NitrateVille.com

As streaming continues to encroach upon DVD/TV viewing, I thought it would be useful to have a thread devoted to silent films that are available for online viewing but not famous enough to merit individual threads.

I'll start off with a new "web premiere"-- Run 'Em Ragged (1920), which has just been uploaded to the NFPF website: http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... agged-1920

This once-lost Snub Pollard short is part of the cache found in New Zealand. It has some smart gags mixed in with the usual knockabout stuff and is good fun. Does anyone know the name of the portly actor who serves as Snub's sidekick?

That's Huey Mack.

BenModel wrote:That's Huey Mack.

Thanks very much!

Also available on the site is the Fox Sunshine Comedy, HER FIRST KISS ('19) which this probably the best looking preserved print of a Sunshine comedy I ever seen.Should say that the site slows down these films.

Three recent web premieres of films rediscovered in New Zealand--all are comedies:

* Snooky’s Twin Troubles (1921), starring "Snooky the Humanzee."
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... ubles-1921

* Kick Me Again (1925), starring Hungarian comedian Charles Puffy.
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... again-1925

* Oh! What a Day! (1923), the third in the live-action series based on the Gumps comic strip. Directed by Norman Taurog and starring Joe Murphy.
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... what-a-day

So now I've seen a Charles Puffy comedy. Well, he's no Arbuckle - in fact I find something repellent about him. Certainly a good actor to judge by his bits in Lang films, but not cut out for this sort of film.

It looks beautiful though.

Kick Me Again appeared at Cinecon last year - it's no masterpiece, but I quite enjoyed Mr Puffy. It's not often you can say "he brings a modicum of subtlety to a role that mostly has him running around town in a tutu'.

Brooksie wrote:Kick Me Again appeared at Cinecon last year - it's no masterpiece, but I quite enjoyed Mr Puffy. It's not often you can say "he brings a modicum of subtlety to a role that mostly has him running around town in a tutu'.

I will somewhat agree with that. At least he wasn't boring.

An open letter to Ben Model:

Thinking of starting a Kickstarter campaign to send you to the NFPF offices in San Francisco to present your Undercranking Studies demonstration to the staff. You game?

From what I understand, the NFPF doesn't determine the speed of the films--that's left up to the American archives that accept the repatriated films.

Three more web premieres of films repatriated from New Zealand:

Hunting Wild Geese for Market (1914), an early conservation film.
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... arket-1914

Rips and Rushes (1917), a slapstick short directed by Larry Semon.
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... ushes-1917

Moonlight Nights (1925), a "Butterfly Comedy" starring Gloria Joy.
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... nights-rev

From their Facebook page

"National Film Preservation Foundation
10 hours ago
Tall, dark and mute—the charms of three silent-era leading men are displayed in these features preserved through our partnership with the New Zealand Film Archive: THE HIDDEN WAY (1926) starring Tom Santschi, MIDNIGHT MADNESS (1928) starring Clive Brook, and HOLD 'EM YALE (1928) starring Rod La Rocque. Watch all three films at http://tinyurl.com/nzfilms" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank.

http://tinyurl.com/nzfilms

http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... ew-zealand

From the online film notes re Midnight Madness and Hold 'Em Yale: "Hold ’Em Yale was preserved in 2012 at Film Technology Company, Inc. from a 35mm tinted nitrate release print provided by the New Zealand Film Archive. The work was supervised by Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and funded by Sony as part of the NFPF’s Save America’s Treasures project, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. A special thank you to Sony for enabling us to stream this title!"
"Midnight Madness was preserved in 2012 at Film Technology Company, Inc. from a 35mm tinted nitrate release print provided by the New Zealand Film Archive. The work was supervised by Sony Pictures Entertainment in collaboration with UCLA Film & Television Archive and funded by Sony as part of the NFPF’s Save America’s Treasures project, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. A special thank you to Sony for enabling us to stream this title!"