LOC Publishes Study on Survival of US Silent Features

[David Pierce]

The Library of Congress today unveiled “The Survival of American Silent Feature Films: 1912-1929,” the first comprehensive survey of American feature films that survived the silent era of motion pictures.



The study is available for free download at
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub158.

David Pierce

[silentfilm]

http://www.thewrap.com/library-of-congr ... rcent-gone

Martin Scorsese Backs Library of Congress’ Silent Film Study, Research Reveals 70% of Features Gone
Hollywood, D.C. | By Ira Teinowitz on December 3, 2013 @ 4:48 pm

“The loss of American silent-era feature films constitutes an alarming and irretrievable loss to our nation’s cultural record,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington

The most comprehensive study to date documenting the status of America’s silent feature films produced from the 1912 to 1929, says 70 percent are missing or gone and far more action needs to be taken to make the 2,749 known and complete surviving works accessible to the public.

The Library of Congress unveiled the three-year, Martin Scorsese endorsed study Wednesday, and while it offers some praise for studios — specifically MGM — it also voices concerns about the fate of silent films without increased preservation and the recovery of lost films.

“The Library of Congress can now authoritatively report that the loss of American silent-era feature films constitutes an alarming and irretrievable loss to our nation’s cultural record,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington in a statement. “We have lost most of the creative record from the era that brought American movies to the pinnacle of world cinematic achievement in the 20th Century.”

In a statement accompanying the report’s release, the Library of Congress quoted Scorsese.

“This report is invaluable because the artistry of silent film is essential to our culture,” said Scorsese, whose 2011 Oscar-winning film “Hugo” dealt with the magic and mystery of silent movies. “Any time a silent picture by some miracle turns up, it reminds us of the treasures we’ve already lost. It also gives us hope that others may be discovered. The research presented in this report serves as a road map to finding silent films we once thought were gone forever and encourages creative partnerships between archives and the film industry to save silent cinema.”

The study says many of the best copies of silent films and often the only copies are overseas and that much more needs to be done to find missing films and bring those back to the U.S.

It suggests six recommendations to do more.

Among them are that the U.S. develop a coordinated program to repatriate U.S. silent length feature films from foreign archives; work with studios and rights holders to acquire master film elements on unique titles; encourage coordination among U.S. archives to identify and preserve films held on small gauge tracks and work with U.S. and foreign archives to document unidentified titles.

The study also recommends efforts aimed at encouraging the exhibition and rediscovery of silent films as an art form.

Steve Leggett, program coordinator for the Library’s National Film Preservation Board, told TheWrap that the study grew out of the Library’s frustration with trying to determine what to preserve from the silent movie era given the meager source data on silent film availability. Previous studies showed that more than 10,919 American silent features were produced during the period.

“One of the problems with film preservation is knowing which films exist and where they are,” he said.

The study, produced by historian-archivist David Pierce, offers a snapshot of the films known to be available and where they are, Leggett said. “The prints were originally sent overseas to foreign archives. They were too expensive to ship back,” he said. “The result is that films whose U.S. copies were destroyed or are missing are available only in the foreign archives.”

Even in cases where copies of films are available in the U.S., foreign archives often have more complete versions, Leggett added.

The report says that while 2,749 American silent films survive in full form, 3,311 survive in some form with 151 of the missing having a single reel missing and another 275 with two reels missing. It suggests that some of the missing reels might be in collections unidentified and uncatalogued. Some of the surviving films are shortened versions that survive on 9.5 mm or 16 mm versions.

The report also said that of the 3,311 total movie features, about 1,699 were produced by major studios or their predecessor companies, but that while studios sent 531 titles to archives, 1,168 came from other sources.

Leggett said the Library of Congress would like to get the films held abroad repatriated to the U.S., but that besides dealing with any rights issues – copyrights still apply to films made after 1923 —U.S. film archives need to work out some payment system to compensate foreign archives for their sometimes extensive work in preserving films.

Congress in 1988 as part of enacting the National Film Preservation Act directed the Library of Congress to establish initiatives to protect the nation’s film heritage. One of the Library’s first directives to the board was to support archival research projects that would investigate the survival rates of American movies produced in all major categories during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Library currently holds the world’s largest collection of American silent features. More than half of the Library’s collection cannot be found anywhere else.

