I get the impression that the scraps the film editors had used might have been their favourite bits or bloopers from movies they had watched, some of which we may never be able to see. Every rediscovery is indeed a blessing.

I'm amazed and delighted by how crisp and clean these films look. They are like rare jewels next to the base metal of those worn-out B/W pictures.

WOW! Louise Brooks in colour! I am impressed!

@Poisson4147

5 жыл бұрын

@Thanks be to God I'm sure you know the "B" in BFI stands for "British".

@harrylangdon491

4 жыл бұрын

Her smile is uncharacteric, at least as far as the lots of Louise films I've seen.

It's amazing how well preserved the colour clips are.

"Dont shoot dont shoot I don't even know your husband!" 😂

@davidllightner171

6 жыл бұрын

A great line from wild and wonderful Winnie Lightner, the first great female comedian of the talkies. Although it lasts only seconds, this precious newly-discovered fragment shows why her role in "Gold Diggers of Broadway" made her an overnight sensation and a Warner Bros. star.

@SteveLittleLivesHere

5 жыл бұрын

Pre-code was great.

Louise Brooks is resplendent even just for 5 seconds

Another reason why I love the BFI. Beautiful collection.

@britishfilminstitute

6 жыл бұрын

Shucks. Thanks

Now that's what I call a *brilliant* rare find!! I'm happy to see some of these interesting Technicolour footage that has been lost for years, but now found! It's sad that they are only just fragments, but is still considered a brilliant find! I hope some more lost films can be discovered more soon! Great job BFI!!!! ;)

I'm impressed to see the kind of care that is being taken to preserve these little fragments. They may only be a few seconds, but they're still historically significant. I enjoy the films of the silent era, they're fascinating to watch. Lon Chaney is one of my favorites. There were many beautiful women appearing in films back in the silent era, but Louise Brooks stood out.

Great job, I can't get enough of this stuff.

Incredible! I can't wait to see the fully restored movies!

@ShadowsOnTheScreen

Жыл бұрын

You won’t. They don’t exist as complete films anymore.

The technical reason the cemented film stock was used as leaders was to ,maintain the thickness through the projection gate. It was difficult to splice ordinary leader to the 2 strip cememted film. Focus would shift and bumps risked torn sprockets at the joints.. Suprised that BFI seem unaware of the issue.

I live for this kind of thing. A BIG thank you to all involved. I am looking forward to reading more about this great discovery.

Both 'Dance Madnesss' and 'Paris' were designed by Erté.

What a gorgeous find!

It's curious that all three ukulele plkayers in the clip from The Fire Brigade are playing left-handed. Could this sequence have been printed back to front?

It’s incredible to see films from the late 1910’s and early 1920’s in colour. We’re so used to seeing this era in black and white that seeing it in such beautiful colour seems almost ethereal...and yet, at the same it really helps to bring the era alive. I would love to see longer fragments of these films. If you have any, please post them to your KZread page! Since none of us can actually visit the BFI these days, it would be an amazing way to pass the time while we’re all stuck inside during quarantine. Perhaps you could post an old film (well, as complete of a film as possible) every Sunday evening on your KZread channel, until quarantine is over. It would help advertise for the BFI, while simultaneously educating and entertaining the public! Personally, I love old historical dramas. I don’t know why, but I’m just fascinated by how previous eras perceived the eras that preceded them. Most historical dramas, regardless of when they were made (whether they were created in the 16th century or the 21st!), tend to contain a myriad of anachronisms. Because of this, funnily enough, I find that historical dramas often say more about the times in which they were created than they do about the times they’re meant to represent. This is something that I find incredibly intriguing, regardless of the anachronism - whether it’s a Shakespearean play of the Medieval Era in which characters espouse Elizabethan mores, or a film from the 1920’s that dressed its 18th century female protagonist in panniers with an Art Deco gown on top!

@justanotherhappyhumanist8832

3 жыл бұрын

Jazz Age Popular Music Thank you!

Extraordinary discoveries!

Thank you BFI, you are incredible 🙏

Note she said from tiny color fragments that can restore the entire black and white existing print. I'll be waiting, especially for Show of Shows, which I have in b&w.

How extraordinary the finding and piecing together of two-strip Technicolor footage is. From the vaults of Hollywood studios to technologically advanced work that is the wonder of the current age. Today's generation can marvel at the things that excited their great grandparents nearly a century ago. Miracles never cease, do they? Thank you for the wonderful video.

