NEH Grant to NFPF for Treasures 5

craig2010 · Post by **craig2010** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:41 pm

http://www.filmpreservation.org

NEH AWARDS $305,000 TO THE NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION TO PRODUCE TREASURES 5

New DVD Set Will Present the American West in Early Film

Contact: Annette Melville (415-392-7292, [email protected])

San Francisco, CA (April 2, 2010)—Thanks to a $305,000 grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Film Preservation Foundation will produce Treasures from American Film Archives 5, a ten-hour DVD set presenting the American West in early film. The anthology will draw from the preservation work of the nation's preeminent silent-film archives—the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Archives, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive—and explore how film recorded and mythologized the American West from 1897 to 1938.

Some of America’s earliest movies brought the West’s distinctive landscapes and peoples to faraway audiences. By 1910, narratives set in the West accounted for one-fifth of all U.S. releases and had emerged internationally as the first film type for which “American-made” become a selling point. While Westerns were helping to put Hollywood on the map, the real West became a popular subject in educational shorts, travelogues promoting rail and auto travel, industrial profiles, newsreels, and government films about agriculture, Native Americans, and conservation. Film exported the West to every part of the globe and inspired a movie-made vision of America far beyond our shores.

The three-disc anthology will reclaim this little known history by presenting an array of features and shorts previously unavailable on video. Scheduled for release in fall 2011, Treasures 5 will feature audio commentary, new musical accompaniments, and program notes and will reunite the production team from previous NFPF DVDs: curator Scott Simmon (UC Davis), music curator Martin Marks (MIT), and designer Jennifer Grey. The NEH grant builds on a generous start-up grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts in December 2009.

The NFPF's critically acclaimed Treasures DVD series is widely used in libraries and universities around the world. The sets have won awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the Video Software Dealers Association, and Il Cinema Ritrovato, the festival of film preservation in Bologna, Italy, and have become a staple in the teaching of film and history.

The Treasures 5 grant was made through the NEH’s Preservation and Access program. These grants support initiatives that “provide an essential foundation for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities.” The NEH designated Treasures 5 as a We the People project, a special recognition for efforts that promise to “strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture.”

The National Film Preservation Foundation is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Since starting operations in 1997, the NFPF has assisted institutions in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and helped preserve more than 1,560 films. The NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. For more information on the NFPF's programs, please visit www.filmpreservation.org.

DShepFilm · Post by **DShepFilm** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:51 pm

Gee, it would be amazing to have a budget of more than $100,000 per DVD for OUR work! (and these grants are on top of their income realized through the sale of copies).

David Shepard

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 5:29 pm

The difference, David, is you have to do good work. I have found the last couple of collections to be rather thin in terms of viewing pleasure and long on current socio-political opinion and far too arty for my taste. However there's always a few pieces that I want to see and a couple that I will enjoy seeing, so....

Bob

rudyfan · Post by **rudyfan** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:19 pm

Well, as one who has been exposed to very few silent westerns, I'm thrilled about this. I've enjoyed the two Treasures sets I've managed to pick up. Eventually, I do plan for all of them.

I have to agree with David, I do wish some of this NEH funding could be funneled to the smaller companies/producers, like David/Flicker Alley. They do such great work, on tight budgets.

In any case, this is terrific news, really.

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 6:29 pm

I predict that James Young Deer will finally know the adulation lavished on Oscar Micheaux.

Maybe we'll get a Hart western, too...

craig2010 · Post by **craig2010** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 7:13 pm

To be fair, for the Treasures sets NFPF sometimes has to fund each archive's film to film preservation/restoration of those titles, in addition to the subsequent transfers to digital video etc. Adds up fast when you're talking 30-40 films. The set curator Scott Simmon once programmed a memorable Western series (including many silents) at the Library of Congress so I'm hopeful here.

craig2010 · Post by **craig2010** » Thu May 26, 2011 11:21 am

Rumor is the set will be released in late September 2011. Titles to be announced on May 31, reportedly including a couple of previously unavailable Paramount silents.....

bobfells · Post by **bobfells** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:05 pm

craig2010 wrote:Rumor is the set will be released in late September 2011. Titles to be announced on May 31, reportedly including a couple of previously unavailable Paramount silents.....

Dare we hope for WILD HORSE MESA or THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS, both 1925, both with almost the same cast. A dvd release of THE COVERED WAGON (1923) would also be welcomed.

FrankFay · Post by **FrankFay** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:41 pm

Perhaps UNDER A TEXAS MOON?

LouieD · Post by **LouieD** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:45 pm

FrankFay wrote:Perhaps UNDER A TEXAS MOON?

That would be pretty awesome if it did!

