film preservation Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Library of Congress' National Film Registry isn't the only place working to preserve the world's films, and Martin Scorsese isn't the only one concerned with keeping film prints of lost classics handy. According to a new story in the Guardian, there exists an entire subculture of devoted souls who scrounge, scavenge and otherwise dig up all kinds of rare and forgotten films.

The ultimate film scavenger story is the one about the man who found an complete print of Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) in the broom closet of a sanitarium. Though modern-day collectors can't hope for a find of that magnitude, they can at least be proud of the forgotten gems that they have launched back into circulation. Many of today's finds come from videotapes of old television broadcasts. Otto Preminger's notorious Skidoo (1968) -- with images of Groucho Marx toking up -- for example, has been unavailable for years, and now it can be had from Don Hicks' Subterranean Cinema.

Nothing restores my faith in the future of America than the yearly announcement of additions to the National Film Registry. In 50 years, some lucky high school student will gaze opon the archives of "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films" set aside for preservation at a rate of 25 per year, see that the The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been placed on the same level as Casablanca, and instantly start making assumptions about the 20th century that I can't even fathom.

This year's list of inductees is typically quixotic, with Toy Story joining the ranks of government-approved film history alongside The French Connection, Hoop Dreams, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and, most interestingly, Baby Face. The ultimate example of Pre-Code scandalousness, Face stars Barbara Stanwyck as a tough gal who escapes her father's speakeasy/brothel to sleep her way to the top of the corporate ladder – only to trade a suitcase full of diamonds to be with the man she loves. Daryl Zanuck, Baby's producer, left Warner Brothers over Harry Warner's refusal to release the film uncut; he went on to start what would become 20th Century Fox.

The full list of this year's inductees is after the jump.