Film preservation is a relatively recent development, spurred on during the past two decades in an effort to prevent the treasures of the cinema from disappearing. Unfortunately, the move for film preservation came too late for many productions. It is estimated that up to 90% of all films created during the years of the silent movies are lost, and scores of productions from the early years of sound films are either lost, missing large slices of footage or (in the case of early Technicolor endeavors) existing only in black-and-white as the color prints have disintegrated.
The loss of films can be blamed on several factors: the unstable nature of nitrate film used for many years by filmmakers (nitrate is prone to premature disintegration and is highly flammable), the long-perceived lack of viability for older films (especially silent movies), and plain old-fashioned neglect and stupidity (which is not unique to the film industry).
Within the subculture of lost films, however, there are a handful of films which always gain attention: the complete and uncut version of Erich Von Stroheim’s “Greed,” the Lon Chaney vampire thriller “London After Midnight,” the 1930 Laurel and Hardy color feature “The Rogue Song” and the risque 1933 comedy “Convention City” inevitably lead the wish lists. Rather than provide a rerun of well-worn paths, Film Threat has decided to present its own wish list of 10 missing films which we’d love to see again. Spanning the years from 1904 to 1959, these films cover a wide variety of subjects (ranging from music to animation to spectacle to a never-seen audition clip). If Film Threat had the power to unearth lost films, these are the 10 we’d love to hunt down…
Get the list in the next part of FILM THREAT’S TOP 10 LOST FILMS>>>