OMG the fashion scenes from show of the shows (1929) 5:57 and 6:01 not many people know, that was one of the first color/sound films ever and it is so stunning thank you BFI!

Pure gold!

Excellent, thanks for posting and sharing. Very interested to see this.

It's thrilling to see this.

What an amazing find...hope you find more 👍🥳🤓

Fascinating!

Great video. Really informative.

so amazing thanks bfi

Great Video!!!!!

Unknown History coming to life..

Fascinating

Some great stuff.

Beautiful colours.

Tysm for this upload amazing stuff... 👍

Wow. Amazing find! Serendipity 2022!

Good news Kino Lorber is putting out the restored u.c.l.a version of Glorifying the American girl. This the print has the color final in color, grainy as Richard may of u.cl.a back in 1990 stated, but good shape

So sad these fragments are all that remains of important films, surely there must be more in obscure archives and collections out there, but more important is the restoration from B/W, we have the technology now and must use it before total loss.

Bravo pour le remarquable travail très émouvant ! Louise Brooks en couleur et souriante merci

Somewhat analogously, film archaeologists have turned up pieces of 1930s and 1940s musicals whose soundtracks were recorded using various multi-channel systems. Some used two (or occasionally more) optical tracks on the film itself, while others used paired discs. Reportedly they were considered to be simply intermediate stages that allowed sound engineers to better balance the final mono track, and many were discarded. Fortunately enough have survived to allow stereo reconstructions of performances by some of the singers and musicians of the era.

The clip that follows after the title that says "Unidentified 1925 & 1926" (in "02:26") shows Miriam Cooper (who was the dark haired daughter in "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915 !!). I wonder if this film might be listed in her IMDB page?? And could, by elimination or more research, be identified?? Ms. Cooper wrote her autobiography, which I read two years ago. I just now forget the name of it!!

@jknuttel

5 жыл бұрын

"Dark Lady of the Silents - My Life in Early Hollywood"

@javimu111

4 жыл бұрын

@@jknuttel : I finally read it! Wonderful book!

Wow!

presumably, there were attatched to Sally, which was restored in the 90s. i hope for a blu ray soon!

Technicolor Processes 2 and 3 were two color, not "two strip," according to the Wide Screen Museum.

@martinhughes2549

5 жыл бұрын

Correct. Only one strip of panchromatic film was used with a beam splitter camera. System iv used three strips using a beam splitter camera.

Unfortunately, "THE AMERICAN VENUS" main movie is now lost. It's time for me to looking for it anywhere and rescue it. Well, please see my 35mm lost Nitrate films at 'Lost 35mm Nitrate Film FOUND !' entries here, which I am the Nitrate film researcher.

The blonde waitress in the window in the _Sally_ fragment is Marilyn Miller, a very popular Ziegfeld star. Marilyn Monroe took her first name from her.

Looks like Buster Keaton at 2:38 in the "Unidentified 1925 & 1926."

So cool woww

Terrific stuff. Was the sound for Gold Diggers of Broadway preserved separately?

@lonewolfattack8071

6 жыл бұрын

It was released as sound on disc, like most Warner Bros. talkies through early 1930. The shellac soundtrack records have all been accounted for, despite the fact that virtually all of the first 9 reels of picture elements (which this clip is from -- I believe it's from Reel 2, which is missing from the audio dubs floating around the internet) have not turned up at all.

I imagine that originally the color was brighter and more vivid. Celluloid film is highly unstable, which is one reason so many films made prior to the 1950's, and a majority of those made in the silent era, no long exist. If the film is not stored properly, which it usually was not, not only does the color fade, but the film deteriorates. At 6:46, we seem to get a fragment which maintained its original color. Wasn't that Josephine Baker?

@writerpatrick

6 жыл бұрын

She's not listed on the IMDB page for the movie, so if it was her she might have been unaccredited. It was just about the time of her movie career so it is possible.

