In Search of Lost Films edition by Phil Hall Humor Entertainment eBooks
Download As PDF : In Search of Lost Films edition by Phil Hall Humor Entertainment eBooks 
It is one of the most astonishing facts of cinema history an extraordinary number of important films are believed to be lost forever. Spanning from the early days of the silent movies to as late as the 1970s and touching all corners of the global film experience, groundbreaking works of significant historical and artistic importance are gone. Cinema icons including Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Oscar Micheaux and Vincente Minnelli are among those impacted by this tragedy, and pioneering technological achievements in color cinematography, sound film technology, animation and widescreen projection are among the lost treasures.
How could this happen? And is it possible to recover these missing gems?
In this book, noted film critic and journalist Phil Hall details circumstances that resulted in these productions being erased from view. For anyone with a passion for the big screen, In Search of Lost Films provides an unforgettable consideration of a cultural tragedy.
In Search of Lost Films edition by Phil Hall Humor Entertainment eBooks
Phil Hall is a positive writer. Even when writing on a subject of lost films, he gives the reader a sense of hope. As a longtime student of silent films, I am only too aware of the infinite number of titles that have disappeared, seemingly forever: indeed, an estimated 80 percent of all films made prior to 1930 have vanished, victims of fire, or nitrate decomposition, or just plain neglect. But Phil Hall reminds us that, every few years or so, films thought to be lost for good have a way of turning up—in someone’s attic, in a forgotten warehouse, even (in one case) under a swimming pool. Silent films are a vital part of our shared history. It is a reason for rejoicing when a previously lost print resurfaces. Thank you, Phil, for casting a light on this important subject.Product details
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In Search of Lost Films edition by Phil Hall Humor Entertainment eBooks Reviews
*I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I’ve been a big movie buff for most of my life. One of my earliest memories involves watching Disney’s THE JUNGLE BOOK in the theater, waaaaay back in the day. Furthermore, MANY of my memories from later in my youth pertain to movies in some form or fashion. Some might view this as sad, as a childhood wasted inside a darkened theater; but some would be wrong. I spent PLENTY of time outside, however I rarely turned down the opportunity to go see a movie.
This passion for celluloid has followed me well into my adult life, and as a result, I’ve turned into a collector of films. I particularly enjoy looking for rare and out-of-print titles, and I have often had success in locating several on my list. But even so, there are several “Holy Grails” of the film world, treasures so rare they are almost priceless. Further still are those titles deemed lost to the ages, films spoken of only in past tense.
IN SEARCH OF LOST FILMS takes a candid look at many of these legendary films, and author Phil Hall gives an accounting for the history and myths behind them. The result is a captivating read that every fan of the cinema should enjoy.
IN SEARCH OF LOST FILMS is not just a nonfiction book about movies that have disappeared. It is a glimpse into a critical piece of American history. Reading this book is the equivalent of opening a time capsule; there’s a treasure trove of legacy behind the items in it.
The book is written well, in a straight-forward and easy-to-read manner. Hall presents his findings in regard to each title, but he does not hesitate to include the history of the times around each movie as well. This gives the reader a deeper feeling of sentiment for each, and it creates a bond that ties the reader to them as well.
The book's chapters break down the lost films into time periods. Starting off with the “silent” years, the book progresses through the age of talkies and into the modern era of filmmaking. There’s also a section for lost segments of film (missing pieces of existing films); I found this one very enlightening, as I had no idea what had been lacking in certain titles.
In an age of abundant information resources (i.e. the Internet), I’m glad to see even more mysteries reaching resolution. As sad as it is to read about the fate of some of these mythical films, I am glad they can finally be put to rest, at least. IN SEARCH OF LOST FILMS is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it.
A well written, interesting account of lost films that is equally enlightening and disheartening that we may never find some of the gems Phil discusses.
Although well written, this book is only about half as interesting as it should be. Too often the author writes page after page about missing movies that are so obscure only he and perhaps two other people would care if they were found (100 Years of Mormonism). Movies like Gold Diggers of Broadway are given barely a mention on the other hand.
You can't put the book down when he writes about well known missing films, but heavy slogging when he does not.
