Back in November of last year, news broke that 10 American Silent films, at least 7 of which were largely considered lost, were repatriated back to the United States Library Of Congress, from the Gosfilmofond Russian Film Archive. This was only the first shipment. As some 194 additional films are expected back in the near future. Since then details on the remaining titles have been difficult to come by. However, here is a partial listing derived from the FIAF Data Base of the Gosfilmofond Russian Archive Collection.
Again, we don't know how complete any of these films are. Some of them may be missing a reel here or there, or more. In any event, this is nowhere near 194 additional titles. Around 75 so far. So I am still hoping for at least a couple of Colleen Moore movies, Corinne Griffith, Dolores Costello, Olive Borden. Some of the big missing Renee Adoree pictures such as A MAN'S MATE (1924) with John Gilbert, and TIN GODS with Thomas Meighan, Etc.
There is lots of Charles Ray, Richard Dix and even Milton Sills and Mae Murray listed. Four Jackie Coogan features, and Three Arbuckle's. An interesting batch of Stars, and some big name directors. Including James Cruze, Victor Fleming, Victor Seastrom, Herbert Brenon and King Vidor. Most of these films do not exist anyplace else in the world, others may contain lost footage that can be restored to incomplete prints. I will keep you posted as I receive more information and movie titles.
Eye For Eye (1918) Alla Nazimova
Red Hot Dollars (1918) Charles Ray
Wolves Of The Rail (1918) Starring and Directed by William S. Hart
Riddle Gwan (1918) William S. Hart, Lon Chaney
Behind The Door (1919) Hobart Bosworth, Jane Novak
Bill Henry (1919) Charles Ray, Edith Roberts
His Majesty, the American (1919) Douglas Fairbanks
Egg Crate Wallop (1919) Charles Ray, Colleen Moore
The Red Lantern (1919) Alla Nazimova, Frank Currier
The Market of Souls (1919) Dorothy Dalton
John Petticoats (1919) William S. Hart
Told In The Hills (1919) Wanda Hawley, Monte Blue, Aileen Percy
Civilian Clothes (1920) Thomas Meighan, Martha Mansfield
The Restless Sex (1920)-Marion Davies (Possibly her oldest surviving film?)
Down On The Farm (1920) Ben Turpin, Marie Prevost, Louise Fazenda, Teddy The Dog
The Woman Gives (1920) Norma Talmadge, Edmund Lowe
The Village Sleuth-(1920) Charles Ray
What's Your Hurry? (1920) Wallace Reid, Lois Wilson
The Life of the Party- (1920) Roscoe Arbuckle
Crazy To Marry (1921) Roscoe Arbuckle, Lila Lee
Li Ting Lang (1920) Sessue Haykawa
Idols Of Cly (1920) Mae Murray, Dorothy Cumming
Old Fashioned Boy (1920) Charles Ray
The Little Clown (1921) Mary Miles Minter, Jack Mulhall
The Swamp (1921) Sessue Hayakawa, Bessie Love
A Small Town Idol (1921) Ben Turpin, Phyllis Haver, Marie Prevost
Forbidden Fruit (1921) Cecil B. De Mille-Agnes Ayres
Molly 'O (1921)-Mabel Normand
At The End of The World (1921) Betty Compson, Milton Sills
Her Husband's Trademark (1922)-Gloria Swanson
Suzanna (1922)-Mabel Normand (May contain missing footage.)
Trouble (1922) Jackie Coogan
The Bonded Woman (1922) Betty Compson, John Bowers, Richard Dix
Broadway Rose (1922) Mae Murray, Monte Blue
Siren Call (1922) Dorothy Dalton
The Woman Who Walked Alone (1922) Dorothy Dalton, Milton Sills, Wanda Hawley
Three Live Ghosts (1922) Anna Q. Nilsson, Norman Kerry
The Iron Trail (1923)-Reginald Denny
Little Robinson Crusoe (1923)-Jackie Coogan
Grumpy (1923)-Theodore Roberts, May McAvoy, Conrad Nagel
Condemned (1923) Mildred Davis
Three Weeks (1923)-Aileen Pringle, Conrad Nagel. Directed by Alan Crossland
The Spanish Dancer (1923) Pola Negri, Antonio Moreno, Adolphe Menjou. Directed by Herbert Brenon
The Spoilers (1923)-Milton Sills, Anna Q. Nilsson, Barbara Bedford
The French Doll (1923) Mae Murray, Rod La Rocque
The Dangerous Maid (1923) Constance Talmadge, Conway Tearle
To The Last Man (1923) Richard Dix, Lois Wilson
Black Oxen (1923) Corinne Griffith, Clara Bow. (May contain missing footage.)
