O/T: 'Lost' silent movies found in Russia, returned to U.S.

[phonophan79]

A little off-topic... but there was another thread where we were talking about early recordings and how most of them are in the hands of private collections.

Same principle here.... the article says:

"A study published by the Library of Congress in 1993 concluded that the majority of U.S. movies from the 1920s survive only in foreign film archives," said Librarian of Congress James Billington.

article
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

video
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/showbiz/20 ... .films.cnn

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Washington (CNN) -- There weren't any starlets or red carpet, but the Library of Congress had a blockbuster day at the movies on Thursday.

The government of Russia presented the Library of Congress with digitally preserved copies of 10 silent films that previously had been thought to be lost forever.

According to the Library of Congress, more than 80 percent of American movies from 1893-1930 -- also known as the "silent era" -- no longer exist in the United States.

Like today's movies that are distributed to theaters around the world, many of those early silent films were circulated internationally. Over the past 20 years, the Library of Congress has discovered some of the missing films in international libraries and archives, like the Gosfilmofond, the Russian state film archive.

"A study published by the Library of Congress in 1993 concluded that the majority of U.S. movies from the 1920s survive only in foreign film archives," said Librarian of Congress James Billington.

He went on to explain that in the days of early American movie-making, many studios and theaters simply threw old movies away. Russia, he explained didn't generally throw them away. Many of the films sat in storage, making it possible for them to be preserved for restoration today.

Caroline Frick, curator of motion pictures at the George Eastman House museum of photography and film in Rochester, New York, said such film repatriation projects are exciting, with "a huge array of film history that still remains unknown because so many of the films don't exist."

Frick explained that Russia's digital preservation of American silent films is an example of how film preservation itself has changed, especially in the last 10 years.

"It used to be that you preserved on film but now we have a multitude of ways, including making digital copies so that the images are preserved."

Included in the restored movies is a 1923 film staring then-child-star Jackie Coogan, called "Circus Days," about a boy who runs away from his uncle to join the circus; and "Canyon of the Fools," starring Western movie star Harry Carey.

Billington accepted the digitally preserved movies on hard drives presented by Vladimir Kozhin, head of Russia's Presidential Management and Administration Department, at a ceremony Thursday. These ten films are the first of hundreds that will be repatriated over time.

The ten films presented Thursday, their studios and production year include:
-- "Valley of the Giants" (Famous Players, 1919)
-- "You're Fired" (Famous Players, 1919)
-- "The Conquest of Canaan" (Famous Players, 1921)
-- "Kick In" (Famous Players, 1922)
-- "The Call of the Canyon" (Famous Players, 1923)
-- "Canyon of the Fools" (R-C Pictures, 1923)
-- "Circus Days" (First National, 1923)
-- "The Eternal Struggle" (Metro Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923)
-- "The Arab" (Metro, 1924)
-- "Keep Smiling" (Monty Banks, 1925)

[gramophoneshane]

It's always great when "lost" footage is rediscovered. I only wish it were made more accessible once found.

[Valecnik]

Agree with Shane. It would be great if they put some of these out on DVD.

[frenchmarky]

Or I hope they might end up on the TCM network, they now show some silent movies, many of which have been saved from the ashheap and restored with original music tracks added.

[estott]

It's very nice that the archive has released these films, but on another group it was pointed out that with one exception none of these films were actually "Lost"- copies were already known in other archives. This does not make them unimportant, with films like this one copy is seldom exactly the same as another, it may take two combined to make a complete film.

[Henry]

Or I hope they might end up on the TCM network, they now show some silent movies, many of which have been saved from the ashheap and restored with original music tracks added.

The topic of music with silent films is fraught with difficulties. For those films which had original scores which still exist, no problem---except paying for the musicians to perform them. Since many film scores call for a symphony orchestra, the expense is not trivial. In other cases, it's hit or miss: for example, TCM recently ran Keaton's "The General." The music used was the most hideously inappropriate mish-mash imaginable, and done on synthesizer to boot IIRC. Unfortunately, I chose to re-record this broadcast over an older broadcast with a really fine score: accurate for the period, even using historically-correct tunes (which, except for "Dixie, " very few people remember today), played by real live musicians (which 99.99% of viewers couldn't tell from a synth if their lives depended on it, and furthermore---even more depressing---don't care). There are several lessons to be learned here, but one stands out to me: as much as I like TCM (and I watch it a lot!), just because something is on TCM does not guarantee authenticity. For that you need the will, real knowledge, and money: a rare combination. End of rant (I hope).

[alang]

Henry, I totally agree. I once saw the silent movie Nosferatu (the original with Max Schreck, not the Klaus Kinsky knockoff) with the original piano-only music, and I think it was one of the most frightening movies I've ever seen. Not blunt horror, but rather subtle fear introduced by the combination of silent film and fitting music. Recently I bought a DVD of the movie, but it had some random (happy?) orchestra music, which was worse than having no music at all. I had the same experience with the Fritz Lang classic Metropolis and other silent movies, they stand and fall with the correct setup and music. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time, money and love to details to really bring a good silent movie back to life. Does not happen too often in the fast food days
Andreas

[Phototone]

Or I hope they might end up on the TCM network, they now show some silent movies, many of which have been saved from the ashheap and restored with original music tracks added.

Uh, TCM has had Silent Films on Sunday night for decades..its not a new thing there. The Core of their library the MGM films have plenty of silents, MGM was one of the best studios at preserving their product. Some of the library is not shown because there is not a suitable music track available, but the films are preserved anyway.

[frenchmarky]

Oh well they are new to me anyway. : ) Personally I'm not real crazy about some of the original music they do for these silents, too artsy sounding or something. Maybe I wish they'd just add some simpler piano or organ music to them so it would be more like I was watching them in an old theater.

[Valecnik]

One of the latest installed features at the Mechanical Music Museum in Rudeheim is a small movie theatre complete with an original theatre organ installed to play with the silent films.

http://www.siegfrieds-musikkabinett.de/frame.htm (sorry only in German)

For those of you that have never heard one of these, they are really amazing. In addition to the standard keyboards for playing music, they can make a variety of sounds designed to accompany the silent films of the day.