In the year 2017 we find ourselves at an extraordinary juncture concerning film preservation. We now find ourselves routinely watching movies that are over A HUNDRED years old; and an incredible amount of lost material keeps on resurfacing long after would have ever seemed possible. One would have thought the well of ancient celluloid would have run dry decades ago, but new restorations and rediscoveries just keep being unveiled. Long may it last! Phil Hall actually reveals at the conclusion of 'In Search of Lost Films' "that this book's completion was constantly delayed thanks to the discovery of once-gone films that turned up, either by careful research or joyful accidents." That's the good news. But there's bad news aplenty to be found in Mr Hall's engrossing book, starting with the chilling statistic that Hall quotes in his own introduction that half of all U.S. films made before 1950 are lost, including at least 75% of the entire silent era.
As Mr Hall makes clear, one only realises that something is lost when one starts looking for it. It thus wasn't until the late fifties and early sixties - with the stimulus provided to awareness of old movies by their increasing ubiquity on TV - that people began seriously to investigate gaps in film preservation; and it was then, for example, when no one proved able to find a print of the early Laurel & Hardy short 'Hats Off' (1927). Mr Hall's inquests on several celebrated lost films has unearthed intriguing accounts of their last known whereabouts (the last recorded screening of 'Hats Off' being in Germany in 1930). 'Convention City' was last sighted in Spain in 1942, while others were lost disconcertingly recently, like 'London After Midnight', the last known print of which perished in a vault fire in 1967.
My chief reservations concerning 'In Search of Lost Films' are that with space at such a premium in this relatively slim volume he devotes far more space than is necessary to recounting the careers of the likes of Theda Bara and Lon Chaney before actually addressing himself to the films they made that are now lost, and his frequently eccentric choice of films to concentrate upon; the latter tendency is exacerbated by his arbitrary division of his book into a series of top ten lists. When dealing with such a vast subject, any writer is inevitably going to find themselves simply scratching the surface and has to draw parameters, with the result that by his own admission Mr Hall's emphasis is fairly and squarely on American cinema. But he then devotes pages and pages to a relatively small pool of esoteric independent productions that would probably be obscure today even if they still survived (including five pages to a 1974 gay porn film called 'Him')! In a heftier volume I would welcome the inclusion of 'One Hundred Years of Mormonism' and 'Brother Martin Servant of Jesus', but not when British cinema is disposed of in barely a page and a half. Mr Hall fleetingly acknowledges the terrible tragedy of the loss of most pre-war Japanese cinema; but bizarrely the only Japanese films he discusses at any length are two El Cheapo thirties 'King Kong' rip-offs.
His section on discarded footage from well-known films like 'Greed', 'The Magnificent Ambersons' and 'Dr Strangelove', while well told, doesn't really belong in this book; although it does include an interesting section on an exploitation film called 'Naughty Dallas' (1964), included because director Larry Buchanan shot but never used (nor saved) colour footage he'd shot of a shady local nightclub owner called Jack Ruby. (Ironically Hall makes no mention of Burt Topper's 'War is Hell' (1961), which was playing at the Texas Theater in Dallas when Lee Harvey Oswald sneaked in without paying on 22 November 1963 shortly before his arrest. Burt Topper had a sufficiently high profile during the sixties to be included in Andrew Sarris's 'The American Cinema', but apparently no complete prints are presently known to be available of this film.)
Another regrettable omission, doubtless dictated by budgetary constraints, is the absence of illustrations. For a book doing the valuable work of promoting awareness of these films, the lack of illustrations is particularly glaring, especially as Hall himself occasionally makes tantalising reference to surviving visual material. As long ago as 1970 The Museum of Modern Art brought out a book of beautifully reproduced stills entitled 'Lost Films', and the high quality paper prints that survive from countless lost silent films have long been a blessing in evoking these lost treasures, while the surviving coverage of films like 'Greed' and 'London After Midnight' was so extensive that it made it possible for the entire films to be reconstructed scene by scene just using still photographs.
Phil Hall is a positive writer. Even when writing on a subject of lost films, he gives the reader a sense of hope. As a longtime student of silent films, I am only too aware of the infinite number of titles that have disappeared, seemingly forever indeed, an estimated 80 percent of all films made prior to 1930 have vanished, victims of fire, or nitrate decomposition, or just plain neglect. But Phil Hall reminds us that, every few years or so, films thought to be lost for good have a way of turning up—in someone’s attic, in a forgotten warehouse, even (in one case) under a swimming pool. Silent films are a vital part of our shared history. It is a reason for rejoicing when a previously lost print resurfaces. Thank you, Phil, for casting a light on this important subject.
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