Drifting (1923)-Priscilla Dean, Matt Moore, Wallace Beery. (Early appearance by Anna May Wong)
Garrison's Finish (1923) Jack Pickford, Madge Bellamy
The Girl I Loved (1923)-Charles Ray, Patsy Ruth Miller
Long Live The King (1923) Jackie Coogan
In Search of a Thrill (1923) -Viola Dana, Warner Baxter
Black Lightning (1924) Clara Bow, Thunder The Dog
Happiness (1924)-Laurette Taylor, Hedda Hopper. Directed by King Vidor
The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924) Barbara La Marr, Lew Cody
The Mine with The Iron Door (1924) Dorothy Mackaill, Pat O'Mally
The Mask Of Lopez (1924) Fred Thomson
Mademoiselle Midnight - (1924) Mae Murray, Monte Blue
One Night In Rome (1924) Laurette Taylor, Tom Moore, Warner Oland
Pided Piper Malone (1924)-Thomas Meighan, Lois Wilson
Singer Jim McKee (1924) William S. Hart, Phyllis Haver, Patsy Ruth Miller
Women Who Give (1924)-Renee Adoree, Babara Bedford
The White Moth (1924)-Barbara La Marr, Conway Tearle
Secrets (1924) Norma Talmadge, Conrad Nagel. Directed by Frank Borzage
Racing Luck (1924) Monty Banks
The Heritage of the Desert (1924) Bebe Daniels, Lloyd Hughes
Side Show of Life (1924) Anna Q. Nilsson. Neil Hamilton
Captain January (1924)-Baby Peggy, Hobart Bosworth, Irene Rich
Nellie, The Beautiful Cloak Model (1924) -Clarie Windsor, Edmund Lowe, Mae Busch, Raymond Griffith, Hobart Bosworth
The Fighting Coward (1924)-Mary Astor, Phyllis Haver, Ernest Torrence. Directed by James Cruze.*
Speed (1925) Betty Blythe, Pauline Garon
Name The Man (1925)-Aileen Pringle, Patsy Ruth Miller Conrad Nagel-Directed by Victor Seastrom
Wild Horse Stampede (1926) Jack Hoxie, Fay Wray
Horse Shoes (1927) Monty Banks, Jean Arthur
Sal of Singapore (1928) Phyllis Haver, Alan Hale
Treasure Trove of American Silent Films Still In Russia
Treasure Trove of American Silent Films Still In Russia
Last edited by Gagman 66 on February 14th, 2011, 6:12 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: Treasure Trove of American Silent Films Still In Russia
This is really exciting news, Gagman.
Thanks for sharing it here. I found an article related to this on The Washington Post with video from "You're Fired" (1916-James Cruze, dir.) describing the arrival of ten of the recovered films in the United States.
Thanks for sharing it here. I found an article related to this on The Washington Post with video from "You're Fired" (1916-James Cruze, dir.) describing the arrival of ten of the recovered films in the United States.
Re: Treasure Trove of American Silent Films Still In Russia
Yes, of the first 10 films returned two of the Wallace Reid features have brief clips posted on-line. The quality is excellent, because it is from original well preserved Nitrate. Reid was about as big a name as you could find in Hollywood before his death in 1923, and his films have not been easy to see. The most popular leading man of his day. I myself have only seen two or three of his movies. Rex Ingram's THE ARAB (MGM, 1924) is probably the film that has the best chance of popping up on TCM in the next couple years. Big name director, and two huge Stars. Plus they have shown most of Ingram's surviving Silents.moirafinnie wrote:This is really exciting news, Gagman.
Thanks for sharing it here. I found an article related to this on The Washington Post with video from "You're Fired" (1916-James Cruze, dir.) describing the arrival of ten of the recovered films in the United States.
