Lost Films

[Jonathan S]

The BFI list it as a 1972 film, and it was passed by the the BBFC with an AA Certificate in March 1973. I suspect it was a very limited release as in those days films usually had to wait several years (most often five years) before TV broadcast. The imdb 1976 date presumably only applied to the long-delayed US release.

[JSC]

Thanks for the reply.

Sounds like the film had a spotty release history to say the least, which
is probably why it also sunk into oblivion. At least the BFI seems aware
of its existence if only because they put up a reference page for it.

[ethel]

ALPHA BETA was a ferocious two-handed play charting the decade-long collapse of a working class infatuation; one of a number of such plays by Ted Whitehead, who later adapted LIFE AND LOVES OF A SHE-DEVIL for TV.

The film ran under 75 minutes, and was an awkward sell both for its length and the brutal marital brawls it depicted. Superb direction by Page, with much handheld camera following the prowling, trapped, sour, bitter couple in their tiny flat. Portrayed by Finney and the tortured Rachel Roberts, it left the viewer (this one anyway) wrung out and not seeking a minute more of the physical and psychological violence.

It was shown in Australia around 1973 on a double-bill with a revival of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, of all things, perhaps because of the theatrical nature of the pair.

It turned up once on late-night commercial TV in Australia in the early 80s, absurdly laced with adverts, and I treasure my digital cleanup of the battered VHS.

It would be a standout Flipside release, hopefully with Finney and Page’s participation.

[GaryC]

The film ran under 75 minutes,

Just 66 according to the BBFC - who also give the distributor as Memorial Enterprises, so it seems the production company self-distributed it, though how much of a UK cinema release it had before turning up on TV I don't know.

I remember it turning up on TV, though I didn't see it, and wasn't old enough to see it in 1974 in any case. The Times's television listing for the first showing on 1.1.1974 calls it a play rather than a film, so maybe it bypassed British cinemas altogether? EDIT: and it appears it did. Finney is interviewed in The Times on 19.1.74 and says this about his acting on television: "Not since 1958 when I did EMERGENCY WARD 10. The recent ALPHA BETA on BBC2 wasn't really a television [sic] at all...we made it on location as a film."

[JSC]

One of the things which piqued my interest in this film was having
read No Bells on Sunday: The Journals of Rachel Roberts, which
mentions the stage production in some detail. But also, I think I'm
correct in saying it's the only other time that Finney and Roberts
appeared together after Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,
twelve years before.

[George Kaplan]

But also, I think I'm correct in saying it's the only other time that Finney and Roberts appeared together after Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, twelve years before.

They also co-starred in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS in 1974. I, too, would love to see ALPHA BETA once again - anything with Roberts is to be treasured.

[JSC]

They also co-starred in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS in 1974. I, too, would love to see ALPHA BETA once again - anything with Roberts is to be treasured.

That's true, I totally forgot about that!

[aox]

'Lost' film predicting rise of Nazism returns to screen

[GaryC]

Not so much a lost film, but fragments of such and of some screen tests, discovered being recycled as leaders for other films in the BFI National Archive. All in two-strip Technicolor, and including a brief shot of Louise Brooks dancing, from her debut film The American Venus (1925), which is otherwise lost.

The BFI have put up an eight-minute compilation here, with a voiceover by Bryony Dixon.

[Ashirg]

The Nest of the Cuckoo Birds. It already played on MUBI in November.

[Ashirg]

Ernst Lubitsch’s ‘Rosita’ Is Back, Reconstructed

[Perkins Cobb]

Jeff Wells (not that one) finds Adelphi's 1953 The Tell-Tale Heart.

[Saturnome]

Another, though incomplete, Oswald cartoon is found, "Neck 'n' Neck" (1928). Six are left. Kind of amazing how Disney went from almost nothing to almost everything in a decade or so.

[Zinoviev]

Dziga Vertov's 1918 documentary, The Anniversary of the Revolution, recovered and restored

[L.A.]

Dziga Vertov's 1918 documentary, The Anniversary of the Revolution, recovered and restored

There is a screening in Helsinki on November 26th with Nikolai Izvolov who reconstructed the film in attendance.

[martin]

415 Danish silent films are being digitized thanks to private funding (and some state support). At least 50 films or so have never been shown since their premieres 100 years ago. The total playing time is supposedly over 300 hours. All films will eventually be shown theatrically (Cinemateket, I imagine) and also avaialable for free online (streaming). I can't fint a link to the original press release from The Danish Film Institute but it's mentioned in an article from the Danish Radio (in Danish). There was some talk about it on tv yesterday, and I think they mentioned a 5 year timeframe before they're finished.

[Minkin]

Smithsonian Magazine: Why We Need to Keep Searching for Lost Silent Films

[whaleallright]

This only just crossed my radar, although the film showed at Pordenone a few months ago: a lost feature by Victor Sjöström from 1915, Judaspengar aka The Price of Betrayal, was discovered at the Bois d’Arcy—a Swiss print missing only a bit of censored footage—and restored by the CNC and the Swedish Film Institute.

See https://anttialanenfilmdiary.blogspot.c ... -2018.html

and https://silentlondon.co.uk/2018/10/10/l ... 2106308918

This seems particularly important to me because as far as I know, all of Sjöström's work as a director between the masterpiece Ingeborg Holm in 1913 and The Sea Vultures in 1916 had been deemed lost. Sjöström's work before this period is typified by the "tableau style" of filmmaking, while his films after, like Terje Vigen and especially The Outlaw and His Wife, feature a lot of very sophisticated editing and scene dissection. So it'll be interesting to see whether Judaspengar represents a transition between those very different approaches. And of course, it's also important because Sjöström is simply one of the most talented directors to ever work in cinema, and from 1917 to 1921 or so he was probably the greatest director in the world.

Has anyone here happened to see it at Pordenone or elsewhere?

[Minkin]

I know that crazy lost treasures have been found off of Ebay, but does anybody else see listings like this one and wonder if there's that chance it could be a reel of something important?

[aox]

I know that crazy lost treasures have been found off of Ebay, but does anybody else see listings like this one and wonder if there's that chance it could be a reel of something important?

Could be. Could also be the second reel from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

[hearthesilence]

This is pretty stupid - look at the photo, you can make out the content within the film frames, but they're too far away. He could have easily snapped some close-up photos rather than leave things as a mystery.

[L.A.]

Silent movie photo collection uncovered after decades

[L.A.]

Universal has discovered a complete print of A Society Sensation (1917) the film Rudolph Valentino made with Carmel Myers.

[L.A.]

Apparently Pay Me (1917) starring Lon Chaney has been found in Moscow.

[Stefan Andersson]

"ABC in Sound" (Moholy-Nagy, 1933) has been found:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sig ... experiment