Here's a possibly odd question

[MonicaMC]

Do directors keep private collections of all the films they have made? I was thinking about where terribly obscure films might be unearthed. But I suppose one of the first places an entity such as BFI would check would be the estate of a deceased director.

[alan french]

Hi,
I expect the only people who know the answer, are directors. Even then, it could vary. But lost copies of films, audio/video tapes, whether they be for cinema or television, seem to be found in strange places. Sheds, garages, wine cellars etc. Missing early Dad's Army episodes were found in a shed. Lost Steptoe and Son in one of the writer's home. Unseen footage was found of Charlie Chaplin when construction work was being made somewhere in the USA during the 1980's. Silent film actress Mary Pickford reluctantly kept her films and stored them in her wine cellar. I could go on.

But I believe Tom Baker has been sent video copies of episodes of Doctor Who by the BBC.

Perhaps with video tape and disc, this could be easier and more likely nowadays, than when things were on genuine film.

But as I write, I recall someone from the professional film industry visiting us in The Hemel Hempstead Movie Makers, claiming that he was the last person to have seen the director's cut of Laurence of Arabia. It was in a draw in some building and not where some book said it was.

No. I don't find your question odd. In fact, as I have been responding, it has made me wonder whether their could be some interesting answers out there.

Alan French.

[CaptainWaggett]

I guess we need our own John Llewellyn Moxey to answer this one. I believe he worked on The White Unicorn so it would be nice to think he'd had the foresight to keep a copy

[smudge]

A lot of the professionals I have chatted to over the years don't seem to have kept much at all. In fact I have supplied them with copies of their own work in the past...

Smudge

[alan french]

Hi,
Oddly enough, I seem to have read somewhere that before television, video and DVD, a lot of films were made and had a limited life when it came to showing. When their performing life was over, or, eased off, they were either showing wear and tear, or even because of lack of demand and storage space, possibly destroyed. As time progressed, it has been realised that many old films might be in demand again. If a good master copy has not been in existance, it has been the the film buff and collector, who has come to the rescue of the production company who made the film originally.

When looking at the size of a professional film reel, comparing it to a tape or disc, saving space must have been made. In the old days you would have to live in a big house to have stored them.

Alan French.

[Moor Larkin]

Orson Welles supposedly had warehouses full but some idiot set them on fire. I imagine there are probably lots of bequests by families of deceased film people to academic institutions, because those families have no idea what else to do with it all; but then of course these items will probably never be seen again...... well... not by any of us anyhow.

[Rowdon]

This will very much come down to individual cases. My own Dad made a number of documentaries and never kept copies of any of them. Thank God for the BFI.

[Steve Crook]

Do directors keep private collections of all the films they have made? I was thinking about where terribly obscure films might be unearthed. But I suppose one of the first places an entity such as BFI would check would be the estate of a deceased director.

I don't know many that do. Maybe more since the days of video then DVD and other ways to keep them. But not so many in the old days.

A feature film takes up a lot of room on reels of 35mm film. They would also presumably only be of interest to the directors who had the facilities to screen them.

Some directors, like Martin Scorsese, are real film fans and have their own libraries of films (on proper film) - their own films and other films they admire.
But Marty is quite a rarity

Steve

[theuofc]

A lot of the professionals I have chatted to over the years don't seem to have kept much at all. In fact I have supplied them with copies of their own work in the past...

Smudge

Very true. Even actors, including major ones, don't always have copies of all of their films, let alone having seen them. For example, Charlotte Rampling. A friend of mine knows her and was quite surprised when she asked him to get copies of some of her films for her.
We think they'd have them, but not always.

Barbara

[Elaine]

Very true. Even actors, including major ones, don't always have copies of all of their films, let alone having seen them. For example, Charlotte Rampling. A friend of mine knows her and was quite surprised when she asked him to get copies of some of her films for her.
We think they'd have them, but not always.

Barbara

I know Charles Dance asked members of his informal fan club, Charlie's angels, for a copy of Kabloonek, as he didn't own one and would like to see it again. Of course he got one.

[Moor Larkin]

I've googled lots of things like this one:

University of the Arts London - The Stanley Kubrick Archive arrives at University of the Arts London

and this one:

Donat, Robert, Archive (The John Rylands University Library - The University of Manchester)

I suppose it depends what you are looking for and I guess holding copies of film stock would only have been for real enthusiasts of their own work, like Bob Monkhouse.

[Steve Crook]

I've googled lots of things like this one:

University of the Arts London - The Stanley Kubrick Archive arrives at University of the Arts London

and this one:

Donat, Robert, Archive (The John Rylands University Library - The University of Manchester)

I suppose it depends what you are looking for and I guess holding copies of film stock would only have been for real enthusiasts of their own work, like Bob Monkhouse.

Kubrick was certainly one of the odd ones, like Scorsese. There are a few people who do this, but most don't.

Steve

[MonicaMC]

I suppose it depends what you are looking for and I guess holding copies of film stock would only have been for real enthusiasts of their own work, like Bob Monkhouse.

Bob Monkhouse. I thought that name rang a bell for some reason. He must have had quite a collection.