15 Video Upgrades Now Online
Thanks to the generosity of the Audio-Video Conservation Center at the Library of Congress 15 videos on the NFPF website have received high-definition upgrades. The films, preserved and first uploaded more than a decade ago, have been recently scanned by the Library, and viewers will appreciate the jump in visual quality.
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Rips and Rishes (1917), directed by Larry Semon, now in HD.
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Two films are from the “Lost and Found: Australia” project, begun in 2008 to preserve and make available American silent films found in the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. The Prospector (1912) is a one-reel Western from the Essanay studio, while U.S. Navy of 1915 (1915) is a fragment from a documentary by Lyman H. Howe promoting American naval preparedness. Both were preserved by the Library of Congress with NFPF support.
The 13 remaining films are from “Lost and Found: New Zealand,” a multi-year collaboration that preserved scores of American silents found in the New Zealand Film Archive. All but one of the titles below were preserved by the Library of Congress with NFPF support. HD videos are now available for 12 shorts and one feature:
Captain Jinks, The Cobbler (1916), a Vitagraph studio comedy in which a put-upon cobbler pretends to enlist in order to avoid his wife.
Charming Display at Perfect Back Contest (1928), an International Newsreel story about beauty pageant contestants in Los Angeles.
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U.S. Navy of 1915 (1915).
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An Easter “Lily” (1914), a fragment from a Vitagraph drama about the friendship between a white boy and the daughter of his family’s African American servant.
The Gilded Cage (1915), an Essanay melodrama about a woman trapped in a loveless marriage.
Henry’s Busted Romance (1922), an “Aesop’s Film Fables” cartoon, in which a tomcat falls for Mademoiselle Kittie.
Jean the Match-maker (1910), a charming one-reeler in which the family collie (“Jean the Vitagraph Dog”) steps in to serve as matchmaker for two shy brothers.
Moonlight Nights (1925), an independently-produced farce in which a young man, told by his rich father to get a job, goes to work in a nightclub.
Rips and Rushes (1917), a comedy directed by Larry Semon, set in a dance studio in which three rivals vie for the girl.
Run ‘Em Ragged (1920), a Hal Roach-produced slapstick short starring Snub Pollard.
Snooky’s Twin Troubles (1921), a two-reeler in which Snooky the Humanzee, a chimp with the smarts of Rin Tin Tin, plies his detective skills to find kidnapped twins.
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Unseen Forces (1920), directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Sylvia Breamer and Conrad Nagel.
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Tropical Nights (1920), a travelogue capturing the romantic landscapes of the West Indies, preserved by the George Eastman Museum.
Unseen Forces (1920), a feature directed by Sidney Franklin in which a clairvoyant, who uses her psychic powers to help others, eventually wins back her man.
Walk–You Walk! (1912), a Kalem company short in which a woman turns the tables on an overly amorous date by stealing his car.
This announcement is only the first of several to come regarding the expansion of our online Screening Room—more films will be announced next month and afterward!