Lost Hollywood films from 1920s discovered in New Zealand vault

[The Straight Story]

Lost Hollywood films from 1920s discovered in New Zealand vault
A collection of 75 lost Hollywood film works, including the 1927 John Ford movie Upstream, have been rediscovered in a vault in New Zealand.

Only about 15 per cent of more than 60 silent-era films made by Ford are thought to survive.

He later went on to win four Oscars for Best Director with films including The Informer, Stagecoach and The Quiet Man.

The US National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) described the find at the New Zealand Film archive as a "time capsule of American film production from the 1910s and 1920s."

The works, which are on highly volatile and unstable nitrate film, and being shipped back to the US in special steel barrels.

It is hoped Upstream, a romance between a Shakespearean actor and a girl from a knife-throwing act, will receive a premiere in September.

The collection of films also includes another important Ford work, a trailer for the director's lost 1929 film Strong Boy, starring Victor McLaglen.

Matthew Bernstein, chairman of film studies at Emory University in Atlanta, and co-editor of John Ford Made Westerns, said: "Upstream is a major discovery that illuminates a previously lost page of John Ford's early years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7809730/Lost-Hollywood-films-from-1920s-discovered-in-New-Zealand-vault.html

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Wow. I hope they can stabilize and restore them. nt

[Lindsay]

2. This is very cool.

A little bit of good news, for a change.

[no limit]

3. Can I get them in HD?