Treasures from American Film Archives: 50 Preserved Films
It may look like a grab bag at first--50 preserved films from 18 American archives spanning the years 1893 to 1985 and encompassing everything from documentaries and home movies to experimental films and animation--but this unprecedented collection has a clear focus. It celebrates the scope and wealth of cinema history's "orphans," the films abandoned by the marketplace and left to nonprofit organizations to rescue. This is the proof of their efforts, and only a tiny, tantalizing example of what has been preserved. The "stars" of the set are the features: the startlingly savage 1916 William S. Hart WesternHell's Hingesand the luscious 1922 two-strip Technicolor featureThe Toll of the Seawith Anna May Wong. Also included areThe Chechahcosfrom 1924 and the extravagant (if stagy) original 1916Snow White. John Huston's stunning documentaryThe Battle of San Pietroand Joseph Cornell's obscure but entrancing 1936 surrealist classicRose Hobartare further highlights.But there are wonders to be found throughout the collection, from a trip throughInterior New York Subwaycirca 1905, to the gorgeous avant-garde 1928The Fall of the House of Usher, to the only film of Orson Welles's legendary 1936 Haiti-set stage production ofMacbethin the 1937 documentaryWe Work Again. The breadth of work is astounding and all of it is fascinating, whether it's a revealing glimpse of a forgotten social landscape in a home movie; the preservation of theater, dance, and concert recitals in one-of-a-kind records; or an ancient work of pioneering cinema.The four-disc set is handsomely designed, with easy-to-navigate menus featuring extensive notes and short documentaries about each archive (narrated by Laurence Fishburne), and a detailed, informative 150-page booklet accompanies the set. It's a one-of-a-kind project and a true film treasure.--Sean Axmaker