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Robert Youngson, who obviously had a love of silents , used much clippage from shorts and features in the 1960s. The clips were often of great clear quality from rarely seen films. In watching the complete films today, there seems to be much degradation in quality. Two films that had great visual quality[based on clip quality] in Youngson's compilations were Griffith's "The Sorrows of Satan"(1926)(clip shown in The Love Goddesses 1965) and "Detectives"(1928) from MGM(clip shown in MGM's Big Parade of Comedy 1965). Also a great clip of a Chaplin short which featured a whacky Propellor-car/or wagon. Why is the quality so compromised today after just 50 years since the 60s?

Jon Mirsalis talks briefly about
Robert Youngson in an appearance
on The Commentary Track.

http://thecommentarytrack.com/index.php?m=92&&id=128" target="_blank

There is mention of Robert Youngson
pulling his clips from the ON (original
negatives) when he could. Some were still
around when he did his compilations.
I too am impressed by the clarity of the clips.
These were some of the first examples of silent
era films I ever saw and was disappointed
to learn that most existing silent films didn't
look as good.

thank you much Syd for that link.

Yes, the films did deteriorate that much since the 60s. The most famous example from one of his compilations is "Battle of the Century", the Laurel and Hardy short with the big pie fight that Youngson excerpted in one of his features. After he used the sequence, the negative deteriorated completely. Only parts of the rest of the film have been found from other prints.

Has anyone ever come across Youngson's "An Adventure to Remember" (1955) with 10 minutes from the 1929 film THE ISLE OF LOST SHIPS? I'd love to see it.

Steve

syd wrote:Jon Mirsalis talks briefly about
Robert Youngson in an appearance
on The Commentary Track.

http://thecommentarytrack.com/index.php?m=92&&id=128" target="_blank" target="_blank

There is mention of Robert Youngson
pulling his clips from the ON (original
negatives) when he could. Some were still
around when he did his compilations.
I too am impressed by the clarity of the clips.
These were some of the first examples of silent
era films I ever saw and was disappointed
to learn that most existing silent films didn't
look as good.

An interesting interview but I didn't hear any mention of Youngson in this podcast. Perhaps it was another. Lots of talk about Lon Chaney. I'll re-listen with joy. Thanks again.

Robert Youngson is mentioned between 1:24:18 and 1:24:40.