My late father told me he saw Theda Bara’s “Cleopatra“, and he saw it after the silent era was over but because his own father was deaf, they saw a lot of silent pictures that were re-released in the 30s and 40s. He described Cleopatra’s death, with Theda Bara holding up the asp to her breast, as one of the hottest things he ever saw on-screen, and it was absolutely considered one of the “most scandalous” things ever, certainly in 1930’s rural Georgia. I’m sorry to never get the chance to see it, and, by extension, share it with him.
“The Passion of Joan of Arc” was found in a Norwegian mental institution? That has the makings of a great movie right there! There must be an interesting story behind that.
@@pmdk1953 not from the top of my mind, but I'm sure you can find them out on the Internet. These lost films pop up from time to time in the most unusual places
@@mkmarnes1187 They certainly do, not even the archives themselves always knows what they have, and can, sadly, be arrogant when asked about a lost title.
Yesterday they just rediscovered footage of the mythical Theda Bara's Cleopatra (1917).Together with Salome (1919) and The Queen of Sheeba (1921) all three epics were belived to be lost during Fox vault fire in 1937 but some clips resurfaced .
My heart hurts every time I think about all of these lost films. So much art and history that we may never ever get to experience. The remaining images of London After Midnight and The Cat Creeps just pull me in, and it's so unfortunate that's all we get.
1930s moviegoers were like, I hate all these remakes, movies aren't what they use to be when will they make something new? 2020 moviegoers, I hate all these remakes, movies aren't what they use to be when will they make something new?
1930s moviegoers would be at least 100 today. Hollywood has a way of remaking things every generation but that isn't always a bad thing. There have been some good remakes. It's when Hollywood remakes movies for cash that things tend to go badly.
Corod It seems to me that many of today’s filmmakers are simply fans of older movies that are given blank cheques by the money people to remake all of their childhood faves. This is no way to stimulate a change in the industry. There are hundreds of good, original stories waiting to be told, but, as long as Hollywood is run by lawyers and accountants those new ideas will never make it the screen.
"Imagine seeing Fellowship of the Ring and never being able to see the other two parts" Yeah, that actually happened with the original animated attempt at a Lord of the Rings adaptation, back in '78.
That's because the "original animated attempt" was awful. Whaddaya expect from guys who are more used to doing "Yogi Bear." (That is, I trust, the one you're referring to.)
@@tyrssen1 fell asleep in the cinema during the dead dull cartoon Lord of the rings. It soured me against the Peter Jackson versions, haven’t bothered to see them either
@@ianallan8005 The Peter Jackson films are masterpieces, especially the first one. It's a series I can watch the extended versions of (12 hours total,) and never feel bored.
I saw "Sunrise" in college and really enjoyed it. It got me looking into old movies and discovered "Cat People", "I Was A Fugitive of a Chain Gang", "The 39 Steps", and "Nosferatu". There's something special about these films. They are often more haunting than films of today that just seem to beat you over the head with shock value or they have no real, redeeming quality to them.
Another contender: Flaming Youth starring Colleen Moore. It's the movie that launched the Flapper fad and F. Scott Fitzgerald thought it was the definitive Jazz Age movie.
The international nature of all of this is absolutely spectacular, I can’t imagine such freedom. I see a freedom of expression like the early internet honestly, and like the countless directors and studios now turning into basically just Disney, the Internet seems to be going the same way. Thank you for this introduction into such an amazing field.
That happens, unfortunately. Innovation and experimentation at the beginning, then the standardization. Early television didn't know what worked and what didn't, so there were a lot of ideas tried out. Eventually, the networks figured out what would draw viewers. Before that, films were pushing borders until the pearl-clutchers got involved. Rather than submit to an outside authority, Hollywood set up the Hays Code. Good filmmakers slipped a lot of stuff past the radar, but sometimes left audiences scratching their heads because the good stuff couldn't be included when adapting stage plays and novels. It took a while to get out from under the Hays Code and the lingering influence of Anthony Comstock.