[craig2010]

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/ ... -home.html

The searchable database above will be updated regularly. If you see any needed corrections/omissions, please send to Donna Ross of the National Film Preservation Board (Library of Congress) at "[email protected]"

David Pierce's Report and database are also available through http://www.loc.gov/film/

LC Press Release:http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-209.html

[silentfilm]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movi ... t/3866383/

Study: Most silent films have been lost
AP 4:53 a.m. EST December 4, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — The vast majority of feature-length silent films made in America have been lost due to decay and neglect over the past 100 years, allowing an original 20th century art form to all but disappear, according to a study released Wednesday.

The Library of Congress conducted the first comprehensive survey of silent films over the past two years and found 70% are believed to be lost. Of the nearly 11,000 silent feature films made in America between 1912 and 1930, the survey found only 14% still exist in their original format. About 11% of the films that survive only exist as foreign versions or on lower-quality formats.

During the rise of silent films between 1912 and 1929 — before network radio or television — going to the movies became the most popular form of entertainment. Movie theater attendance in United States averaged 46 million admissions per week in the 1920s in a country of 116 million people, according to the report.

Historian and archivist David Pierce, who conducted the study for the library, said few defunct art forms have the resonance of silent films.

"It's a lost style of storytelling, and the best of the films are as effective with audiences today as they were when they were initially released," he said. "When you take away dialogue from a narrative story, it actually puts quite a challenge upon the creative people involved to tell the story entirely in a visual fashion. And it's that limitation, I think, which makes the films so effective."

Notable films now considered lost include Cleopatra from 1917, The Great Gatsby from 1926, Lon Chaney's London After Midnight from 1927, and The Patriot from 1928.

Films featuring early stars, including Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford still exist. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Library of Congress and other archives have been preserving early films for decades. But the study notes that for every classic that survives, a half dozen have been lost.

Nitrate film stock's vulnerability to fire and deterioration contributed to the losses, along with the movie industry's practice of neglecting or destroying prints and negatives, Pierce wrote.

Of the major film studios, MGM stood out for its early work to preserve silent films. The studio also held Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz in its collection and found ongoing commercial value in old films with theatrical rereleases and TV distribution, Pierce said. So the studio invested in its film library, unlike any other, and saved 113 silent films it produced or distributed. MGM also gave prints and negatives to archives, primarily the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Now, 68 percent of the studio's silent films still survive.

At the same time, Paramount Pictures, the early dominant movie studio, stands out for how few of its 1,222 silent-era features survive. The study noted Paramount had no preservation program until the 1980s, and now only 29% of its silent-era titles or fragments can be located.

Few if any other films will be found in movie studio vaults, Pierce wrote. Preservationists are now looking to foreign archives and private collections to identify any other remaining films that might be saved.

Librarian of Congress James Billington wrote in the report that the nation has already lost much of the creative record from an era that brought American movies to the heights of cinematic achievement.

"The loss of American silent-era feature films constitutes an alarming and irretrievable loss to our nation's cultural record," he wrote.

[Daniel Eagan]

Also in Variety:

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/libra ... 200915020/" target="_blank

Thanks to Mr. Pierce for his tremendous job.

[mwalls]

I would imagine that some of these activities come down to funding. Is this report a sign that funding my be diverted from other sources for silent film preservation, as I doubt a larger budget would be allocated to the LoC for silent films?

[drednm]

Great resource! THANKS to all.....

[R Michael Pyle]

Just finished reading this. Really fascinating study! Thank you, David!

[Frederica]

Wow, what a monumental project--congratulations and thank you, Mr. Pierce.

[Rick Lanham]

I scanned through it, fascinating and valuable work. Thank you.

[sepiatone]

A great and feel good read. I love the sense of diplomacy that is sought after between the archives of the US and the rest of the world. One thing I keep seeing come up over the years is that MGM is the best preserver of their silent heritage though they have numerous films lost from 1924-1930. Compared to the other majors which are older studios, MGM would have been a young company when the silent era ended in 1930. But we don't take into account (and this is my main point) that the merged MGM inherited the libraries of both Metro Pictures and Goldwyn Pictures which both have huge loss rates. Is this because many of the films of those twos studios were already lost at the merger or that MGM purposely destroyed properties when or if they remade a story. An example of their trashing of one of their silent properties would have been the 1931 destruction of the negative to Goldwyn's 1922 A BLIND BARGAIN.

[sepiatone]

May I add thanks David Pierce. It's a new guideline long overdue.

[buskeat]

This is an incredible achievement and long overdue. Absolutely remarkable.

