“Found” films are films that were once considered lost, but have since been discovered in archives, a private collection, or even buried in a swimming pool in the Canadian Yukon.
Foreign archives often saved prints that were long forgotten by U.S. distributors. In 1994, Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive donated over 1,500 U.S. titles to major U.S. archives. Many of these films, dating from the 1900s to the 1950s, were thought to be lost, including a previously lost Harold Lloyd short, “Peculiar Patients’ Pranks” (1915) and trailer footage from the Academy Award nominated “The Patriot” (1925).
When films were censored in the United States, uncensored versions were shown internationally and saved by foreign film archives. The 1919 film “Within Our Gates” was thought to be lost until a Spanish-release print was acquired by the National Center for Film and Video at the American Film Institute. The Spanish print was titled “La Negra” and contained lynching scenes that had been censored in the United States.
Private collectors are also sources for lost elements and prints. In many cases prints were sold for the show-at-home market, were throwaways, or were obtained through studio auction. One such example is William Buffum. Buffum was a projectionist in Portland, Oregon between 1938 and 1947 and an avid film buff and collector. For thirty years he had in his collection a fairly worn copy of “When Bearcat Went Dry” (1919) and a nearly pristine print of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” (1912). In 1996 Buffum donated these two films to the American Film Institute. No other prints of either film were known to exist. “Richard III” is the first known feature-length Shakespearean film and is the only film made in 1912 known to exist in its entirety.
Dawson City is a small town in Canada near the Arctic Circle. In 1979, a bulldozer breaking ground on a new recreation center dug up a trove of film buried beneath a parking lot. Dawson City was once a gold rush town and there wasn’t much entertainment besides the movies. Because Dawson City was the last distribution stop for most films, the films stayed in Dawson City and were stored in the local library. In 1929, the flammable nitrate film reels were used to fill in a condemned swimming pool, which was eventually paved over. The films were remarkably well preserved because of the cold climate.
The list below is a work-in-progress, and is only a sampling of the cinematic treasures that have been recovered.
Please report corrections to this list.