11:35 "Imagine watching The Fellowship of the Ring and never being able to see the next two films". You don't have to imagine this if you're old enough to remember the animated film, which only covered one and a half books of the trilogy.
It wasn't too bad having Bakshi's 1978 LOTR stop half-way, because just a few years later (1981) we got the BBC radio dramatization of LOTR with key voice-actors from the Bakshi film reprising their roles (e.g. Peter Woodthorpe as Gollum) and actually completing the story. It felt like *some* kind of closure, albeit audio-only :)
It is so sad to see so much cinematic history lost. Any Theda Bara or Lon Chaney films would be interesting to see, and 4 Devils' description makes it crushing that a potential masterpiece is lost. (Murnau is my favourite silent director).
Fun Fact: both London After Midnight and the Theda Bara version of Cleopatra are listed by the American Film Institute among their Top Ten Missing/Lost Films, with LAM at the top spot as the "Holy Grail" of Missing/Lost Films.
Am surprised you didn't mention the famously lost Greta Garbo silent (directed by Victor Sjostrom) "The Divine Woman". I was able to see at the MoMA the one reel found recently in Russia. Even this short found bit exhibited Garbo's extraordinary ability as a film actress. The museum had to trade a complete copy of the 1959 "Ben Hur" for the one reel, it was a swap well negotiated.
Hey guys. I’ve heard of a lost film, the first full length animated film actually (cutout animation like what I use) and done in 1917 (20 years before Disney’s Snow White and 10 years before Reninger’s Prince Acmed). It’s called El Apóstol from Argentina. Man, I wish I could’ve seen that film.
London After Midnight is the one Lon Chaney film I would love to see. Hopefully somewhere out there, someone has a copy. Awesome video. Keep the amazing work!
For Lon, it would be a print of The Miracle Man, which started his career, without question. James Cagney recreated a crucial scene in Man of a Thousand Faces.
I'd love for all of George Melies' films to be found. Apparently, he himself burned most of them near the end of his life. In particular, I would love to see A Midnight Episode, which is supposedly the very first giant monster film ever made.
We're reaching the limit. Fewer and fewer discoveries every year. Almost nothing of note found in 2019. We won't see the Cuban or Russian archives any time soon.
You hit most of my wishlist, with the exception of 1921’s “The Mechanical Man”, of which only about a third still exists 😢 Also, along with the lost Kingu Kongu films is 1934’s “The Great Buddha Arrival”, about the giant statue going for a stroll across Japan, which recently got a remake/tribute movie. Only a few stills from a contemporary newspaper article exist of the original ☹️ Congratulations on an outstandingly excellent video that I’m going to watch again right now 😁
I really want Ernst Lubitsch’s The Patriot (1928) to be rediscovered. It’s the only film nominated for best picture category at the Academy Awards to be completely missing. Only the trailer survives and Emil Janning’s performance seems incredible.
@Miles August Yes, that's true, Miles. All we have is the 'butchered' version, cut to pieces by a young Robert Wise. My opinion is that Hearst coerced the studio into destroying Ambersons because he hated Welles so much over Citizen Kane and wanted revenge.
So why hasn't someone remade London After Midnight about a cop going undercover as a vampire to infiltrate a murderous drug ring in the Goth-LARP-BDSM scene?
Jacinta probably outlawed and demanded they be turned in for destruction. After all one person may see a film and become violent . Nanny must protect her subjects since she knows best!
It breaks my heart ♥ I can't live without my vintage movies! 🎥 I am over my mid forties, but, sheesh there is so much to see and learn in these films from a cultural and artistic... Heck, even a social perspective. No, so much effort was put into these films, eg. Metropolis..... Let's do our utmost to save and salvage what we can. Love the T - shirt, BTW 8) Tis truly awesome! :)
Thank you so much for this video -- wonderful list, and I really hope some of them are found someday! Especially London After Midnight. I've wanted to see that one for years.
Not sure I would really call that lost anymore. There's only about 5 min of confirmed missing material from the latest restoration (because it was in too poor condition to work with). Unless you're referring to the rumoured 3 hours director's cut which, as far as I know, remains merely a rumour and not something that's been verified to have existed at any point.