To recap, here is a complete list of the first 10 films that were shipped from Gosfilmofond to the LOC in November.
"Valley of the Giants" (Famous Players, 1919) Wallace Reid, Alice Terry
"You're Fired" (Famous Players, 1919) Wallace Reid, Wanda Hawley
"The Conquest of Canaan" (Famous Players, 1921) Thomas Meighan
"Kick In" (Famous Players, 1922) Betty Compson, May McAvoy
"The Call of the Canyon" (Famous Players, 1923) Richard Dix, Lois Wilson
"Canyon of the Fools" (R-C Pictures, 1923) Harry Carey
"Circus Days" (First National, 1923) Jackie Coogan, Claire McDowell
"The Eternal Struggle" (Metro Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923)
Renee Adoree, Barbara LaMarr, Wallace Beery
"The Arab" (Metro, 1924) Ramon Novarro, Alice Terry
"Keep Smiling" (Monty Banks, 1925) Monty Banks, Anne Cornwall
"The Arab" (Metro, 1924). Director: Rex Ingram. Cast: Ramon Navarro, Alice Terry. Jamil (Navarro), son of a Bedouin tribe leader, falls in love with the daughter of a Christian missionary. Ingram shot portions of the film on location in Algiers, using native Bedouins as extras. His career break came three years earlier when he directed "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," which made a star of Rudolph Valentino. Novarro's collaboration with Ingram on this and two earlier films propelled him to major stardom.
"Kick In" (Famous Players, 1922). Director: George Fitzmaurice. Cast: Betty Compson, Bert Lytell, May McAvoy. Released from prison, thief Chick Hewes (Lytell) resolves to go straight but is harassed by police when he refuses to turn stool pigeon. "Kick In" was a successful Broadway play starring John Barrymore.
"The Conquest of Canaan" (Famous Players, 1921). Director: Roy William Neill. Cast: Thomas Meighan, Doris Kenyon. Defiant of polite society and friendly with corrupt town leaders, Joe Louden (Meighan) is encouraged by his friend Ariel (Kenyon), a recent heiress, to succeed. Previously filmed in 1916, "Canaan" was based on a popular novel by Booth Tarkington.
"The Eternal Struggle" (Metro Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923). Director: Reginald Barker. Cast: Renee Adoree, Earle Williams, Barbara La Marr, Wallace Beery, Pat O'Malley. Engaged to Canadian Mountie Neil Tempest (Williams), Andree (Renee) falls in love with one of her fiance's underlings, Bucky O'Hara (O'Malley). This is one of the last films produced or released by Louis B. Mayer's Metro Pictures Corp. before he helped establish MGM in 1924.
"You're Fired" (Famous Players, 1919). Director: James Cruze. Cast: Wallace Reid, Wanda Hawley. In order to win the hand of Helen Rogers (Hawley), wealthy idler Billy Deering (Reid) agrees to her father's wager -- if Billy can keep a job for one month, the father will agree to the marriage. The comedy's screenplay was based on O. Henry's story, "The Halberdier."
"Keep Smiling" (Monty Banks, 1925). Directors: Albert Austin, Gilbert Pratt. Cast: Monty Banks, Glen Cavender. An unnamed boy (Banks), who is afraid of good old H2o, invents a life preserver that inflates when it hits water.
As for the remaining films, it should be noted that all of this stuff is still on Nitrate film stock as far as I know? Only the first 10 have had digital copies made. Some of the titles might have been transferred to safety film, but I doubt it. Rumor had it that Lon Chaney's TOWER OF LIES (1926) with Norma Shearer, and possibly the Silent version of THE GREAT GATSBY were in the same archive. No indication so far. Incredibly, it looks like they just might have a 35 millimeter print of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME? If so, that would definitely make all other versions redundant, depending on what sort of shape it is in. The general prognosis is these are extremely well preserved movies. At least from what the LOC has been saying. So that is most encouraging. For years HUNCHBACK has only been known to survive from 16 Millimeter Show At Home prints struck in the early 30's.
Re: Treasure Trove of American Silent Films Still In Russia
Pretty good story on All things Considered yesterday on the silent films found in the Russian film archive:
"Let's be independent together." Dr. Hermey DDS