Historian Unearths Never-Seen Cut of Keaton’s BLACKSMITH

[Robert W]

From today's VARIETY :


Film Historian Unearths Never-Seen Cut of Buster Keaton’s 1922 ‘The Blacksmith’


Film collector, curator and historian Fernando Pena figured he’d made the biggest discovery of his career when, back in 2008, he uncovered a complete print of the original, uncut version of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.” The 1927 German expressionist sci-fi epic had been gathering dust in the archives of Argentina’s national Museo del Cine. But one month ago, Pena topped himself when he happened upon an equally remarkable gem: an alternate cut of Buster Keaton’s “The Blacksmith.” If “Metropolis” was Pena’s Holy Grail of lost film finds, count “The Blacksmith” as his Shroud of Turin.

One of the many two-reelers Keaton made for producer Joseph M. Schenck, the 1922 film stars the silent comic as a hapless small-town iron forger, and includes such signature gags as Keaton doing battle with a giant overhead magnet, destroying a pristine Rolls Royce in the course of fixing a tire, and getting his foot stuck in the path of a speeding locomotive. In the version discovered by Pena, half of the film’s first reel (approximately 5-6 minutes of screen time) consists of entirely different, never-before-seen Keaton gags, while the ending of the film also differs slightly.

Because it was common practice in the silent era for films to be shot with two cameras placed next to one another, resulting in two separate negatives — one for domestic prints and one for foreign export — various alternate versions of silent films have surfaced through the decades. (A print of Keaton’s own 1928 feature “Steamboat Bill Jr.” containing noticeably different takes and camera positions was discovered in 2010.)

But “The Blacksmith” is a special case because the two versions of the film vary so wildly.

Pena made the find while examining a lot of 9.5mm film prints purchased on eBay in 2008 by his friend and fellow collector Fabio Manes. Originally developed in 1922 by the Pathe company in France, the 9.5mm gauge went on to become a popular home-viewing format throughout Europe. The print of “The Blacksmith” contains French intertitles. In theory, this means that all 9.5mm European prints of “The Blacksmith” could feature the alternate footage, but until now nobody noticed.

As with the uncut “Metropolis,” which had languished undetected for decades as it was moved around from archive to archive, Pena notes, “It’s something that has always been there, but no one was looking for it.”

Most notably, the extended gag sequence in which Keaton accidentally sprays oil all over one side of a beautiful white mare is missing from the Pena/Manes print, replaced by a sequence of Keaton leaving the smithy and driving through town, where he runs over his harried boss (frequent Keaton foil Joe Roberts), followed by a madcap pursuit. Also included is a brief additional interlude between Keaton and leading lady Virginia Fox.

So far, Pena has shared his discovery with noted film historians John Bengtson and Kevin Brownlow, the latter of whom wrote in an email to Pena: “I have not seen European releases of American films which differ in any more than the odd shot, extra title or varying camera angle. Half a reel is unprecedented.” The next step, Pena says, is “to get the film restored and made available again to audiences — where it belongs.”

[radiotelefonia]

Fernando actually made the announcement right here.

[Brooksie]

Fernando actually made the announcement right here.

That's right, we can boast that Nitrateville scooped Variety!

This discovery makes me wonder what other alternate versions of pictures might be floating around. If a film archive holds a copy of a well-known picture, they're likely to assume it's the same as everybody else's, but this has now proven incorrect in at least two cases - the Argentinian Metropolis and now The Blacksmith. It would be nice if there are others!

[Battra92]

Fernando actually made the announcement right here.

That's right, we can boast that Nitrateville scooped Variety!

This discovery makes me wonder what other alternate versions of pictures might be floating around. If a film archive holds a copy of a well-known picture, they're likely to assume it's the same as everybody else's, but this has now proven incorrect in at least two cases - the Argentinian Metropolis and now The Blacksmith. It would be nice if there are others!

I know in the case of "A Trip to the Moon" when the color version was found in Spain they thought it was no big deal because "Oh everyone has that!"

Makes me wonder if anyone else has a copy of Convict 13, Daydreams or Hard Luck in better shape. We're lucky that practically all of Keaton's films survive (at least mostly any way) but it's still wonderful to hear such things.

[Robert W]

My apologies to Fernando - somehow I don't recall hearing about this despite frequent visits to the forum.

[radiotelefonia]

Manes and Peña with their find.

[Richard Warner]

Congratulations gentlemen! This really is a remarkable find! The clip posted on the net clearly leads on from the fragmentary, brief (and very rough) bit of extra footage in the old Glenn Photo Supply 8mm print. The shot posted above is even more fascinating. In a different thread, David Shepard mentioned that the Lobster version of The Blacksmith was compiled from prints of the A & B negatives and that one of these had decomposition. I'm wondering if the new-found footage was lost to decomp in that print, but at 5 to 6 minutes there seems to be too much new footage! Some time ago, in SilentComedyMafia, Richard Roberts pointed out to me that there are MANY reasons for variant prints, including the substitution of unused scenes to replace negative wear or damage. We'll never know now, but this find (and others like Metropolis and Paul Gierucki's print of Thief Catcher) shows how important it is to actually LOOK at a print of a familiar and/or seemingly uninteresting title from an unfamiliar source.

Richard Warner

[SilentEchoes57]

The new scenes from The Blacksmith, as shown in this post, tell us how Buster Keaton made movies at and adjacent to his small studio in Hollywood, and when he covered over his open air filming stage.

http://silentlocations.wordpress.com/20 ... -it-tells/

John

[seaquest]

It's amazing how after all these years, one print wayward print could turn up different from the others. I would really like to know exactly how that could happen. I suppose pathe got hold of an earlier version that was edited down further for some unknown reason. Kudos to all those involved in this unique find!

[Roseha]

Absolutely, congratulations to all involved. I hope more rare gems will turn up/

[s.w.a.c.]

Hmmm...maybe I should finally take a look at my 9.5mm copy of Safety Last!