Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Treasure trove of lost silents found in NZ

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Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 06-08-2010, 02:16 PM:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7809730/Lost-Hollywood-films-from-1920s-discovered-in-New-Zealand-vault.html

Only about 15 per cent of more than 60 silent-era films made by Ford are thought to survive.

He later went on to win four Oscars for Best Director with films including The Informer, Stagecoach and The Quiet Man.

The US National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) described the find at the New Zealand Film archive as a "time capsule of American film production from the 1910s and 1920s."

The works, which are on highly volatile and unstable nitrate film, and being shipped back to the US in special steel barrels.

It is hoped Upstream, a romance between a Shakespearean actor and a girl from a knife-throwing act, will receive a premiere in September.

The collection of films also includes another important Ford work, a trailer for the director's lost 1929 film Strong Boy, starring Victor McLaglen.

Matthew Bernstein, chairman of film studies at Emory University in Atlanta, and co-editor of John Ford Made Westerns, said: "Upstream is a major discovery that illuminates a previously lost page of John Ford's early years.

"Who would believe that it would be found complete, in good condition, and with original colour tints? And that is only the tip of the iceberg of this amazing New Zealand collection."

Other important finds included Maytime (1923), an early feature with Clara Bow, and the first surviving film directed by and starring Mabel Normand.

There are also Westerns made in Tucson, San Antonio, and Yosemite and a number of documentaries and newsreels.

The films date from as early as 1898 and about 70 per cent of the nitrate prints are virtually complete. More than two-thirds have colour tinting.

American silent films were distributed worldwide and, while many works were discarded and lost in the United States, many prints survived abroad where they were kept after their run in cinemas had finished.

Jamie Lean of the NFPF said: "Hundreds of American motion pictures from the silent era exist in archives outside the United States

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 06-09-2010, 09:33 AM:

I GOTTA clean out my garage. . . .

Posted by Warren Smyth (Member # 1838) on 06-13-2010, 09:10 AM:

New Zealand used to be at the end of the USA distribution chain with generally only three of four prints of a title. Some were often held for years for redistribution in theatres to save freight. These therefore became defacto storage facilites for the film companies. The result is that some fell into the hands of collectors, as the prints were often forgotten about over the years. Some theatres would face demolision or conversion to other purposes. It is therefore not surprising that a quantity of early significant films exist in this part of the world.

The New Zealand Film Archives have only existed since about 1981 and enjoy the credit they receive when a valuable film is found. These so called discoveries however would never have come to light if those with a passion for films hadn't "liberated" them from the prospect of the rubbish dump and passed them on to the Archives many years later. They survive in spite of threats of litigation made by film companies to film collectors over the last fifty years. The paranoia we currently observe over piracy is not new.

The environment of fear against those who have never desired to use films commercially remains an inhibiting factor for the unearthing of other likely sought after titles. These otherwise, could lead to DVD revenue for the companies. Now tell me who is the loser?

From the very beginning, people here have loved films with the country having had a very high number of theatres for its small population. Besides early films, we often find early rare equipment such as 28mm projectors.