June 4, 2017

Locating a silent film bearing the "lost" status can be a challenge to the researcher who is interested in finding out if a print of the film does in fact exist, whether it be in a film archive or a private collection. A film archive, like any other museum archive, constantly accessions and deaccessions objects in its collections. Trying to locate a lost silent film can be a challenege, since silent film loss is around 75% according to a study conducted by the Library of Congress. This high percentage is due to many reasons, from the film reels being melted down for their silver nitrate content, to the flammability of the nitrate material that 35mm film reels were made of. There was also the problem of a number of these silent films being considered "disposable", regardless of who made them, as in the case of Edwin Thanhouser. While the American Silent Feature Film Database at the Library of Congress is to some degree a useful tool, it is not always updated regularly, thereby necessitating contact with the film archive supposedly holding a print of the film in question, whether it be EYE in Amsterdam, British Film Institute (BFI), George Eastman Museum, or another of the many film archives throughout the world. In some cases, silent films made between 1928 to 1930 may have a higher survival rate. For example, our subject, Tom Tyler, has three silent films made in 1930 which have not only survived but been restored and digitized for DVD. There is also the issue of his later silent films - those made for Syndicate - which are more likely to exist in the United States, compared to his earlier FBO films, nine of which exist in western European film archives.

So what is the best way to seek out a lost film?

It helps if the film being sought has the primary basic information, which includes title, year released, major star, and production company. In fact, when conducting an inquiry about a particular lost film to a film archive, the more brief and concise the inquiry, the better. Film archivists do not have a lot of time to waste on log email inquiries and so far as finding a lost film or two, there really is no need for a lengthy inquiry. As for online tools, the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) is an excellent source containing a list of major film archives globally, although Wikipedia also has an extensive list of film archives. Many universities in the United States have films archives too, like UCLA and USC (Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive). The individual inquiring about the existence of a lost film may not gain an immediate result, but should not give up either. Actively seeking out new sources that might provide leads to locating a lost film, whether it is a forum like Nitrateville or a membership in an organization like The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) may turn up the lost film when it is least expected.

"The Man from Nevada" - Lost silent film...or found?