Stash of long lost silent movie found in NZ

[kelly]

Yup Kwii have them props to Gagman for this article from TCM FORUM TO THIS FORUM NOW I just register FInally on that site

www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/movies/07silent.html

[filmnoirfanatic]

:)Hi! Kelly,
You beat me by a...mile!

This is the exact same link that my friend and fellow blogger Sam, just posted too...I must admit this is great news...Thanks, for sharing!
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/movies/07silent.html?hpw

DeeDee

[kelly]

No problem just made Tuesday run of UK Telegraph just now

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

[gagman66]

A thread has been running about the matter since Sunday in the Silents forum on TCM.com. This on top of the 5 Silents uncovered in Argentina recently, including *THE CRIMSON CITY* with Myrna Loy and Anna May Wong. Not to mention, the forgotten Chaplin Keystone short in Michigan. 2010 has been a very good year for the recovery of lost films.

I want to know what else was uncovered. All we have is a partial list thus far. Maybe the guy in charge of going through the prints didn't think it was important enough to mention names like Colleen Moore, Renee Adoree, Pola Negri, Corinne Griffith, Betty Compson, Nita Naldi, Vilma Banky, Jetta Goudal, Greta Nissen, Wanda Hawley, Esther Ralston, Billie Dove etc. But it sure is to me. Or Western Starrs like Tom Mix, Fred Thompson, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, and Art Accord just to name a few. The survival rate of Silent Westerns is truly abysmal. If there is anything there from these folks, I sure hope they will share the news with us all.

There was a Jacqueline Logan film called *MIDNIGHT MADNESS* with Clive Brook. apparently in-tact, found in the bunch. And at least a fragment of a MGM movie with Ramon Novarro and Marceline Day called *THE ROAD TO ROMANCE* from 1927. It is unclear how much of the film is there. It could be the entire thing, or just a reel or two?


Here is a short list of titles that have been mentioned to this point.


"The Woman Hater" 1910; A Pearl White romance short (I think (?))

"Little Brother" 1913; a short romance film with William Russell and Florence La Badie.
"The Girl Stage Driver" 1914; a short western drama with Norbert A Myles and Edna Payne.

"Won in the Cupboard" 1914; the short comedy title directed by Mabel Normand.

"The Active Life of Dolly and the Daisies" 1914; something tells me this is a serial. Can't really tell.

"Why Husbands Flirt" 1918; Bobby Vernon comedy short from Al Christie. Also has Dorothy Dane.

"Maytime" 1923 ... the Clara feature they call a period drama.

"Mary of the Movies" 1923; Columbia from John McDermott and Marion Mack. Huge cast of girls.

"Kick Me Again" 1925 Stars Charles Puffy wearing women's clothes (?) ...

"The Big Show" 1926; a number of silents had this title. This is John Lowell and Evangeline Russell.

The Road To Romance MGM, 1927. Directed by John S. Robertson of Captain Salvation fame, and Starring Ramon Novarro and Marceline Day.

"Upstream" 1927; the FW Murnau influence on early John Ford.

"Strong Boy" 1929; with Victor McLaglen, Leatrice Joy and J Farrell McDonald. From John Ford. (Trailer)


Might also add that a print of the Tom Mix Western THE BIG DIAMOND ROBBERY has turned up in Argentina.


*MAYTIME* as a Preferred Pictures release is probably Public Domain? So maybe David Shepard and Film Preservation Associates might swoop in and nab that one? Perhaps Flicker Alley or Milestone will release it on DVD next year. It's possible that Kevin Brownlow might even take a look and produce a version for Photoplay Productions. Who knows?




Clara Bow in MAYTIME (1923)

[Midge]

Thanks for giving us the complete list, Jeffrey. I hope that at least some of these films will be restored and made available to the public on DVD. It's hard for me to imagine that after all these years the lost films wouldn't be public domain. Whoever owned the rights to them certainly didn't take care of them and doesn't deserve to profit from their distribution.

Clara Bow, the original jazz baby, the quintessential flapper, in a 19th century costume drama? That's worth the price of admission in itself!

[gagman66]

Midge,

Thanks, But this is most certainly Not a complete list. There were actually 75 American Silents found in all. That's why I am so curious as to what else was in there.

:huh: Westerns are mentioned, but no titles of the genre are given that I can see? Several news reels too, apparently. The MGM feature with Ramon Novarro and Marcline Day would definitely not be Public Domain either. Any Paramount's made from 1923 to 1929 would be claimed by that studio too. The Columbia feature from 1923 was quickly snapped up by Sony, and the Fox one from John Ford by Fox. I'm not sure who owns the Pathe' films? For smaller studios that are no longer around, I assume that most of the product would be deemed Public Domain today. And anything made prior to 1923 from any studio is designated as such. That's doesn't mean that it will be all that easy to see though. :unsure:

[kelly]

Hey Gagman I am on that thread would that be something if they find Divine Woman by Greta Garbo or Holy Grail of all Lon Chaney Silent

London after midnight

[kelly]

I wouldn't mind see Clara Bow in Period piece myself that intersting or lost forgotten John Ford silent

[Hedvig]

Thanks, But this is most certainly Not a complete list. There were actually 75 American Silents found in all. That's why I am so curious as to what else was in there.

Yes indeed! Do they contain any films by our favourite obscure movie stars, like the Talmadge sisters for instance? I would be curious to know.

Btw, Mary at the Movies - is that a meta-film? I would love to know more about that!

Otherwise I'm the most curious about the John Ford silent! After watching The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr Lincoln and The Iron Horse, I've become quite a fan. This was apparently quite an interesting movie, stylistically inspired by Murnau but doubtlessly also utilizing John Ford's own wonderful story telling skills. Hope we'll get to see it on DVD someday in the future.

[gagman66]

Hedvig,

I thought about that. Maybe there are the missing couple reels of Norma Talmadge GRAUSTARK (1925). Or the missing two reels of Colleen Moore's THE NTH COMMANDMENT (Directed by Frank Borzage), or maybe the complete ELLA CINDERS. Or even a a full-length lost Colleen film like WE MODERNS, NAUGHTY BUT NICE, or Oh, KAY! Sure hope so.


UPSTREAM is going to have to go some to be in the same class of FOUR SONS which I consider one of the finest films ever made.

I uploaded roughly the first 10 minutes on TCM Classic Film Union, because I thought it was important that the film be seen with it's Movie-tone score as intended. Complete with the "Little Mother" theme.


fan.tcm.com/_Mother-Bernle-Cupboard-of-Pride/video/1081794/66470.html

[Hedvig]

Wow, thanks for the upload! I'll have a look.

My dream Colleen Moore find would be Flaming Youth, but that might be an impossible dream.

[gagman66]

Incidentally, the lone surviving reel of FLAMING YOUTH is being screened at a Festival this Summer. I'll look up the details. as I have forgotten. Any Lost Colleen Moore film would be an important find. APRIL SHOWERS, THE DESERT FLOWER, IT MUST BE LOVE, HAPPINESS AHEAD. THE PERFECT FLAPPER is in one of the Archives, but I don't know how complete of a print it is?

They did find SYNTHETIC SIN and WHY BE GOOD?, but neither has been preserved yet let along restored. Still Nitrate. I'm losing patience waiting for HER WILD OAT, or LILAC TIME to premier on TCM.






Colleen Moore-"Never Underestimate The Power Of A Flapper"


Here is another still from MAYTIME. I don't know if this is Clara Bow (with Harrison Ford) or not? Can't see the faces well enough in order to tell? [/img]




Maytime (1923)-The Garden Kiss