List of lost films
For this list of lost films, a lost film is defined as one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. For films in which any portion of the footage remains (including trailers), see List of incomplete or partially lost films.
Films may go missing for a number of reasons. One major contributing factor is the common use of nitrate film until the early 1950s. This type of film is highly flammable, and there have been several devastating fires, such as the 1937 Fox vault fire, the 1967 MGM vault fire, and the Universal Pictures fire in 1924.[1] Black-and-white film prints judged to be otherwise worthless were sometimes incinerated to salvage the meager scrap value of the silver image particles in their emulsions.[2] Films have disappeared when production companies went bankrupt.[2] Occasionally, a studio would remake a film and destroy the earlier version.[2] Silent films in particular were once seen as having no further commercial value and were simply junked to clear out expensive storage space.[3]
This is necessarily an incomplete list. Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation claims that "half of all American films made before 1950 and over 90% of films made before 1929 are lost forever."[4] Deutsche Kinemathek estimates that 80-90% of silent films are gone;[5] the film archive's own list contains over 3500 lost films. A study by the Library of Congress states that 75% of all silent films are now lost.[6] While others dispute whether the percentage is quite that high,[7] it is impractical to enumerate any but the more notable and those that can be sourced.
Silent films
1890s
1900s
Year | Film | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1900 | Solser en Hesse | M.H. Laddé | The first film with this title, featuring the Dutch comedians Lion Solser and Piet Hesse. | [30] | |
1903 | Hiawatha, the Messiah of the Ojibway | Joe Rosenthal | Believed to be the first Canadian fiction film. | [31] | |
1906 | Solser en Hesse | M.H. Laddé | The second film with this title, featuring the Dutch comedians Lion Solser and Piet Hesse. | [32] | |
1907 | Salaviinanpolttajat | Louis Sparre Teuvo Puro |
Teppo Raikas Teuvo Puro Jussi Snellman Eero Kilpi Axel Rautio |
The first Finnish fiction film. Some sources also consider it to be the first Russian fiction film, as Finland was a part of the Russian Empire until 1917. | [33] |
1908 | Bobby's Kodak | Wallace McCutcheon, Sr. | Robert Harron, Edward Dillon | First starring role for then-child actor Robert "Bobby" Harron. | [34] |
The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays | Francis Boggs, Otis Turner | L. Frank Baum | First adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and several of its sequels. Shown only in roadshow engagements as part of a live theater presentation, the print decomposed and was discarded.[citation needed] | ||
The Music Master | Wallace McCutcheon, Jr. | D. W. Griffith | Most of D. W. Griffith's early appearances as an actor in Biograph films have been preserved, minus this title. | [35] |
1910s
1920s
Sound films
- From 1929 on, films are "all talking" unless otherwise specified.
1920s
1930s
1940s
Year | Film | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1940 | Harta Berdarah | R Hu, Rd Ariffien | Zonder, Soelastri | Indonesian action film. Screened until at least July 1944. | [69] |
Kedok Ketawa | Jo An Djan | Fatimah, Basoeki Resobowo, Oedjang | Union Films first production. Screened until at least August 1944. | [69] | |
1941 | Asmara Moerni | Rd Ariffien | Adnan Kapau Gani, Djoewariah, S. Joesoef | Indonesian romance film. Screened until at least November 1945. | [69] |
Bajar dengan Djiwa | R Hu | A Bakar, Djoewariah, O Parma, Oedjang, RS Fatimah, Soelastri, Zonder | Indonesian drama film. Screened until at least October 1943. | [69] | |
Soeara Berbisa | R Hu | Raden Soekarno, Ratna Djoewita, Oedjang, Soehaena | Screened until at least February 1949, longer than any other Union Films production, and the only Union picture known to have been shown post-World War II. | [69] | |
This Man Is Dangerous | Lawrence Huntington | James Mason | Although it is said to have been shown on British television as recently as 1987, the film is believed lost and is included on the BFI's "75 Most Wanted" list of missing British feature films. | [70] | |
Wanita dan Satria | Rd Ariffien | Djoewariah, Ratna Djoewita, Hidajat, Z. Algadrie, Moesa | [69] | ||
1942 | Brother Martin: Servant of Jesus | Spencer Williams | |||
Cóndor Capuchita | Carlos Trupp, Jorge Escudero | Chilean movie. Apparently, in 1982, after the death of Carlos Trupp in the United States, his heirs would have found and searched in 2001 to finance its restoration, but nothing is known since. | [71] | ||
