Oh such epic happiness! In early 2009 Brian Meacham of AMPAS stopped in at the New Zealand Film Archive. Turns out they had a collection of thought to be lost films. People always wonder why 'lost' American films turn up in such odd places. Due to the distribution channels places like Australia and New Zealand were last to receive these films during their original runs.
The National Film Preservation Board went in and selected 75 films that will be selected for their cultural and historical content during the next 3 years by the 5 major preservation houses in the US. A complete list hasn't been released but this is a small list. I wonder what all they've found but so far these are the major bits:
*The Woman Hater (1910): A Pearl White short. Very little of her work exists. For good measure its a comedy!
*Won in a Closet (1914): Its a good few years for Mabel Normand, as a feature of hers was recently rediscovered. This is the earliest surviving short which she directed and starred in.
*The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies—Episode 5, The Chinese Fan (1914): Starred Mary Fuller. Very little of her work survives
*Maytime (1923). A very early Clara Bow film that has some decomposition.
*Upstream (1927). A John Ford film. Only 15% of his work is thought to survive.
5 comments:
What wonderful news! I especially would like to see that "Dolly of the Dailies" one - I love those old Hazards, Perils, Ventures, Exploits serials.
Now if they could only find a copy of "Cleopatra" or "Convention City". . .
It is always nice to hear about a lost film being discovered, but if a film is in an archive was it truly lost? How long have they been sitting in their vaults? New Zealand is a bit off the beaten path but it is not like they were behind the Iron Curtain or something. The New Zealand archive has been around for 30 years and is a member of FIAF. It seems a bit presumptious for an American archivist to make a trip over there and claim to have discovered a bunch of lost films, but I guess if the New Zealanders are so indifferent to American films, he gets points for rescuing them. Sorry to be such a grouch, it is happy news regardless.
I demand Cleopatra and the Young Rajah just EXIST!
Pillbert I think more than anything its the 'discovery' in an apparently underworked archive. Things are always being found and its not even really a comment on the country that holds said archive. Just (very sadly) most film archives are underfunded, it takes someone to go in and search to find things. Hell Cleopatra could literally be sitting in BFI and they may not know it...
Well, it wasn't quite like the American preservationist just waltzed in and discovered these films lying in a forgotten corner of the vault:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-rare-film-20100607,0,4860101.story
But it does sound like a lesson in the need for greater collaboration between institutions -- the NFPF evidently had no idea what was at the Film Archive, until the visit of the American preservationist prompted them to send over a list of their holdings which were then properly inventoried etc.
Why didn't The Film Archive realize the importance of what they had and push for preservation? Well, I can't speak for them (I'm just a random Aucklander with an interest in silent film, & some ties to the local art scene), but The Film Archive is a charitable trust and in my experience, such institutions are always understaffed and struggling for funding. It's really not a big place. Their emphasis is on NZ film & film history, too. I also think that we tend to forget how niche silent film really is ... even a lot of film archivists may not necessarily have a lot of knowledge of it.
Anyway, it's totally awesome that these have turned up. And in my home town! =)
I heard an interview on BBC Radio 4 yesterday about the Ford film. It was lovely to hear the news and that it was also given so much prominence on prime time news. Brilliant.
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