@@RobotMaria I had heard that the long director’s cut was actually released somewhere in Europe, but was then greatly cut down for American release. And years ago, I saw the version with some colorized scenes and sound track by Queen. I have the book. Great film.
@@lanedexter6303 Yep, it's my favourite film of all time. It was indeed cut for its American release and I believe the Moroder/pop music version (83 min, slightly higher fps) and the 2001 restoration (124 min) are both mostly based on the international theatrical cuts. The 2010 restoration is based on the full original though and contains 148 min out of the confirmed 153 min from the German premiere.
This is a really interesting video, and I was unfamiliar with many of the films you mentioned. Glad to see the sound era rreferenced, too; I have a really odd fascination with the whole transition to sound period, and I know a lot of films from that time are lost because the technology was improving so rapidly in a short span that a lot of 1928/29 part-talkies became almost immediately redundant. Curious there was no mention of Convention City, though, I thought that was the best-known lost Hollywood film of the 30s. (Also, isn't there some contention about whether or not those Japanese King Kong films were actually real?) I have a feeling most of those early Michael Powell films were lost very quickly after release and well before anyone knew he would amount to anything in the 40s. The quota quickie period resulted in a more than usually functional attitude towards the end product, though some of Powell's early stuff does survive. I also suspect that if London After Midnight ever reappears, it will almost certainly prove to be an amazing letdown and Chaney would likely be the only good thing about it. (Then again, he'd probably also be sufficient. He could make some godawful tosh watchable purely by him being in it. And that really is stunning makeup.) As far as lost films from other countries go, well, I live in Australia, so where do you begin with lost films? We've lost vast amounts of our film history well into the 1940s. If you ever happen to see the 1927 version of For the Term of His Natural Life (one of the relatively few survivors), you can see it quite literally going up in smoke at one point; there's a shot of a ship on fire and some of the fuel for the flames was old nitrate film reels. It induces shudders of a different kind to the films you usually cover :)
Thank you for this. Please do more film history content like this. There are so few channels that cover the topic and it would be awesome to have more occasional specials like this one.
The notion of "lost material" is intriguing to me as someone who is personally responsible for the recovery of some presumed "lost" pieces from a famous newspaper comic strip!
WOW! Thank You RU-vid recommendations. This channel is amazing! I have always been fascinated with old-timey films since watching Cecile DeMille's bible epics and snippets of Charlie Chaplin as a kid in Nigeria. Thank you for this awesome vid that reminds us that cinema was once, and is still, art of the highest order. But also, it must be treasured and preserved like all art in order to enlighten, entertain, and inspire us forever.
I have a "lost" film story. It's a little long to share the whole thing here, but I saw a "complete" version of Metropolis in Canada in the '70s. If it still exists it would be difficult (to say the least) to track down now, but I'm sure the film archivists responsible for the DVD release of The "Complete" Metropolis would be interested in hearing my story all the same.
For those who are unfamiliar with Erich von Stroheim he is perhaps best known to moviegoers as the chauffeur and ex-husband of Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd".
He portrayed Erwin Rommel in Billy Wilder's "Five Graves to Cairo", released in July 1943. Rommel was Germany's top field commander at the time; an expert in tank warfare.
Bro... Your unlimited passion would run some small cities energy bill. I feel so lucky to have found your channel....a massive education. You are articulate and concise. Something missing in 90% of conversation currently heard. The melancholy mood I'm in after watching is somehow comforting whilst mixed with hope for new arrivals on the scene. I remember Stephen Fry telling those stunned university students that 85% of the greatest films ever made are in black and white. I've immediately subbed. Very best wishes.
"Silent Era," HA !! 20th Century Fox kept this policy of show & throw well into the 1930s. That we have anything from that era of Fox's history is just dumb luck. Good post. Thank you.
One lost film I'd love to see is The Crimson Paradise from 1933. It was the first talkie made in Canada as well as being the first film made in my home town.
