George Kotsonaros only appeared in two horror films, this one and The Wizard (1927), and he played a beast-man in both movies. He died in a car accident in Alabama in 1933.^[4]

Plot

Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard concentrates all his forces on the capture of London Letter, a notorious criminal leader in the Limehouse district who possesses both Rinty, a splendid dog, and a man-beast monster called The Monk who ravages and kills at his master's command. Burke almost apprehends the gang in the midst of an attempted theft, but Rinty's uncanny perceptions foil Burke's coup, and Foster is killed for betraying the gang. When Rinty loses in a fight against another dog, Burke's daughter, Dale, rescues Rinty from London Letter's abuse, and he becomes devoted to his new mistress. At the criminal's order, the monster kidnaps Dale and imprisons her. Burke and his men wound London Letter while on his trail, and Rinty finds him dying. In a ferocious battle, Rinty kills the monster by tearing out his throat.

Cast

• Rin Tin Tin as Rinty
• Helene Costello as Dale Burke
• Walter Merrill as Thomas Hallard
• John Patrick as Foster
• Otto Matieson as London Letter
• George Kotsonaros as The Monk
• De Witt Jennings as Inspector Burke
• Carl Stockdale as Stokes
• Les Bates as Long Tom

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $235,000 domestically and $97,000 foreign.^[1]

Preservation status

No prints of this film are known to survive suggesting it is lost.^[5] It is on the Lost Film Files list for missing Warner Bros.^[6]

See also

• List of early Warner Bros. sound and talking features