Jack Theakston · Post by **Jack Theakston** » Thu May 26, 2011 1:23 pm

Much as I enjoyed UNDER A TEXAS MOON, is it really representative of the true Old West? I would think COVERED WAGON and NORTH OF 36, which both have real Cowboys as extras on real locations.

FrankFay · Post by **FrankFay** » Thu May 26, 2011 1:26 pm

Understood, but who says that the content has to be true in the documentary sense? Anyhow, I was pretty much joking.

Tastypotpie · Post by **Tastypotpie** » Thu May 26, 2011 1:51 pm

Here's hope'in for my favorite type of silent film to be all over this dvd set. Independent "states rights" westerns.

I love'em-can't get enough of'em

Richard P. May · Post by **Richard P. May** » Thu May 26, 2011 3:32 pm

Eric,
If I'm right UNDER A TEXAS MOON belongs to Warner Bros.
The NFPF grants don't go to studio owned films. It is for those that don't have other financial support.

Turpinutz · Post by **Turpinutz** » Thu May 26, 2011 3:42 pm

WOW! I'm so happy to hear about the project and it's support!
Now since it's a western theme they're shootin' for, it would be great if they would consider the recent Russian film find, the Mack Sennett feature of 1921, "A Small Town Idol." Lots of hats, horses, guns, sage and spurs, and laughs. My eyes are crossed...

SteveR

Post by **Danny Burk** » Thu May 26, 2011 4:20 pm

Richard P. May wrote:Eric,
If I'm right UNDER A TEXAS MOON belongs to Warner Bros.
The NFPF grants don't go to studio owned films. It is for those that don't have other financial support.

REDSKIN was on a previous set, and AFAIK, it's still owned by Paramount. Perhaps some exceptions are made if NFPF feel that a particular film should be included?

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Thu May 26, 2011 5:12 pm

Lo! I'm curious to see what the two previously unavailable Paramount titles are. But what about Fox Silents? No Tom Mix? He has to be included. THE COVERED WAGON doesn't interest me much because I have the Paramount Laser-disc release. Music would probably be Piano, so not really an improvement over the Gaylord Carter Theater Organ score.

bobfells · Post by **bobfells** » Thu May 26, 2011 6:05 pm

Tastypotpie wrote:Here's hope'in for my favorite type of silent film to be all over this dvd set. Independent "states rights" westerns. I love'em-can't get enough of'em

What are your favorites? Just curious.

Bob Birchard · Post by **Bob Birchard** » Fri May 27, 2011 9:19 am

Gagman 66 wrote: Lo! I'm curious to see what the two previously unavailable Paramount titles are. But what about Fox Silents? No Tom Mix? He has to be included. THE COVERED WAGON doesn't interest me much because I have the Paramount Laser-disc release. Music would probably be Piano, so not really an improvement over the Gaylord Carter Theater Organ score.

Tom Mix will be represented by the 1916 Selig Polyscope production, "Legal Advice." I did the commentary for it.

Post by **Christopher Jacobs** » Fri May 27, 2011 1:51 pm

Bob Birchard wrote:

Tom Mix will be represented by the 1916 Selig Polyscope production, "Legal Advice." I did the commentary for it.

Great! This will be a great addition to the set and I'll look forward to buying it as soon as it's available.

--Christopher Jacobs
http://hpr1.com/film
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs
http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/Old ... BluRay.htm

Tastypotpie · Post by **Tastypotpie** » Fri May 27, 2011 2:31 pm

bobfells wrote:
Tastypotpie wrote:Here's hope'in for my favorite type of silent film to be all over this dvd set. Independent "states rights" westerns. I love'em-can't get enough of'em
What are your favorites? Just curious.

Anything where the villain is played by Lew Meehan. Such a slimy little guy. ...and I hate mustaches, so that makes him extra evil.

CoffeeDan · Post by **CoffeeDan** » Fri May 27, 2011 3:37 pm

Great to see that an early Tom Mix western will be included. Thanks for your contributions, Bob -- they are always appreciated.

I sure hope Harry Carey is represented. After watching several of his silent features over the last few months (including ROARING RAILS on the GEH website), I think he is as essential to the early western as William S. Hart.

And of course, a set like this without Bill Hart isn't worth having . . .

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Fri May 27, 2011 8:14 pm

They picked, of course, the most boring genre of them all..... an array of features and shorts... can't they just list the damned titles?

Oh Hell's Hinges it's been available for years.... why bother?

Post by **silentfilm** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:10 pm

The NFPF has posted five short films on their website as a preview of the set:
http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserv ... sures-dvds

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:15 pm

All of these are easily available except for HOW THE COWBOY MAKES HIS LARIAT, which has already been posted by Eastman House on their freebie site.

Not impressive.

Bob