The Blacksmisth (1922)

[radiotelefonia]

Fernando Martín Peña wrote the following a few hours ago, although this is Spanish he should write about it in English himself instead of me providing a translation:

"Diario de la Filmoteca - EDICIÓN PLUS!!!
Hoy es un día muy especial para la Filmoteca. Revisando una copia en 9.5mm. del cortometraje THE BLACKSMITH, de Buster Keaton, que Fabio Manes compró hace varios años, descubro que se trata de una versión completamente distinta del film. No sólo la escena final es diferente (ya se sabia que existen dos versiones del final), sino que en el primer acto hay más de cinco minutos que no tienen nada que ver con la copia conocida. Es común que la versiones europeas de los films norteamericanos sean distintas, porque se preparaban dos negativos, pero no que haya una variación de tanto metraje. Toda una escena en la que el Maestro mancha un caballo aparece reemplazada por una extensa secuencia en exteriores, con una hermosa persecución con Joe Roberts y una situación romántica diferente con la actriz Virginia Fox. Es probable que Keaton haya querido hacer menos claustrofóbico el film, aprovechando que debía cortar otra versión para el mercado europeo. En cualquier caso, es un material inédito de la mejor época del Maestro. Aquí, desde luego la noticia no le va importar a nadie, pero Kevin Brownlow dice que el hallazgo es "unprecedented" así que con Manes estamos felices. ¡Alegría sin fin!"

[DShepFilm]

Yes, as was common in the period, there were A and B negatives to THE BLACKSMITH. We had source material on both and indeed there are minor but significant differences. In the DVD of Keaton shorts from Lobster, the two were conflated, but not to expand the film. The A neg material was 16mm reduction and the B neg material was better-looking 35mm, but with patches of decomposition.

We have found the same with the Chaplin Mutuals. In some cases each neg has bits the other does not. Putting every scrap into a single version yields a film that is slightly longer but was never edited and approved by Chaplin to look that way. I made that (big) mistake in 1999 when I put every unique piece of A NIGHT OUT into the DVD version, coming up with a film that is longer but worse. I lived and learned.

David Shepard

[Richard Warner]

David,
I once owned an 8mm print of The Blacksmith from Glenn Photo Supply, which contained some footage I've never seen anywhere else. Big Joe Roberts was seen simply walking free from the jail, rather than escaping. There followed an additional sequence with Keaton evading Joe by pretending to be part of an advertising billboard for a car. Can you recall this being in either of the sources you had?
Thanks,
Richard Warner

[Fernando Martín Peña]

Hello David,
We met in San Francisco SFF 2009, I'm the person who located the complete print of METROPOLIS.
The version of THE BLACKSMITH I'm talking about is not just your average A or B version. It has half a reel of footage that's just different. Part of it is described by Mr. Warner here and it has has the footage you put in the brief comparison sequence, but it has plenty more.
I know my Keaton by heart and I felt great joy when I saw this footage that I've never seen before.
It is a very different cut of the film. Nobody is implying that the footage should be squeezed into it to expand the film. It couldn't be done because it just won't fit.
I think you should look into it because it truly deserves restoration on its own because it is a unique case study.
Very best,
Fernando

[Doug Sulpy]

We have found the same with the Chaplin Mutuals. In some cases each neg has bits the other does not. Putting every scrap into a single version yields a film that is slightly longer but was never edited and approved by Chaplin to look that way. I made that (big) mistake in 1999 when I put every unique piece of A NIGHT OUT into the DVD version, coming up with a film that is longer but worse. I lived and learned.

David Shepard

The mistake in "A Night Out" was to include several alternate takes of the same business TWICE. This would be like editing together the two very different takes in "The Immigrant" of Charlie meeting Edna in the diner, so that he appears to meet her... then meet her again. This would clearly be wrong and not at all what he intended in EITHER cut of the film.

Another example is the close-up of Eric Campbell being gassed in "Easy Street" – both A and B camera footage is available (though, unfortunately, neither of them appears in any of your Mutual restorations) and the footage is different, but one simply follows the action of the other, and it would be wrong to include them both because Chaplin never intended for the shot to last that long. He simply used, say, a foot of film of Eric for one negative, and the next foot for the other.

However, there are certainly many instances where completely unique footage can be found in one version of the Mutuals and not the other, and I think it would be wrong to ignore that.

I think the rule of thumb should be to include ALL unique action (that is, not simply a different take of the same action) no matter WHAT print it comes from. I do hope this is what you're thinking as well, so we can finally have a definitive version of these films.

