Which lost film would you most like to see discovered?
Over the years many films, especially from the early days of cinema, have had their only known copies disappear or end up destroyed. Once in a rare while a copy of one will turn up someplace. Which of these "lost films" would you most like to see discovered?
Discuss the list here:Discussion thread
Discuss the list here:Discussion thread
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- DirectorRalph InceStarsErrol FlynnEve GrayPaul GraetzA professor comes up with a system to win at roulette, and goes to the famous casino at Monte Carlo to try it out. When he turns up murdered and his "system" missing, a reporter sets out to find the killer--and the system.This mystery marked Errol Flynn's second starring role and his debut to English audiences. It was during this filming that he attracted the eye of Hollywood.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsBernhard GoetzkeNita NaldiMalcolm KeenIn the Kentucky hills, a store keeper tries to win the love of an innocent schoolteacher. She runs away and seeks refuge with a hermit.The second film by director Alfred Hitchcock. Reportedly, he thought so little of the film that he had no regrets upon hearing that no copies of it remained.
- DirectorShichuan ZhangStarsXiaoqiu ZhengPeizhen XiaLihen GaoThis movie was adapted from a newspaper serial (Strange Tales of the Adventurer in the Wild Country) and released in 18 feature-length parts over a period of 3 years (1928-31). In its entirety it would be 27 hours long.This 27 hour Chinese epic (released in 18 feature length parts over 3 years) revolves around the rescue of a commander from a temple full of traps, and pioneered the wuxia genre.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsHope DrownLuke CosgraveGeorge K. ArthurAngela comes to Hollywood with only two things: her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves Grandma, an aunt, her brother, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend, and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed.The story of a young actress trying to make it big in Hollywood, this film is notable for including cameo appearances from more than 40 major Hollywood stars of the silent era including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. Demille, and more.
- DirectorCharles TaitStarsElizabeth TaitJohn TaitNicholas BrierleyOriginally 70 minutes in running time, only 17 minutes of the world's first full-length narrative feature film survived in stills and other fragments and tell the story of Ned Kelly, an infamous 19th-century Australian outlaw.This Australian production was the first feature length film ever produced. Various segments of film from the movie have been found over the years, totaling about 17 minutes, but the rest of the film is currently lost.
- DirectorChristy CabanneRaoul WalshStarsEagle EyeRobert HarronIrene HuntThe life and career of Panccho Villa from young man to revolutionary leader is chronicled.As Pancho Villa was busy fighting the Mexican Revolution, director D.W. Griffith took advantage of the opportunity to film him, capturing both staged scenes and footage from actual battles.
- DirectorWoon-gyu NaStarsWoon-gyu NaIl-seon ShinTae-jin KimA man comes to stay at a friend's house in the country. The household consists of a father, daughter, and a mentally disturbed son. The man falls in love with the daughter. One day she is attacked, but her attacker is slain. At first her boyfriend stands accused of murder, but in a moment of lucidity, her brother steps forward and claims responsibility. He is led away to prison.Perhaps the most important film of Korea's silent era and considered a masterpiece in its time, this movie about brutality of life under Japanese authority sparked both a nationalist revival and a major film movement within the country.
- DirectorJ. Gordon EdwardsStarsTheda BaraFritz LeiberThurston HallThe story of Cleopatra, the fabulous queen of Egypt, and the epic romances between her and the greatest men of Rome, Julius Caesar and Antony.Much like its 1963 counterpart, this film was one of the most expensive and lavish spectacles of its day.
- DirectorRichard SmithStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxHarpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement". Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long mustache and was clad in black", while Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman". Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number". The final shot showed Groucho "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end.This was the first Marx Brothers film and their only silent film. Groucho Marx disliked the film so much that he had all copies destroyed after one screening.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLon ChaneyMarceline DayHenry B. WalthallThe abandoned home of a wealthy man who supposedly committed suicide five years earlier is taken over by ghoulish figures - could they be vampires?Often considered the holy grail of lost films, Lon Chaney stars an investigator using hypnosis to try to solve a five year old murder.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsJoan BlondellAdolphe MenjouDick PowellFeaturing a star studded cast, all copies of this film were ordered destroyed by the studio when the Hayes code went into effect due to the overt portrayals of sexualized behavior and dialog, and depictions of drunkenness.