[buskeat]

Reading this, I also remember that it's inevitable that Disney will start lobbying for yet another Copyright Extension Act soon. 2018 isn't that far away.

[sepiatone]

A great and feel good read. I love the sense of diplomacy that is sought after between the archives of the US and the rest of the world. One thing I keep seeing come up over the years is that MGM is the best preserver of their silent heritage though they have numerous films lost from 1924-1930. Compared to the other majors which are older studios, MGM would have been a young company when the silent era ended in 1930. But we don't take into account (and this is my main point) that the merged MGM inherited the libraries of both Metro Pictures and Goldwyn Pictures which both have huge loss rates. Is this because many of the films of those twos studios were already lost at the merger or that MGM purposely destroyed properties when or if they remade a story. An example of their trashing of one of their silent properties would have been the 1931 destruction of the negative to Goldwyn's 1922 A BLIND BARGAIN.

I admit I stand corrected a bit on MGM and their inheriting Metro and Goldwyn libraries. On page 22 the Pierce study talks about the rescuing of what was available and the effort of later management to preserve existing /surviving Metro or Goldwyns. The book/survey is a great read with attention to detail .

[Gagman 66]

So does this actually mean that more of a concentrated effort is being made to locate and label these lost films before it is to late? It just seems to me that there are so many films that do survive that have not been adequately preserved and restored. A KISS FOR CINDERELLA, BEAU GESTE, LOVES OF CARMEN, and THE COP come quickly to mind. And what 's the update on RAMONA (1928) dammit!

Yeah, I freakin' depise Disney! The jerks have even prevented PETER PAN (1924) from being shown on TCM!

[drednm]

If Disney had lobbied for its own product, that would have been fine, but the blanket coverage of copyrights is stupid and detrimental to film preservation.

[silentfilm]

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/de ... st-forever

Vast majority of Hollywood silent films lost forever, study confirms
Studios failed to archive early films properly leading to huge losses due to fire and deterioration

Ben Child
theguardian.com, Wednesday 4 December 2013 06.55 EST

Most of the feature-length films made by Hollywood during the golden age of silent movies have been lost forever, according to a new study by the US Library of Congress.

Only 14% of a total of around 11,000 movies made between 1912 and 1930 exist in their original format, with a further 11% available to view in foreign language versions, or in a lower quality format. Around 70% are completely lost. The failure of the early studios, in most cases, to maintain silent era archives has been described as an "alarming and irretrievable loss" to America's cultural record by officials.

Historian and archivist David Pierce, who conducted the extensive two-year study, said the silent art form retained a rare resonance. "It's a lost style of storytelling, and the best of the films are as effective with audiences today as they were when they were initially released," he told ABC News. "When you take away dialogue from a narrative story, it actually puts quite a challenge upon the creative people involved to tell the story entirely in a visual fashion. And it's that limitation, I think, which makes the films so effective."

Many of the lost film prints fell victim to fire or deterioration. Others were neglected or destroyed, according to the common practices of the time. Of the major studios of the era, only MGM kept a decent library of silent fare, with early 20th century giant Paramount considered one of the most neglectful. The latter did not begin preserving titles until the 1980s and has reportedly lost more than two-thirds of its once huge library of more than 1,000 silent films.

Famous titles now considered lost forever include the 1917 version of Cleopatra, a 1926 take on F Scott Fitzgerald's much-adapted The Great Gatsby, Lon Chaney's 1927 film London After Midnight and 1928's The Patriot. The library's next aim is to contact foreign preservation groups and private collectors in the hope that some of the missing examples can be tracked down.

[Brooksie]

The searchable database is amazing. Until now, there just hasn't been a single place where you could say yay or nay with any confidence. A fine achievement, well done!

[syd]

Brooksie writes:

"The searchable database is amazing. Until now, there just hasn't been a single place where you could say yay or nay with any confidence. A fine achievement, well done!"


Agree.

[Roseha]

Thank you so much Mr. Pierce and everyone involved. I read over the piece late last night but will be sure to read it in full very soon. If there's a way to contribute directly to restoration of silent features, please let us know.

[westegg]

I've only skimmed a few pages, so excuse some naive questions. What about all those unlabeled cans of nitrate in South America? What about the recent mention of new stuff being uncovered in WB vaults (albeit not silents)? Plus, the legion of collectors who may have some surprising titles.

I still hope in some obscure building there's a mother lode of missing silents awaiting discovery.

