LOVES OF CARMEN (1927) Acetate Only?

[Gagman 66]

With BEAU GESTE (1926) currently being preserved in 35 millimeter on Acetate film stock only, what about this rarely seen Raoul Walsh feature Starring Dolores Del Rio? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it too is Acetate only? Hope to find out otherwise. This help would certainly help to explain why the picture is so rarely screened.

Other than that 1978 Lost And Found Series Broadcast for Public TV, which I was fortunate to obtain a copy of, I would never have known that this film still existed. I wonder what other rarely seen Silent films can not be screened at live events because preservation copies are acetate only? It's probably a fairly lengthy list.

[Christopher Jacobs]

A number of us saw Raoul Walsh's LOVES OF CARMEN at a Cinecon or Cinefest or Cinesation several years ago. It was shown in 35mm, as I recall. Whether it was acetate or polyester I am not certain. I do not believe it was nitrate. It's an okay film, fun in spots, not quite DeMille's CARMEN of 1915 or the supposedly lost but maybe not Raoul Walsh version of that same year starring Theda Bara, which is the one I'd really like to see.

[Phototone]

I'm not actually sure that acetate film stock still exists as a production medium.

[Gagman 66]

Again, LOVES OF CARMEN was part of the Museum of Modern Arts Lost and Found Series on PBS way back in 1978. Shown with a well compiled Orchestral score. Unfortunately, my copy of the broadcast does not have the Introduction, or closing panel discussion on it typical of that series. However, based on the generic title-card design, I assume that a surviving nitrate print was found in some foreign archive. The printed titles were not in English. Hence the small print and lack of the original titles. So this may have been discovered in the early 70's? I don't know. At the time, it was probably copied to Acetate stock at the time? I doubt rather any additional work has been done on this title? Or were they already using Polyester based film stock for preservation before 1975-76? Can anyone tell me?

Incidentally, another interesting note here. The TCM Movie Data Base page on this film mentions a Lavender tint. The L&F presentation was all Black and White.

[silentfilm]

They probably meant a lavender print, not a lavender-tinted print. A Fine-grain master (AKA lavender) print is used to make dupe negatives, and is not intended to be projected.

[Jack Theakston]

I'm not actually sure that acetate film stock still exists as a production medium.

Some negative and intermediate stocks are still acetate, although you'd be hard-pressed to find acetate print stock, I think.