Long-lost Universal Pictures film found after almost 100 years

The First Degree: Long-lost Universal Pictures film found after almost 100 years

Back in June I reported on the [re]discovery of a misattributed Spanish-language film that had been gathering dust on the shelves of Spain's national film archives for nearly half a century and which had only just been properly identified thanks in part to lock-down giving the archivists an opportunity to have a thorough look through their store of uncatalogued footage.  I ended that blog post expressing the hope that this would not be the only lost film to be unearthed as a result of the lock-down and I am delighted to say that that expectation has been fulfilled with this latest news of the finding of a previously-thought lost 1923 American drama called The First Degree.

source - IMDb

In what seems to be a recurring pattern in the rediscovery of lost films, this copy of The First Degree had originally been located several years previously (albeit "only" 14 years in this case) in a collection of largely unrelated factual films that came out of Peoria, Illinois.  Rescued from potential destruction by the Chicago Film Archives it then languished on their shelves in an unmarked box for over a decade before Covid-19 allowed curators the time to go back through their unclassified movie reels and successfully identify it as one of the Library of Congress's "Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films 1912-1929".

source - Wikipædia

Once again then we see the remarkable incidence of extremely fragile 35mm film stock surviving all sorts of prospective obliteration, to be eventually saved almost a century later - and partly as a result of a worldwide pandemic.  It is frankly incredible that any "lost" films from this period have survived at all (especially those from Universal, which shockingly destroyed all of its silent film negatives in 1948); particularly feature films such as this one with five or more reels - very often one or more are either missing or too far gone to save leading to sadly incomplete restorations.

I am glad to say that this is not the case with The First Degree, however, with all five reels remaining intact and salvageable (despite their near-incineration at the hands of a hot water cylinder).  Already they have all been transferred to digital format and judging by what little footage has been so far released it looks to have been a complete success with the images appearing clean, bright and crisp - a testament to the archivists' skills and a sobering reminder that only pure luck meant it was not a lot worse.

source - IMDb

The result is a valuable addition to the history of U.S. cinema and a fascinating snapshot of the American Midwest in the 1920s.  It is also interesting to note that this well-received courtroom drama had as its director someone who was more used to working with Buster Keaton (and would much later direct a couple of Laurel & Hardy features), but this seems not to have detrimentally affected the film - quite the opposite in fact as contemporary reviews were overwhelmingly positive.  In this respect this film's salvation is even more welcome given that it will allow silent movie buffs and commentators the rare chance to see an atypical example of the director Edward Sedgwick's work.

I for one certainly look forward to seeing the finished article when conditions allow and am heartened at the news and manner of this discovery.  More importantly the optimism it engenders regarding the possibility of similar finds being unearthed in the future is increasingly palpable.  I certainly feel confident in ending this post with the thought that this will definitely not be the last time we read about a "lost" film being rediscovered - whether due to covid restrictions or not.

Letter from Dunkirk soldier arrives 80 years later

Letter from Dunkirk soldier arrives 80 years later

A poignant yet remarkable story this - an incident one can scarcely imagining still happening but which I suppose we will keep seeing as more historical material from the period is unearthed, despite the lengthening passage of time since the end of the war.

An intriguing concatenation of circumstances looks to have led to this wartime letter and several others turning up after a prolonged period of time - first in the attic of a German ex-officer almost 30 years after first being written and now over 50 years later finally finding their way back (at least in part) to the families or villages of the senders, thanks to the work of the Suffolk Regiment Museum and later the Suffolk County Council's Archives.

source - Suffolk Archives

In the instance of Private Harry Cole the archivists at Suffolk County Council also managed to locate surviving relatives in the persons of his two younger brothers, a quite incredible achievement after all these years made even more so by the fact that one of the brothers and an SCC archivist both live in the same village. 

The fact that the siblings are still alive and remain in the same part of the country from which their brother would have left to join up brings a whole new level of immediacy to this particular story and serves as a welcome reminder that for all the time that has passed since the end of the Second World War 75 years ago it remains a relatively recent event in our history with people still alive today who were directly affected by it.  All the more reason then to applaud Suffolk Archives for its work in trying to return these letters to their rightful owners and, where that has not been possible, to produce an excellent online exhibition featuring some of them.  It is a fine example of local history within the context of a global war, which I look forward to delving into in detail and which hopefully might reunite a few more families with these long-lost reminders of relatives and their sacrifices during the Second World War.

Spanish film made by mystery female director discovered during lockdown

source

Spanish film made by mystery female director discovered during lock-down

This article from last month once again serves as a reminder that there are still many lost or misattributed films from the early years of cinema just waiting to be discovered - and in this particular case not only examples from the usual English-speaking sources of Hollywood or British productions.

The film in this instance is an early example of a tourism documentary featuring as it does fascinating footage of the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca, still famous today as a holiday hot-spot.  Originally assumed to be a 1926 silent film directed by a man, this 8-minute "æsthetic documentary" - simply titled Mallorca - had been gathering dust on the shelves of the Filmoteca Española's archives for the best part of 40 years until lock-down gave archivists the opportunity to review and re-evaluate it.

source

The result is one of those remarkable rediscoveries that often come with the fresh re-examining of a film that has been left in storage, often wrongly-labelled, for a prolonged period of time.  Far from being a minor piece of 1920s local tourism footage by a male director it has now more or less been identified as an early 1930s example complete with soundtrack and by female director Maria Forteza (although how they came to miss that on the credits is anyone's guess) - making it possibly the first sound picture directed by a woman in Spain.

source

Although it sounds like there is still some work to be done to definitively date and ascribe this short film it is nevertheless a welcome find and I am pleased to see the specialists at the Filmoteca Española finally taking a proper interest in it - thanks in part to lock-down of all things!  It's importance to the history of Spanish cinema and women in film generally is obvious and I'm glad to see its rediscovery is prompting discussion about the importance of keeping - and more importantly regularly checking - a film archive.  Unfortunately the entire film is no longer available to view on their website but there are snippets on YouTube as part of Spanish news coverage (habla Español?) here and here.  Once again this find gives hope for the future of other early films presumed lost and with luck this won't be the last one to be rediscovered as a result of the coronavirus lock-down.

Rare silent movie haul to be restored

Rare silent movie haul to be restored

Good news if, like me, you are a fan of early silent films featuring the likes of Mabel Normand and Clara Bow (left). The New Zealanders have come up with the goods - 75 rare silents just waiting to be restored and enjoyed again by new audiences. Not just in America and New Zealand but the world over, hopefully.

So much of early cinema has been lost, due in part either to the fragile nature of the original nitrate film stock or simply because at the time they were made no consideration was given to the possibility that they would be of any value to future audiences. Many early movies were simply thrown away after a few years or stored away and forgotten about, languishing on dusty shelves until the brittle nitrate frames simply disintegrated.

To see so many old silents, unseen by audiences for decades, found and such a splendid effort made to save and restore them for future enjoyment is truly cheering and it also keeps alive the hope that there are still more "lost" films from that time period just waiting to be found and given the same treatment.