Mega Mendoeng | Boen Kim Nam | Rd Soekarno, Oedjang, Boen Sofiati, Soehaena | Union Films final production before the studio closed ahead of the impending Japanese occupation. | [69] | |
1943 | Squadron Leader X | Lance Comfort | Eric Portman, Ann Dvorak | On the BFI 75 Most Wanted list of lost films. | [72] |
1944 | Red Sky at Morning | Hartney Arthur | Peter Finch, John Alden | [46] | |
1945 | Flight from Folly | Herbert Mason | Patricia Kirkwood, Hugh Sinclair | Screen debut of stage star Kirkwood. It is on the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. | [73] |
For You Alone | Geoffrey Faithfull | Lesley Brook, Dinah Sheridan, Jimmy Hanley | Another film on the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. | [74] | |
1946 | Little Iodine | Reginald Le Borg | Hobart Cavanaugh, Irene Ryan | Release delayed by a polio outbreak; Little Iodine cartoonist Jimmy Hatlo was a writer. | [75] |
Spree for All | Seymour Kneitel | A Famous Studios' Noveltoon featuring Snuffy Smith was destroyed by request of King Features Syndicate (owners of the character). | [76] | ||
1948 | The Betrayal | Oscar Micheaux | The director's final production. | [77] |
1950s
Year | Film | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1950 | The Miracle of St. Anne | Orson Welles | Suzanne Cloutier, Maurice Bessy, Boris Vian | Short film made as prologue to the Paris stage production of Welles' play The Unthinking Lobster. | |
1952 | Hammer the Toff | Maclean Rogers | John Bentley, Patricia Dainton, Valentine Dyall | On the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. | [78] |
Salute the Toff | Maclean Rogers | John Bentley, Carol Marsh, Valentine Dyall | Sequel to Hammer the Toff and also one of the BFI 75 Most Wanted. | [79] | |
1953 | Small Town Story | Montgomery Tully | Donald Houston, Susan Shaw, Alan Wheatley, Kent Walton | Another of the BFI 75 Most Wanted. | [80] |
1960s
Year | Film | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Linda | Don Sharp | Carol White, Alan Rothwell | On the BFI 75 Most Wanted list of lost films. | [81] |
1961 | Cranks at Work | Ken Russell | English. Russell's short 35mm film about the choreographer John Cranko. | [82] | |
1962 | Bulgasari | Kim Myeong-jae | South Korean Kaiju film. Later remade in 1985 as Pulgasari. | [83] | |
Crosstrap | Robert Hartford-Davis | Laurence Payne, Jill Adams, Gary Cockrell |
On the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. Hartford-Davis' film debut; only reviews are known to survive. | [84] | |
1963 | Andy Warhol Films Jack Smith Filming Normal Love | Andy Warhol | Jack Smith | This home movie, which may have been Warhol's first film, was seized by New York City Police in March 1964, and has since disappeared. | [85] |
Farewell Performance | Robert Tronson | David Kernan, Frederick Jaeger, Delphi Lawrence |
On the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. | [86] | |
1967 | Batman Fights Dracula | Leody M. Diaz | Jing Abalos, Dante Rivero | An unofficial Filipino Batman parody made without permission of DC Comics, owner of the character's copyright. | [87] |
Israel: A Right to Live | John Schlesinger | Director Schlesinger shot this film for producer Harry Saltzman. Alan Rosenthal claims that "hours of film had been shot and edited, but nobody liked the result. Israel was too triumphant, too out of keeping with the changed mood. It had a few showings and then passed into oblivion." On the other hand, William J. Mann claims that Schlesinger never finished the documentary, "due to 'creative differences' with the BBC." Cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond claimed in 2011 that he has never been able to find a copy of the documentary. | |||
1968 | Las Noches del Hombre Lobo | René Govar | Paul Naschy | The second in a series of films featuring the character Count Waldemar Daninsky. Never publicly screened or seen by anyone, including Naschy. Suspected by some to be a hoax. | [88] |
The Other People | David Hart | Peter McEnery, Donald Pleasence | Never released. | [89] | |
1969 | The Promise | Michael Hayes | Ian McKellen, John Castle | First known film adaptation of a work by Soviet playwright Aleksei Arbuzov, and an early film role for McKellen. Appears on the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. | [90] |
1970s
Year | Film | Director | Cast | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1972 | Nobody Ordered Love | Robert Hartford-Davis | Ingrid Pitt, Tony Selby | All known prints believed destroyed upon the director's death, at his request. Currently listed on the BFI 75 Most Wanted list. | [91] |
1974 | HIM | Ed D Louie | Tava | Pornographic film about the life of Jesus Christ, previously believed to be a hoax. | [92] |
See also
- Bezhin Meadow, an unfinished Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The reels were destroyed during a World War II bombing raid in 1941.
