movies list

moviefan · Post by **moviefan** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:02 pm

how can you find out what movies exist in movie vaults?

Post by **silentfilm** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:51 pm

For most archives, you must contact them to get a list of the films that they have cataloged, which is not the same as all of the films that they own.

The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) has a database of many archives' holdings, but you'll have to befriend an archivist to get access to it. There are some on this message board that may be able to help you.

You can search the UCLA Film and Television archive yourself though at http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/ ... PAGE=First.

You can search the ScreenSound archive of Australia at http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/s ... ;resCount=.

You can search the Library of Congress in Culpeper, VA at http://mic.loc.gov/

greta de groat · Post by **greta de groat** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:07 pm

I don't think that's all the LOC records (at least a search of Norma Talmadge doesn't turn up all the films i've seen there). The old nitrate record files used to be searchable in the RLG RLIN database, but that is defunct and they were not loaded into OCLC/Worldcat. Nor are they in the LOC catalog at catalog.loc.gov.

I know those were considered old and obsolete records but i really miss them.

greta

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:03 am

Even worse: at least last time I contacted Eastman House (admittedly a few years ago) you could ask for a search of SPECIFIC FILMS BY TITLE but not a search by actor or director. So it becomes a marathon of email and waiting. The guy in charge was Jared Case (I think that's right) and he was wonderful to work with once I got there to watch films, but the "search" can be very frustrating because they have many separate databases....

Jay Salsberg · Post by **Jay Salsberg** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:53 am

Regarding Film Archives, the FIAF does have a CD-Rom database available for purchase, which covers archival holdings through the end of the silent era. If you're looking for anything from 1930 onwards, you'll have to get schmoozy with an archivist.

If you want to know what exists in Studio vaults, you're out of luck.