@crazyafrobaby2013

5 жыл бұрын

@@writerpatrick doesn't look like her so don't think so

@CUTproductionsLtd

Жыл бұрын

Non of the Technicolor films actually fade much and are remarkably stable, since they use dyes, as opposed to later tri-pack films such as Eastmancolor, which can fade in as little as 5 years. Technicolor Process II prints were subject to wear, as they were cemented back to back reliefs, the scratches are particularly vivid. Process III and the later 3 strip process IV are imbibition dye transfers on to standard base stock, and were subject to less wear. Celluloid is very stable and was first known as 'Safety Film', since it was Nitrate used earlier that was highly unstable, very flammable and decomposes after time, which is what you probably meant.

@MFPhoto1

Жыл бұрын

@@CUTproductionsLtd I've seen Techicolor films which looked very faded. Mostly these are early Technicolor. I know the process improved over time. Also preservation methods improved.

@CUTproductionsLtd

Жыл бұрын

@@MFPhoto1 Not all imbibition matrices survive and not all 'Technicolor' prints are directly from them, which is what you may have seen. For example, in restoring Vertigo many elements only existed in non-imbibition prints, internegatives and inter positives, from Eastmancolor stock - many of these had faded badly and yet the original prints optically reduced from the VistaVision camera negatives would have been true imbibition Technicolor prints - they simply weren't there, after so many years. Because often so many prints were needed, for release, the Technicolor labs could not meet the total and so many were conventionally printed, using other labs. The actual dyes, of true Technicolor prints, were/are mostly very stable and survive much better than early tri-pack. Shrinkage and damage between the 2 or three matrices is more of an issue, leading to registration issues, that can now be alleviated digitally somewhat. The 2 color processes are never going to be as saturated as the later full 3 colour, since they are naturally missing the blue component. Early 3 strip films utilised a B&W base stock, to add contrast and definition to the slightly fussy colours too.

This is a true a e s t h e t i c

I just find it amazing how people lived back then and how they dressed.

I think the unidentified from 1926 is most likely a screentest from The far cry(1926)-due to the F. N marking, which more than likely mean First National,Far Cry was a first national production.

It makes it all seem more real in colour.

Beautiful, even if it's not exactly like real life

it would have been so ironic if the only survivng fragments of a movie where those cut on obscenity grounds (thinking of footage at 6:33)

@ViolettaD1485

Ай бұрын

Anita Loos described such a reel in one of thr books in her _Gentlemen_ series. It was a way for Loreli Lee to keep her moral reformer husband busy and out of the way.

WHOOPEE!!!! Yippie.

Thanks, I wish you could upload the 125 feet of technicolor footage of a costume test of Bernice Claire from no Nannette that you have in your archive.

They were alchemist...real master of the film industry, bullywood took over the mystic creation in those years..

Wow

@j.c.zaragoza1324

5 жыл бұрын

EL MARAVILLOSO TECNICOLOR.

Is this the look they tried to achieve for the Smashing Pumpkins video "Tonight Tonight"?

And Irene Bordoni at 7:07!

Is that Marilyn Miller at 3:23?

@ViolettaD1485

Ай бұрын

Yes.

Which movies have full length?

Poor Karl Dane; he'd enjoyed a successful silent film career, but once sound became the industry standard he was no longer able to secure steady work due to his heavy Danish accent. In the spring of 1934, broke and despondent, he took his own life.

Wonder what film they are remastering i really hope it's Piccadilly as the first dvd version had awful film score that ruined the film. Anna may wong best film.

god that pink skin color transfer looks terrible but back then it was a template for color movies in film

louise brooks 1:10

Hollywood moguls who thought they knew everything weren’t very smart in shouting more color. Didn’t they see around them that the world is in color?? How great actresses like Garbo were only shot in cheap black and white while she earned them millions. Color was perfected and largely distributed in the 20’s so by the 30s at least half of all movies should have been in color. But their greed fir money and profit deprived us seeing what their world was really like except gif very few clips like these. I loved seeing Louise Brooks in color for 2 seconds!!!!

Color seems like a gimmick, it won't catch on.

For the fans of old film who've commented here I wanted to make sure you were aware of this cinematic trove discovered recently in Iowa, USA: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/thought-lost-history-these-rare-early-films-survived-thanks-crafty-showman-and-savvy-collector-180965112/

I love this stuff, but I can certainly understand how moviegoers back then got heartily sick of these staged musicals.

INTERESTING...BUT THE NARRATOR SHOULD HAVE GIVEN INFO ON EACH OF THESE CLIPS INSTEAD OF THE UNINTERESTING TALKING...BLAH...

Fascinating