References
- ^ "Vault and Nitrate Fires – A History". TCM.com. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
- ^ a b c Jo Botting. "Lost Then Found". British Film Institute (screenonline.org.uk). Retrieved February 21, 2013.
- ^ Robert A. Harris, public hearing statement to the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., February 1993.
- ^ "Film Preservation". The Film Foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
- ^ "Why". Deutsche Kinemathek. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
- ^ Ohlheiser, Abby (December 4, 2013). "Most of America's Silent Films Are Lost Forever". The Wire. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
- ^ Slide, Anthony (2000). Nitrate Won't Wait: History of Film Preservation in the United States. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 0786408367. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
It is often claimed that 75 percent of all American silent films are gone and 50 percent of all films made prior to 1950 are lost, but such figures, as archivists admit in private, were thought up on the spur of the moment, without statistical information to back them up.
- ^ "Arrivée d'un train (Arrival of a Train)". silentera.com. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
- ^ "L'arroseur". silentera.com. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
- ^ "Barque sortant du port de Trouville". silentera.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Bateau-mouche sur la Seine". silentera.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Bébé et fillettes". silentera.com. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
- ^ "Les blanchisseuses". silentera.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Bois de Boulogne". silentera.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Bois de Boulogne". silentera.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Boulevard des Italiens". silentera.com. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Campement de bohémiens". silentera.com. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ "Les chevaux de bois". silentera.com. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ "Le chiffonier (sic)". silentera.com. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ "Couronnement de la rosière". silentera.com. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ "Déchargement de bateaux". silentera.com. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
- ^ "Jardinier brûlant des herbes". silentera.com. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
- ^ "Jetée et Plage de Trouville (1st part)". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ "Jetée et Plage de Trouville (2nd part)". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ "Jour de marché à Trouville". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ The First Dutch Film: Gestoorde hengelaar, EYE Film Institute Netherlands
- ^ Spelende kinderen, EYE Film Institute Netherlands
- ^ Zwemplaats voor Jongelingen te Amsterdam, EYE Film Institute Netherlands
- ^ "The Bioscope Festival of Lost Films". Retrieved January 7, 2009.
- ^ "Solser en Hesse, 1900". EYE Film Institute Netherlands. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
- ^ "Hiawatha, The Messiah of the Ojibway". Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
- ^ "Solser en Hesse, 1906". EYE Film Institute Netherlands. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
- ^ Uusitalo, Kari (1996). Suomen kansallisfilmografia, osa 1: 1907–1935 (The Finnish National Filmography, part 1: 1907-1935). Finnish National Audiovisual Archive, Suomen kansallinen audiovisuaalinen arkisto (Kava): Edita. ISBN 9513719014.
- ^ "Bobby's Kodak". silentera.com. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
- ^ "The Music Master". silentera.com. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
- ^ "Alias Jimmy Valentine". silentera.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Barrios, Richard (1995). A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film. Oxford University Press. pp. 453–454. ISBN 0195088115. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
- ^ "The Argyle Case". silentera.com. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
- ^ "The Aviator". silentera.com. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
- ^ Pictorial History of the Talkies c.1958,1970 & 1980 and other years, by Daniel Blum
- ^ Greta de Groat (Electronic Media Cataloger at Stanford University Libraries). "Evidence". stanford.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
- ^ "Frozen Justice". silentera.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ The American Film Institute Catalog 1921-30, The American Film Institute, c. 1971
- ^ "IMDb trivia section for A Most Immoral Lady". IMDb. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- ^ Kerzoncuf, Alain (February 2009). "Alfred Hitchcock and The Fighting Generation". Senses of Cinema (49).