Sorry for the thread hi-jack, "Blacksmith" fans!

[WaverBoy]

Hello David,
We met in San Francisco SFF 2009, I'm the person who located the complete print of METROPOLIS.
The version of THE BLACKSMITH I'm talking about is not just your average A or B version. It has half a reel of footage that's just different. Part of it is described by Mr. Warner here and it has has the footage you put in the brief comparison sequence, but it has plenty more.
I know my Keaton by heart and I felt great joy when I saw this footage that I've never seen before.
It is a very different cut of the film. Nobody is implying that the footage should be squeezed into it to expand the film. It couldn't be done because it just won't fit.
I think you should look into it because it truly deserves restoration on its own because it is a unique case study.
Very best,
Fernando

Fernando, let me tell you that, for locating the complete print of METROPOLIS, you're my hero. I love that film, and thanks to you and the efforts of all involved in its restoration and release, I can now see it as its director originally intended, and it's (literally and figuratively) twice the film it once was. Thank you SO SO MUCH for that gift.

And thanks for the clarification on this alternate version of THE BLACKSMITH, which hopefully the good Mr. Shepard (another one of my silent film saviour heroes) will be able to acquire, restore and release. Or if not, perhaps yet another of my heroes, Mr. Paul Gierucki, might be able to get his hands on it and put it out through CineMuseum (on top of all the other tantalizing projects he has in the works already!).

[WaverBoy]

We have found the same with the Chaplin Mutuals. In some cases each neg has bits the other does not. Putting every scrap into a single version yields a film that is slightly longer but was never edited and approved by Chaplin to look that way. I made that (big) mistake in 1999 when I put every unique piece of A NIGHT OUT into the DVD version, coming up with a film that is longer but worse. I lived and learned.

David Shepard

The mistake in "A Night Out" was to include several alternate takes of the same business TWICE. This would be like editing together the two very different takes in "The Immigrant" of Charlie meeting Edna in the diner, so that he appears to meet her... then meet her again. This would clearly be wrong and not at all what he intended in EITHER cut of the film.

Another example is the close-up of Eric Campbell being gassed in "Easy Street" – both A and B camera footage is available (though, unfortunately, neither of them appears in any of your Mutual restorations) and the footage is different, but one simply follows the action of the other, and it would be wrong to include them both because Chaplin never intended for the shot to last that long. He simply used, say, a foot of film of Eric for one negative, and the next foot for the other.

However, there are certainly many instances where completely unique footage can be found in one version of the Mutuals and not the other, and I think it would be wrong to ignore that.

I think the rule of thumb should be to include ALL unique action (that is, not simply a different take of the same action) no matter WHAT print it comes from. I do hope this is what you're thinking as well, so we can finally have a definitive version of these films.

Doug, I absolutely agree with you on the problem with A NIGHT OUT, and also with your stance on including all unique footage except I would add the following criterion: IF it makes narrative sense and appears to fit as the filmmaker(s) intended.

[Fernando Martín Peña]

Many thanks for your kind words!

[Doug Sulpy]

Doug, I absolutely agree with you on the problem with A NIGHT OUT, and also with your stance on including all unique footage except I would add the following criterion: IF it makes narrative sense and appears to fit as the filmmaker(s) intended.

I assume you're talking about something like the doorman gag in "The Cameraman," in which case I agree. But I'd be surprised if there's very much Mutual footage like that. Most of the trims that I've seen are of people walking in and out of the frame. Other footage is longer, but still fits nicely into the puzzle (which it should, because that's what it was cut out of to begin with).

I'd also like to know if the same... um, shall we say extremely questionable decision is being made with the Mutual restorations that the BFI made with the Keystones not to include material from 16mm (well, unless they felt like it). Evidently, they feel that making a 35mm show print that a couple of thousand people in Italy are going to see once is far more important than including all of the extant footage on a DVD that anyone on Earth can purchase, and which will preserve as much as Chaplin's work as possible for future generations.

Damn. This needs it's own thread. Sorry again, "Blacksmith" fans.

[Richard Warner]

Getting back to Keaton (sorry, Doug Sulpy fans!), if additional material on The Blacksmith can turn up on 9.5mm at this late stage, perhaps there's still hope of recovering lost footage for some of the other First Nationals, such as Day Dreams, The Frozen North and The Electric House. Well, it's a nice thought anyway.....
Richard Warner