http://www.variety.com/article/VR111802 ... id=13&cs=1
Silent films presented to Library of Congress
Russian archive submits 10 preserved pics
By PAUL HARRIS
Digitally preserved copies of 10 previously lost American silent films were presented to the Library of Congress Thursday by the Russian film archive Gosfilmofond, where they have been stored since their initial release more than 80 years ago. They represent the first of what was described as a "mother lode" of some 200 silent films believed to be missing that ultimately will be repatriated by the Russian archive.
The initial cache includes the 1923 pic "The Call of the Canyon" directed by Victor Fleming, the 1924 film "The Arab" helmed by Rex Ingram, and two films featuring actor Wallace Reid.
The Russian archive is thought to contain the largest cache of lost U.S. silent films outside the U.S., according to Patrick Loughney, chief of the Library of Congress' Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation. "This is the mother lode of lost U.S. silent films and is an important archeological discovery for American cinema," he said.
In a ceremony at the library, the digital copies were formally presented to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington by Vladimir I. Kozhin, head of management and administration of the President of the Russian Federation. Also attending were Alexander Vershinin, director general of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, and Nikolai Borodachev, director general of Gosfilmofond.
Billington praised the spirit of cooperation demonstrated by the Russian team during brief remarks at the ceremony. A noted Russian scholar, Billington has worked quietly for years to win repatriation of the missing silent films and to strengthen cultural relations between the two countries. Under his leadership, the Library of Congress has provided assistance to Russian libraries and cultural institutions, while also pursuing digital exchange.
Unlike in the U.S., where the vast majority of silent film reels and negatives were destroyed or lost through neglect and mishaps, films distributed to Russia for the most part were carefully maintained and stored. They were initially shown in Russian theaters and were given Russian language intertitles. In some cases, the names of the films were changed -- a practice that complicates U.S. research efforts.
During the past 20 years, the Library of Congress and others have sought to locate and repatriate missing U.S.-produced movies from a variety of foreign archives. For example, the library played a role in the recent repatriation agreement involving some 75 early U.S. films uncovered in the New Zealand Film Archive.
Loughney said the library is also working with film archives in France, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands to uncover lost American pics believed to be housed in those countries.
He said the Russian archive presumably includes films stretching into the sound era. "Preliminary research indicates that as many as 200 films are contained in the Gosfilmofond archive, according to a list compiled by the International Federation of Film Archives based on data submitted from Russia," he said.
The digital copies received Thursday will become available for viewing at the library's Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation.
The 10 films that were presented to the library on Thursday are:
-- "The Arab" (Metro, 1924). Director: Rex Ingram. Cast: Ramon Navarro, Alice Terry. Jamil (Navarro), son of a Bedouin tribe leader, falls in love with the daughter of a Christian missionary. Ingram shot portions of the film on location in Algiers, using native Bedouins as extras. His career break came three years earlier when he directed "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," which made a star of Rudolph Valentino. Navarro's collaboration with Ingram on this and two earlier films propelled him to stardom.
-- "Kick In" (Famous Players, 1922). Director: George Fitzmaurice. Cast: Betty Compson, Bert Lytell, May McAvoy. Released from prison, thief Chick Hewes (Lytell) resolves to go straight but is harassed by police when he refuses to turn stool pigeon. "Kick In" was a successful Broadway play starring John Barrymore.
-- "The Conquest of Canaan" (Famous Players, 1921). Director: Roy William Neill. Cast: Thomas Meighan, Doris Kenyon. Defiant of polite society and friendly with corrupt town leaders, Joe Louden (Meighan) is encouraged by his friend Ariel (Kenyon), a recent heiress, to succeed. Previously filmed in 1916, "Canaan" was based on a novel by Booth Tarkington.
-- "The Eternal Struggle" (Metro Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923). Director: Reginald Barker. Cast: Renee Adoree, Earle Williams, Barbara La Marr, Wallace Beery, Pat O'Malley. Engaged to Canadian Mountie Neil Tempest (Williams), Andree (Renee) falls in love with one of her fiance's underlings, Bucky O'Hara (O'Malley). This is one of the last films produced or released by Louis B. Mayer's Metro Pictures Corp. before he helped establish MGM in 1924.
-- "You're Fired" (Famous Players, 1919). Director: James Cruze. Cast: Wallace Reid, Wanda Hawley. In order to win the hand of Helen Rogers (Hawley), wealthy idler Billy Deering (Reid) agrees to her father's wager -- if Billy can keep a job for one month, the father will agree to the marriage. The comedy's screenplay was based on O. Henry's story, "The Halberdier."
-- "Keep Smiling" (Monty Banks, 1925). Directors: Albert Austin, Gilbert Pratt. Cast: Monty Banks, Glen Cavender. An unnamed boy (Banks), who is afraid of water, invents a life preserver that inflates when it hits water.
© Copyright 2010 RBI, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
Wow! What a surprise! I had not heard anything about this before. I just wish there were some Colleen Moore and Corinne Griffith titles in there. But hey another film with Renee Adoree! Lots of other good stuff too. Seems like quite a bit of Alice Terry material has been found in recent years. Just perhaps the rest of Victor Seastrom's CONFESSIONS OF A QUEEN is in there someplace? Not to mention LOVERS? And for Renee how about A CERTAIN YOUNG MAN or TIN GODS?
I'm not sure where the print of THE THREE PASSIONS came from. But I can tell you that Robert Israel was astonished to hear about it. As far as He was aware this was still a lost film. How about the version of LADY OF THE PAVEMENTS that has been floating around? Could it have come from the same place I wonder?
I believe that all 10 of these movies had been listed as "Status Unknown" at least on the Silent Era website. So you could say that they had generally been considered as lost films. Any chance THE ROUGH RIDERS is in there? Or would that have been among the very first titles sent home?