I have been using silent movie clips to make music videos, I would love it if they found Theda Bara's Cleopatra! I have learned a lot about Silent Movies doing this and discovered just how great these actors, directors, and Producers really were. The technics they developed are still used today.
@@andreacook7431 I knew someone years ago who went to Africa, hoping to find missing DW at any of the outlets that were known to have copies of the show's episodes at one point. To make a long story short, he came up empty-handed, and literally spent his last dollar, bribing someone to get him off the continent. Interestingly, he'd also been in touch with someone who claimed to have "Power of the Daleks" in its entirety, but who was punishing the BBC for junking it by withholding it himself. I won't say it tops my list, but I'd sure like to see William Hartnell's performance in "The Massacre" before I leave the planet.
I would also love to see the anthology out of the unknown episodes found. Patrick troughton,Debroah watling,Anthony Ainsley starred in episodes, the daleks made their first appearance in color as a cameo and the mind robber robot costumes came from this.
Another highly recommended book on the subject of lost and forgotten films: "forgotten films to remember" by John Springer from 1980. It has the perspective of a film fan in the days just before home video, when lesser known films might not have been lost, but there was still no way for the average viewer to see so much of film history.
I’d like to talk to the young man who hosts this wonderful video. When we do speak, remind me to mention a reason for films being “lost.” Also, the Marx Brothers film that I saw as a child. By the way, this is a great documentary that he’s done here.
I have been waiting to see Theda Bara's Cleopatra! The still images alone are beautiful. Maybe somehow a reel survives & we will find it. I'd kill to see it.
This is a fantastic video & haunting video. Well done to the team at Dark Corners! The whole topic of lost films, always breaks the hearts of film lovers . In fact I was shock to learn most of Micheal Powell's early filmography is lost. I was unaware of about the fate of Powell's early work which is just heartbreaking ! One can only hope we can find all of these lost films. Two lost films that aren't featured in this video, I wish would be found THE IMMORTAL ALAMO (1911) & SAVED FROM THE TITANIC (1912). The Immortal Alamo was shot on the grounds of The Alamo. But infamously was rife with major Historical Inaccuracies, making one of cinema's earliest Historically Inaccurate films. As for SAVED FROM THE TITANIC (1912), that film was made 29 days after the disaster. The film starred Dorothy Gibson, who was one of the Titanic's survivors. She even wore the same outfit she wore on board the titanic.
1919's Behind the Door isn't really lost, but the only remaining copy is bad and in a museum. I just read that it was FINALLY released to DVD though I haven't seen it. I fully believe it has to be the inspiration for Last House on the Left, including a character named Krug. A captain's wife is killed and the man who did it eventually and inadvertently becomes the captains guest only to be skinned alive once the captain learns the man's identity.
Um...wow. I had no idea that the history of film (or lost film) ran that deep. Thanks once again, Dark Corners, for educating and enlightening me on a subject we've just scratched the surface on. As for a lost film I'd like to see, I'd love to see the complete The Miracle Man (1919) with Lon Chaney, just because the scene where he feigns being crippled and becoming "cured" by the so-called faith healer makes me wonder what other kind of acting tricks Chaney pulled off.
James Cagney recreated that scene in "Man of a Thousand Faces" (1957). I think that, in that film, Chaney had his legs bound up painfully for the role.
I believe that a Scottish author by the name of “Fergus Gwynplaine Macintyre” knew a film collector who has a lot of films believed to be lost in his collection. I mainly remember him having the 1917 Golem film, and possibly another lost horror film the 1928 film “The Terror”. To my knowledge he has many others. But we can’t be too sure as Fergus Macintyre died in June 25, 2010.
I want so bad to see the 8 hour version of GREED!!! I just bought a copy of it on 16mm, and it is a riveting film. I wouldn't be bored watching the whole film if it were ever found.
Since Von Stroheim was bankrupting the still-new MGM, and the studio took the production away from him, I wouldn't bet on it. But who knows? Maybe some studio employee back then stashed footage away, anticipating public interest. It was a huge production. But developed nitrate stock turned to jelly in canisters after awhile.
