Movies that are extinct

[Donuthole75]

I always hear about source prints that were so heavily damaged by the elements, etc. and some that were so hard to locate that it is a miracle that the film still exists and have the chance to find life on DVD. I was just wondering how many movies that HAVE actually been lost and there is no chance to ever see it again. You don't hear about those too much, but you do hear about the ones that actually have been saved. I know that even "Star Wars" had a lot of damage and had to have alot of restoration for it's SuckyEdition release back in '97. The original Nosferatu was almost never seen for having all the original negatives destroyed by order of Stoker's wife. A print was found years later in Sweden or something. I think this is intriguing and would like to have some more input on this subject.

[mcchrist]

Only about 20% of films from the silent era have been found, granted many of them are still out there waiting to be dug up. The first Marx Bros. film "Humourisk" was destroyed, Groucho ordered it burned... but did it actually make it to the ashes? I hope not. Two versions of Dracula were filmed previous to Nosferatu, will they surface? Erich von Stroheim's Greed was originally 10 hours long, but he was forced to cut it... will the footage ever be found? The film materials that were used during the period were very unstable and flammable, the films were meant to be used and then thrown away. Films get lost all the time, Incubus disappeared for decades, etc. Modern examples could be summed up with Jodorowsky, one of his earliest Severed Head was stolen by one of his girlfriends, and the original negatives to El Topo and Holy Mountain had been hijacked by someone who stole the rights out from under him, and I read recently where Jodorowsky was told that the negatives were buried, literally, so they could never be found.

[Yowie]

Sure am glad "Nosferatu" was saved, it's in my Top-5 of all-time favorite movies. I'd very much like to see "London After Midnight" (MGM, 1927) with Lon Chaney. And there are some lost Laurel & Hardy movies from the late '20s when they were first teamed I hope still exist somewhere. And what about Bela Lugosi's test footage for the first Frankenstein, and Dwight Frye's subplot scenes in "Bride Of Frankenstein" ?. -I fear those are really lost.

[Gnaghi]

i remember not so long ago, maybe like a month, when people were saying that near dark was officially extinct... now its coming out from anchor bay. makes you wonder.

[Donuthole75]

20%!! Wow, I thought maybe 70% , but 20. That's sad. How about some more recent titles like post circa 1960. Anybody know of any web sites on this subject? I love this shit.

[AlkanFan]

"20%!! Wow, I thought maybe 70% , but 20. That's sad. How about some more recent titles like post circa 1960. Anybody know of any web sites on this subject? I love this shit. "

You have to keep in mind that every week five new movies would come out and completely replace last week's movies. Without VHS, these movies had nowhere to go and therefore were lost or destroyed. As for more modern examples of lost footage, look at "The Wicker Man" or George Romero's "Martin." Both lost a good amount of additional footage that will likely never be found.

[Yowie]

We HAVE to dig up that road in England !.

[Donuthole75]

Sure, I kept that in mind, but it seems the people making these movies would have tried to keep something that required all that hard work to get a film made and I'm sure they were well aware that the future would bring advancement in technology where their work could be given new life.

[mcchrist]

www.imdb.com has a genre listing of "lost-film" just look up something like London After Midnight and it will have it, click on it and it should have a comprehensive listing. I noticed some titles that were missing from the list. I'd love to be a cinematic Indiana Jones and dig this shit up.

[mutleyhyde]

I want London After Midnight. :(

[skinnypuppy6]

what about The Horny Vampire I heard that only 35mins is all that is left from that film Something Weird included about 10 mins as an extra on one of there dvds

[creamstick]

Scottish actor/director Peter Mullen's (Swanney/Mother Superior in Trainspotting) film 'My Name is Joe' is a famous casualty of studio negligence. Despite the film being a couple of years old, the studio behind it, Film Four 'accidentally' destroyed all extraneous footage from the film, including the director's preferred opening.

The opening to the film that's available on DVD is the one from the US cut (IIRC). On the commentary, Mullen is understandably outraged, and let's them have it in no uncertain terms!

[RAYMOND BUSH]

The sad thing is that when lots of movies are "restored" they only digitally remaster the VHS copy and make new film prints or DVDs. Many believe that film companies should try to actually restore the original film print itself. Some of these claasics should be in museums.

[Shannafey]

This isn't technically lost, but I wish they'd release Edison's Frankenstein on DVD. I would love to see that film, and have a copy for that matter.

[mcchrist]

The person who owns the surviving copy of edison's Frankenstein has been having some health problems and that has been impeding the resoration process. I doubt it will be released any time soon, the guy sounds like an ass and he's old.

[Shannafey]

Yeah, I heard about that MC. I really pisses me off. I am sure a lot of people would love to have a copy of the movie.