{{short description|1926 film by Howard Bretherton}} {{For|the 1922 film often known by this title|Cocaine (1922 film)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = While London Sleeps | image = While London Sleeps screenshot.jpg | caption = Still from the film | director = Howard Bretherton | producer = | writer = Walter Morosco | starring = Rin Tin Tin<br>Helene Costello<br>Walter Merrill | cinematography = Frank Kesson | editing = | studio = Warner Bros. Pictures | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = {{film date|1926|11|27}} | runtime = 66 minutes<br>52 minutes (edited British print) | country = United States | language = Silent (English Intertitles) | budget = $119,000<ref name="warners">Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 5 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551</ref> | gross = $332,000<ref name="warners"/> }}
'''''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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Soister|first=John T.|title=Up from the Vault: Rare Thrillers of the 1920s and 1930s|year=2004|publisher=McFarland Publ.|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-7864-1745-2|pages=50–56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKtuKgMXBNYC&q=%22While%20London%20Sleeps%22&pg=PA50}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/W/WhileLondonSleeps1926.html|title=Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List|website=www.silentera.com}}</ref> The British release prints censored the more horrific aspects of the film.<ref name="Tome308">{{cite book|last1=Workman|first1=Christopher|last2=Howarth|first2=Troy|year=2016|title=Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era|publisher=Midnight Marquee Press|page=308|isbn=978-1936168-68-2}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Tome308" />
==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.<ref name="warners"/>
==Preservation status== No prints of this film are known to survive suggesting it is lost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.10525/default.html|title=While London Sleeps / H.P Bretherton [motion picture]:Bibliographic Record Description: Performing Arts Encyclopedia, Library of Congress|access-date=September 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924044410/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.10525/default.html|archive-date=September 24, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is on the Lost Film Files list for missing Warner Bros.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silentsaregolden.com/arnewarner.html|title=Lost Film Files - Warner|website=www.silentsaregolden.com}}</ref>
==See also== *List of early Warner Bros. sound and talking features
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{AFI film|13238}} *{{IMDb title|0017548}} *{{TCMDb title|503007}} {{Howard Bretherton}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:While London Sleeps}} Category:1926 films Category:1926 crime films Category:1926 lost films Category:1926 American films Category:1926 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American serial killer films Category:American silent feature films Category:English-language crime films Category:Films directed by Howard Bretherton Category:Films set in London Category:Lost American silent crime films Category:Rin Tin Tin Category:Warner Bros. films