The studio didn´t think that any audience in the silent era could endure watching anything being more than 2 hours long. In fact, in the 1930s, a film length of 70 minutes was the norm of the day. When Griffith released "Intolerance" in 1916 with a length of over 3 hours, audiences stayed away, not only due to the long hours of watching 4 separate sequences, but also because of the use of cutting from scene to scene between the different eras in which the story unfolds, becoming more rapid as it reaches its climax. He tried to make up for the loss, by releasing the famous Babylonian sequence on its own with an added scene for the ending. I downloaded it from youtube since i could not find it anywhere on DVD.
I'm sure you are familiar with Niles, CA (I live just north of there). For those of you not, Niles was the home of one, if not the, first silent film studios in the country. Charlie Chaplin actually made 3 or 4 movies in Niles. However, the parent company decided to close the Niles location and bring everything back to Chicago. Lights, cameras, and hundreds of film canisters were just left behind in the vacant buildings. Unfortunately many of these films did not survive the years of neglect and vandalism before conservation could save them. There is a museum dedicated to the preservation of these films and they show them on a regular basis. Truly fascinating and worth the visit if you're ever in the neighborhood. nilesfilmmuseum.org/
I have the full-length film of "Intolerance", the complete and visually-enhanced "Metropolis", and the complete "Nosferatu" on DVD. John Barrymore in "Svengali" is downright creepy.
An absolutely stunning piece of historical work, both fascinating, informative, and funny. I love that, despite that this is a serious look at lost films, you still manage to brand it with your style of wicked humor. ("Good smoothie, Adam"! Priceless! Having read multiple books on the mysterious murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor (whose "Anne of Green Gables" got a mention in the From Page to Screen section), I would love to see 1914's "Captain Alvarez", one of the last films Taylor starred in. Of the films Taylor took part in as an actor,, I believe only the 1914 short "The Kiss" survives, and "Captain Alvarez" was rumored to be an epic, stunt-filled adventure and was the film that the wife he abandoned years before saw him in which made her realize her former husband was actually still alive.
I have a book that list the most influential silent movies ever made, Sunrise, being one of them. Being a silent movie fan myself, i was curious to see this particular film, which i now have on DVD. It didn´t strike me as being that awesome compared to other silents.
@@johnprovince5304 I think Groucho said it wasn't very good. Silent Marx Brothers? It was self-financed, made when the brothers were becoming one of Broadway's biggest comedy acts.
the mountain eagle was hitchocock's third film and it was actually releassed in 1926. His first film was (acording to wikipedia) allways tell your wife 1923 a comedy short
My great, great aunt (Lucille Teft) screen name Taft was in Cleopatra with Theda Bara in 1917. She lived to be 106 years old. She was a great lady , and I would spend Summer vacations at her ranch in old Camarillo California.
Now that Jerry Lewis is gone, will "The Day the Clown Cried", which he kept locked away, see the light of day? It is reported to be absolutely horrible.
You, sir, are a scholar! Thank you for this fascinating documentary about lost films. There are so many of FW Murnau and Lon Chaney that I would love to see. And for me, Conrad Veidt is in a class all on his own. I am unashamed to say that I have a huge crush on him. I would definitely pick "Der Januskopf" over "4 Devils." ☺
My number one lost film is HATS OFF (1927) with Laurel and Hardy, the Holy Grail of silent comedies. I hope a print turns up someday, but that would take a miracle.
Many historical treasures are lost to us now, certainly including movies and other publications that were willfully destroyed for "ethnical" or "moral" reasons.
Blondell started in Hollywood at the same time as pal Jimmy Cagney, starting with "Sinners' Holiday", the film version of "Penny Arcade". It was the first movie for each. Long, successful career. Her peak may have been "Stand-In" (1937), a Walter Wanger production, an inside story about classic Hollywood, with Leslie Howard and some guy named Bogart. Joan is excellent.