[Jim Roots]

I've only skimmed a few pages, so excuse some naive questions. What about all those unlabeled cans of nitrate in South America? What about the recent mention of new stuff being uncovered in WB vaults (albeit not silents)? Plus, the legion of collectors who may have some surprising titles.

I still hope in some obscure building there's a mother lode of missing silents awaiting discovery.

I'm going to go looking for more filled-in public swimming-pools in Dawson City, Yukon.

Jim

[KenGriffin]

The searchable database is amazing. Until now, there just hasn't been a single place where you could say yay or nay with any confidence. A fine achievement, well done!

It's excellent but has some odd gaps. The Phantom of the Opera seems to be entirely missing from the database, which is surprising given its high profile.

[Harold Aherne]

It's excellent but has some odd gaps. The Phantom of the Opera seems to be entirely missing from the database, which is surprising given its high profile.

Phantom came up fine for me; it's held by 17 archives. In the process of looking up Wanda Hawley and Corinne Griffith, I saw that no archival information was included for the surviving bits of The Young Rajah and the 2-ish reels of Déclassé that the BFI has. I've heard reports that A Clouded Name (1923) is Norma Shearer's earliest extant film; it might be in a private collection not catalogued by the database so far.

Based on info in the database and what I know about their talkies, Wanda has at least 29 of 80 features where something exists (don't know about her two British films) and Corinne has 13 of 58 (she also has two 1916 shorts and a fragment of Love's Wilderness [1924] at GEH).

-HA

[westegg]

I'm going to go looking for more filled-in public swimming-pools in Dawson City, Yukon.

Jim[/quote]


I hope there are forthcoming finds or "donations" that can knock down the lost film percentage another ten points.

[drednm]

The database seems to "award" a film to one actor. so if you look up William Haines, for example, neither Tell It To the Marines nor Brown of Harvard are listed for him because they are listed under Lon Chaney and Jack Pickford, respectively. I assume the film title goes with first-billed actor.

Note that when searching for a title, only one actor is listed for the film...... So searching for say Eleanor Boardman does not give you a complete list of her films since many of her titles are listed under other actors' names....

[Rodney]

Reading this, I also remember that it's inevitable that Disney will start lobbying for yet another Copyright Extension Act soon. 2018 isn't that far away.

The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, from a couple of days ago:

[Rick Lanham]

If last month's report from Wikileaks is accurate, there is a 12 nation treaty proposed which would be a new international agreement on patents, copyrights, and trademarks:

TPP = Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

https://wikileaks.org/tpp/pressrelease.html" target="_blank" target="_blank

WikiLeaks’ Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange stated: “The US administration is aggressively pushing the TPP through the US legislative process on the sly.” The advanced draft of the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter, published by WikiLeaks on 13 November 2013, provides the public with the fullest opportunity so far to familiarise themselves with the details and implications of the TPP.
The 95-page, 30,000-word IP Chapter lays out provisions for instituting a far-reaching, transnational legal and enforcement regime, modifying or replacing existing laws in TPP member states. The Chapter’s subsections include agreements relating to patents (who may produce goods or drugs), copyright (who may transmit information), trademarks (who may describe information or goods as authentic) and industrial design.

Rick

[Gene Zonarich]

If last month's report from Wikileaks is accurate, there is a 12 nation treaty proposed which would be a new international agreement on patents, copyrights, and trademarks:

We may be veering off-topic, but this sounds absolutely frightening (excerpted from the Wikileaks press release, Nov. 13):

"The Obama administration is preparing to fast-track the TPP treaty in a manner that will prevent the US Congress from discussing or amending any parts of the treaty. Numerous TPP heads of state and senior government figures, including President Obama, have declared their intention to sign and ratify the TPP before the end of 2013.

"The 95-page, 30,000-word IP Chapter lays out provisions for instituting a far-reaching, transnational legal and enforcement regime, modifying or replacing existing laws in TPP member states. The Chapter’s subsections include agreements relating to patents (who may produce goods or drugs), copyright (who may transmit information), trademarks (who may describe information or goods as authentic) and industrial design.

"The longest section of the Chapter – ’Enforcement’ – is devoted to detailing new policing measures, with far-reaching implications for individual rights, civil liberties, publishers, internet service providers and internet privacy, as well as for the creative, intellectual, biological and environmental commons.

"In the words of WikiLeaks’ Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange, “If instituted, the TPP’s IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons. If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs.”

Disney would be the least of our concerns.