75 long-lost silent films found in New Zealand

[gsdx]

I love it when things like this happen. It's like finding a family treasure in a box of Christmas ornaments in your grandparents' attic:

75 long-lost silent movies uncovered in New Zealand archive being returned to United States

The Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A cache of 75 long-lost silent films uncovered in the New Zealand Film Archive vault is being sent back to the United States.

Among the movies found in storage is the only known copy of "Upstream," a drama by legendary director John Ford, the earliest surviving movie by comic actor and director Mabel Normand, and a period drama starring 1920s screen icon Clara Bow. Only 15 per cent of the silent films made by Ford, who won four Oscars, have survived.

Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Christopher Finlayson said the find is important as there are no prints remaining in the U.S.

"These important films will be preserved and made available to both U.S. and New Zealand audiences to enjoy," he told The New Zealand Herald newspaper Tuesday.

Film Archive corporate services manager Steve Russell said the films were discovered when American preservationist Brian Meacham visited last year.

Many of the films remained in New Zealand because distributors at the time did not think the return shipping costs were worth the expense, he said.

Full report: http://inmovies.ca/home/75_long-los...hive_being_returned_to_united_states/0ce7fe03

 

[Lukeee]

are any of them any good?

 

[Jayden]

Amazing that they are still intact.

 

[star-warrior]

They should try and make copies of it so that they can be shared and distributed again.

 

[gsdx]

From the report:

"About a quarter of the films are in advanced nitrate decay, and the rest have good image quality, though they are badly shrunken," she added.

The late Ford's 1927 film "Upstream" was being copied onto safety stock in New Zealand to prevent further damage in transit.

Also, copies of the restored films will be returned to New Zealand.

 

[G-Lexington]

I love archival and restored films from way back then. I'm stoked to see these once the restoration process is done (although it's probably years in the future).

Lex

 

[Jayden]

One can only pray that this doesnt
happen to the suzanne somers masterpiece, Zuma Beach.

 

[CaptainJohn]

It would be fantastic if "London After Midnight" was among them. That's an old Lon Chaney pre-Dracula vampire flick that I would love to get a copy of.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018097/

 

[HugoB]

´
Tod Browning's "London After Midnight" is still missed.


Like many hours of nearly all of those heavily censored masterpieces from Erich von Stroheim:

Greed, The merry widow, wedding march, his complete The devil's passkey.


And also some early work from Griffith, Fritz Lang, Murnau & Dreyer is believed to be lost forever.... *sob*