- ^ a b c d "Australia's 'Lost' Films". National Film and Sound Archive. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
- ^ "Kismet". Deutsche Kinemathek. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "A fragment of a colour nitrate film". nitrateville.com. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
- ^ Priya Krishnamoorthy (June 15, 2007). "India's first talkie lost in silence". IBN Live. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
- ^ "Deadlock / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
- ^ "Hobson's Choice / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute.
- ^ MALATHI RANGARAJAN. "Tryst with the past". The Hindu. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- ^ "Tamil Talkies complete 80 years!". Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- ^ "Two Crowded Hours". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
- ^ "Film Threat's Top 10 Lost Films, Part 4". Film Threat. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
- ^ "Frankenstein (1931) - Trivia - IMDb". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
- ^ Hanke, Ken (2004). Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism. McFarland. p. 21. ISBN 0786486619. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ "Time and Space in the Work of László Moholy-Nagy" (PDF). Hungarian Studies Review. 1988. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ^ Tetsu Itoh & Yuji Kaida. 大特撮-日本特撮映画史 (Large Special: The Japanese Special Effects Movie History). Asahi Sonorama. 1979. Pg.173
- ^ [2]
- ^ "Corto in Corto : Ivo Perilli". Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- ^ "The Scarab Murder Case". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
- ^ Searching for John Wayne in the Alabama Hills, BBC, 9 October 2013
- ^ "The University of Chicago Magazine: December 2002". Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- ^ Deocampo, Nick, ed. (2006). Lost Films of Asia. Manila: Anvil. ISBN 978-971-27-1861-8.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - ^ Hall, Phil (March 1, 2007). "Top 10 Lost Films". Film Threat (Gore Group Publications). Retrieved February 17, 2008.
- ^ "The Good Old Times / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g Heider 1991, p. 14.
- ^ 75 Most Wanted – This Man Is Dangerous BFI National Archive. Retrieved 16-10-2010
- ^ The strange sstory of "15,000 drawings", the first animated feature film Chilean Retrieved 25-11-2014
- ^ "Squadron Leader X". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
- ^ Jo Botting. "Lost Then Found". British Film Institute Screenonline. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "For You Alone / BFI Most Wanted publisher=British Film Institute". Retrieved May 29, 2014.
{{cite web}}
: Missing pipe in:|title=
(help) - ^ "Ask the Archivist: LOST FILM". Comics Kingdom. pp. 12 March 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
{{cite web}}
:|first=
missing|last=
(help) - ^ "The Case of The Missing Cartoon: "Spree For All" (1946)". Retrieved December 13, 2015.
- ^ Moos, Dan (Autumn 2002). "Reclaiming the Frontier: Oscar Micheaux as Black Turnerian — Critical Essay". African American Review. 36 (3). Saint Louis University: 357–381. doi:10.2307/1512202. (HighBream subscription required)
- ^ "Hammer the Toff / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved October 18, 2010.
- ^ "Salute the Toff / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
- ^ "Small Town Story / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
- ^ "Linda / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
- ^ "Ken Russell: The Monitor Years".
- ^ "More Than One Iron-eater | Undead Backbrain". Roberthood.net. February 29, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ "Crosstrap / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
- ^ "Andy Warhol chronology". Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- ^ "Farewell Performance / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
- ^ F.G. Hablawi. "The Quest for "Batman Fights Dracula"". NonProductive. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ "Las noches del hombre loco". Lost Films (an initiative of the Deutsche Kinemathek). Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ^ "BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ^ "BFI National Archive: 75 Most Wanted List – The Promise". British Film Institute. BFI. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
- ^ "BFI 75 Most Wanted: Nobody Ordered Love". British Film Institute. BFI. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
- ^ ""Lost Movie Detective: Him". To Obscurity and Beyond..." Retrieved June 7, 2015.
Works cited
- Heider, Karl G (1991). Indonesian Cinema: National Culture on Screen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1367-3.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help)