- DirectorKenzô MasaokaStarsFusako FujitaYôko FujitaRoppa FurukawaThe protagonist is a father of four children. His wife is 180 centimeters (5.9 ft) tall, and weighs 120 kilograms (260 lb) due to her incredibly large physique. Because he is constantly being henpecked at home, he becomes involved in an affair with a cute typist at his company and accidentally tells his wife about it while talking in his sleep. After obtaining additional evidence of the affair, she goes to confront both her husband and the typist at her husband's office.The first Japanese anime film to feature voice acting, this film centers on a henpecked husband who has an affair and is caught. With the casting of popular actors of its day, the film became a major hit.
- DirectorHerbert BrenonStarsAnnette KellermanWilliam E. ShayHal De ForestA sultan agrees to help a wicked witch destroy a mysterious young lady if the witch will bring his young son back from the dead with magic.The first film to cost more than a million dollars and the first to depict complete nudity by a major star. It starred the famous Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman as a beautiful woman who an evil witch seeks to kill.
- DirectorLawrence HuntingtonStarsJames MasonMary ClareMargaret VynerJames Mason as a private detective, whose father is a Scotland Yard man, takes a case involving extortion and kidnapping. A young girl is kidnapped from a nursing home and he advises the girl's father not to pay the ransom. After several near-misses on his life, he learns that the doctor in charge of the nursing home has been taken prisoner by the kidnappers. And then the wicket gets stiff or stuffy, or whatever wickets do.Known in the UK as "This Man is Dangerous," James Mason stars as a private investigator looking to find a woman kidnapped by blackmailers.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsEmil JanningsLewis StoneFlorence VidorPaul I, the Emperor of All Russia, becomes the target of a deadly conspiracy.This biographical film portrays the life of Czar Paul I of Russia. It won the Academy Award for best writing and was nominated for best picture, best director, best actor in a leading role, and best art direction.
- DirectorVernon DayTheodore WhartonStarsBuffalo Bill CodyNelson Appleton MilesJesse M. LeeA propaganda re-enactment, co-financed by the Woodrow Wilson government, of the 1890 massacre of 300 Lakota residents of South Dakota, which was portrayed as American military heroism and justified as part of the assimilation effort.A reenactment of the Indian Wars of the late 19th century starring Buffalo Bill Cody along with other notable figures who fought on both sides.
- DirectorRobin WilliamsonStarsStan LaurelMae LaurelLucille ArnoldThe film debut of Stan Laurel, shot before teaming up on screen with his classic sidekick, Oliver Hardy.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsJanet GaynorMary DuncanCharles MortonFour orphans, raised by an aging clown, becomes a high wire act in a circus.One of the last films of director F. W. Murnau (known for Nosferatu and Sunrise), this story about a high-wire act at a circus was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of best cinematography.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAlexander GrayBernice ClaireNoah BeeryThis was a screen version of the 1925 operetta by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Herbert Stohart, and George Gershwin. The story of the movie is about a peasant who is known as "The Flame" who leads a revolution in Russia. This peasant who is in love with a Russian prince saves his life by agreeing to sacrifice her virginity to an evil fellow-conspirator. This was an all Technicolor musical which was had a sequence in Vitascope (a Warner Brother's wide screen process).The first film to be both shot in color and feature a widescreen sequence. This operatic musical tells the story of a peasant girl in Russia who incites the people through song against the czarist regime.
- DirectorQuirino CristianiThe story of President Yrigoyen's corrupt government and its overthrow by a military coup.The first feature length animated film in sound. This Argentinian production tells the story of a military coup against the president of the country.
- DirectorBruce GordonJ.L.V. LeighStarsBruce GordonHeather ThatcherHector AbbasThe inventor of a space sphere flies to the moon and is marooned by a crooked financier.The first feature length adaptation of a story by H.G.Wells and an important step in the genre of science fiction.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsEmil JanningsBelle BennettPhyllis HaverA happy bank clerk loses his identity after a robbery and is then presumed dead.In this 1927 winner of the Academy Award for best actor, Emil Jannings plays a wealthy bank clerk who is robbed and presumed dead. Without an way to confirm his identity he ends up as a beggar on the street.