I'm not, by any stretch of an imagination, a film buff. The last film I saw at cinema was the 2nd LOTR jobbie . . . However I am acutely aware of the importance of the early 20th Century when it comes to films and I really enjoy watching them when they come to my attention. Thanks for this list, very interesting and informative.
Amazing video! We have a TV show here in Argentina called Filmoteca and, each week, they pick a theme and air 5 movies about it. Every year, they do at least a week about found films and it's amazing what you get to see. Keep up the great work!
Excellent documentary. Wonderful. Great details. Educational. A must-see for film students. What a great face Lon Chaney had for film. Amazing how creative those early directors, actors & writers were with the new medium throughout the world. Stunning creativity. The horror movies excelled because of the marvelous makeup artists. So many resources & stories. How the cinematographers mastered such terrific angles, scenes & set-ups. All thrilling. I have an old industry film magazine (having been in the business) that detailed all the films that went before the cameras but were never completed, films that lost financing & were shelved, films that were completed but the film company didn't know how to advertise or market the film so they buried it. Stories that were bought but no working script went before the cameras so instead of selling the project to another film company they put it in a vault. I had two Australian films I developed campaigns for in the USA ready to release in the 80s called "Barry MacKenzie Holds His Own," & "The Adventures of Barry MacKenzie" filmed in the early 70s. But director Bruce Beresford was up for an Academy Award for "Tender Mercies," so Paramount Pictures wanted to buy his 2 earlier comedies, the MacKenzie films from us -- to SHELVE. They considered them an embarrassment. We didn't. Star Barry Humphries' Aunt Edna Everage (later Dame Edna Everage) became a famous character later, even in the USA. While not lost -- Peter Lorre in "M" is one of the greatest single performances on celluloid I have ever seen. The first serial killer film -- and Lorre is unbelievable especially at the end. Trivia: in order for an early film company to guarantee their rights to their work they often incorporated their logos in the background scenes, on trucks, wagons, walls, drapery, masonry, etc. I'm surprised Edison himself didn't successfully develop his own film company & record company like so many others did later. This was a great video, thoroughly enjoyable, and well done. Today's movie makers haven't got a clue compared to these masters. I often tell students I meet to keep one theory in mind when creating a film -- "tell me a story." Continuity helps also.
Thank you. You might be interested in a couple of other docs we made "M - The First Serial Killer movie" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sYWD4-jlxJ0.html and Lon Chaney Shall Not Die ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BZjXufWFWyM.html
London After Midnight wasn't a great film according to people who saw it.With Chaney walking on all fours in some scenes.I love the vampire make up off course.
Don't have the film, but I have two on-set stills from Douglas Fairbanks' "The Man in the Iron Mask". When I found them, they were curled up in a tight roll. Had them conserved and then museum framed. Both photos are embossed with the photographer's stamp, Chas. E. Lynch.
A reel of 1915's "Golem" was found and has been shown at festivals. Oddly enough, it was found on the same shelf as the original cut of Metropolis, at an archive in Buenos Aires! One wonders what other treasures are at that place!
Beautiful video essay, just about your best! Fascinating and informative - I hadn't heard of the lost Murnau film 4 Devils, but given how splendid Sunrise is, it must be a treasure worth finding. Your remark at the end about how films are now being (re)discovered in archives recalls the story I once heard about the Chaney/Browning film "The Unknown" - that it was rediscovered in a French archive with the name "l'inconnu" on it - which everyone assumed simply meant 'unknown film.' Apparently it wasn't until someone thought of viewing the film that they realized what it was.
Very interesting! On my lost film list is, El Apóstol (1917) [The Apostle] by Quirino Cristiani. It was the first animated feature. The only know print of it was destroyed in a studio fire in Argentina. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ap%C3%B3stol
Thanks for introducing me to more silent films, even if so many are missing. I subscribed to your channel after watching this. I would love to see more on lost films. When you talked about Japanese silent movies (and their King Kong movies in particular), you showed a benshi performance. I was fortunate enough to see that same benshi perform for silent Ozu and Chaplin movies. I'll never forget the experience.
