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Subject:
Silent and Rare Film question
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Movies and Film Asked by: braitman-ga List Price: $5.00 |
Posted:
12 Jul 2004 16:35 PDT
Expires: 11 Aug 2004 16:35 PDT Question ID: 373242 |
Three questions in one, but should be easy for a true cinema nut. 1) What was the last completely silent film commercially released in the U.S.? And I don't mean one that started as a silent and had sound added to make it competitive, and I don't mean faux silent films like Mel Books. 2) Some years ago it was reported that a huge treasure trove of silent films was found in Alaska. These were shorts and features that had previously been either unknown or thought lost. What ever happened to these films? Were they restored? Entered into a film archive? Made available in some format? 3) Film restoration efforts are picking up speed; thankfully. However, film lovers bemoan the many lost films, particularly films that were reviewed favorably in the teens and 1920s. My question is this: What is the "latest" lost film? That is, what is the most recent (close to the present) film (or films) that has been destroyed or otherwise lost that we will never have a chance to see again? (I'm wondering if there are any features from the '60s onwards, particularly.). |
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Subject:
Re: Silent and Rare Film question
From: pinkfreud-ga on 14 Jul 2004 14:39 PDT |
Regarding the silent films unearthed in Alaska, this may interest you: "In 1978, Dawson City was being rebuilt as a tourist destination recreating its former self, a boomtown gripped by gold fever at the turn of the last century. Excavating behind a former gambling den, Diamond Tooth Gertie's, workmen struck archival gold, over 500 reels of 35mm nitrate film from 1903-1929. The Dawson Amateur Athletic Association started adding films to their regular theater programs by 1903. But, Dawson City was the end of the exhibition line and shipping was expensive. The studios didn't want the films back anyway, in the days before revivals, tv and video. So, the films were shelved in de facto cold storage in the basement of the library. In 1929, an open air swimming pool that was flooded for winter skating was going to be filled in permanently. Presumably, the skating season was longer than the swimming season. All the films were used as fill, dumped in, covered with dirt and boarded over. The 510 reels discovered by the construction crew were in different states of decomposition, and all were damp. The National Film Archive of Canada rescued them, salvaged what they could, which came to about 425 reels, and began transferring the survivors to safety stock. 190 reels of US productions were transferred to the Library of Congress for conservation." http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDRedskin.htm |
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