mariocki

Not a British film obviously but thought it might be of interest to some here, according to the link below around 25 minutes of footage that's been missing from the Fritz Lang film for 80 years has been located in Argentina on a 16mm negative.

Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung > news

You crazy idiots - my name's McGill!

Hugo

Thanks for that. Really exciting news, even if the English translation of the press release leaves something to be desired.

mariocki

More info (and better translation) here:
“Metropolis": Key scenes from the famous movie rediscovered | Nachrichten auf ZEIT online

Kino have confirmed that it will be part of their 2009 Blu-Ray schedule.

You crazy idiots - my name's McGill!

picture show

As they mentioned on BBC Radio,this could go on forever of people finding missing bits.

Wee Sonny MacGregor

Good news - perhaps there's still hope of finding Ramsbottom Rides Again, after all

Steve Crook

Never give up hope of a missing film being found. Some have been found in the most peculiar situations and circumstances.

That's why we refer to them as "Missing, believed lost" rather than definitely lost

Steve

silverwhistle

And on normal DVD, too, I hope!

"Trust me, I'm a doctor...!"

TimR

Good news indeed.

Hereafter, in a better world than this,
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you

TimR

Yes, indeed. The remarkable story of the discovery of an intact copy of The Passion of Joan of Arc in a Norwegian hospital closet fifty years after it was made is enough to keep hope alive for any lost film.

Perhaps that means the final sequence of Tales of Hoffman might be buried somewhere....One can hope!

Hereafter, in a better world than this,
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you

Steve Crook

Or even the final scenes of Black Narcissus where Sister Clodagh gets back to Calcutta and reports back to Mother Dorothea.

For a story of the discovery of an old film that wasn't just lost, nobody even knew it existed, look no further than our own Penfold and the discovery of Michael Powell's short film, Smith (1939)

Powell referenced it very briefly in his autobiographies, but not by name, and it wasn't even on his filmography.

But the "Missing, believed lost" film that I'd most like to see, apart from some more of Powell's early quota films, is Squadron Leader X (1943). From a story by Emeric Pressburger and scripted by Miles Malleson, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak. I found the story in a 1943 fan magazine and it looks like it would have been a very interesting film.

Steve

penfold

Not exactly Metropolis, however...

I'm just back from Cinema Ritrovata, Bologna, an eight-day Archive film Festival/ Conference, so some of the movers and shakers were present, and held a press conference/ anouncement on the matter. And you can imagine the buzz around the coffee shops.... All bar five minutes of what was known to be missing are now found, the pic quality is not great but can be worked on with modern techniques and slotted into the Wilhelm Murnau Stifftung restoration as released by Eureka in Europe and Kino in The States. Perhaps they could also produce a version at the intended 20fps speed, not the 24fps as at present.

The missing film I'd most like to see would be a drama, The Sea Gull, AKA A Woman of The Sea, directed by Josef Von Sternburg, pre-Dietrich, for Chaplin and starring Edna Purviance. There was a private screening, but it was never released. The negative was destroyed in the thirties for tax purposes, but where is that positive print...according to those that saw it, and from surviving stills, it looked gorgeous....

Sybella and Gunther say Hi, Steve, and Bluebeard won a few more friends...

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

batman

Welcome back penfold ... sounds like you had a good time.

Don't miss out on a chance to win a rare film in Bat-Quiz 13 closing date - 31/8/8.

Steve Crook

Welcome back, it sounds like you had a good time. I trust Sybella and Gunther are well. I'll email her.

Bluebeard keeps winning new friends whenever it's shown. The American screenings were a huge success. A DVD release can't be too far off. I've suggested they use alternative subtitle tracks for the "straight" English translation of the libretto and Micky's notes on it.

Steve

penfold

Fabulous and exhausting. The temperature was in the 90's all week, with bedrooms without aircon...the most you could get was 4 hours sleep a night.
Highlight; the Tuesday 10.00pm screening of the silent version of Blackmail, in the Piazza Maggiore, the town square rigged up to seat 4,000; with the orchestra of the Bologna Opera, Rossini's old mob; conducted by Timothy Brock and playing as a world premier the new orchestral score composed by the wonderful Neil Brand, his first, and commissioned especially for and by Bologna. And it's fabulous, really aids understanding of the film, and has the lush romanticism of a Rosza or Herrmann score...and a few quotes too. There was a lot riding on the night....it's the first orchestral score commissioned for a British Silent since the advent of sound - but it was out of this world, and if it does play in the UK, and there are plans afoot, though in early stages and subject to funding, you must go and see it....there will be very few opportunities....and it's why I chose this year to attend Bologna for the first time. Very glad I did....and I'll be boring you all to death for weeks yet about it....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

penfold

I think, IIRC, that there's a copyright watershed in 2012 when the opera comes out of the control of the Bartok Estate....we may have to wait until then. I agree re. subtitles...the 'Mickeys' notes and plot points do help, but a full libretto translation would be very useful. A German friend struggled to understand all of it....but then I struggle to comprehend English-language opera. S & G seemed absolutely fine, but G has so little English and I so little German....I'd have loved to talk to him about working with William Dieterle in post-war german opera...
Bluebeard was shown in the large cinema, a decent twenty-foot plus high cinema screen. Looked stunning....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??