I really enjoyed the Liberating Lost Film panel discussion. I especially appreciated the 5 Questions to ask when determining if a film if considered lost:
Is the film available to watch online and to the general public?
Is the film available on DVD and/or BLU-RAY?
Is the price to buy or view the film affordable?
Is it a quality copy?
Can it be obtained legally?
These questions are crucial to come to a consensus on deciding what is really lost. I also loved how the presenters mentioned the film archives provide a false sense of security. When trying to access a film for their project, it was discovered that both copies of the film had been damaged. The archives themselves were not even aware that this had occurred. Since there are so many films in the vaults, it would be impossible to continually monitor each one to see its current status. This is pretty alarming since we can never truly rely on film archives to be 100% with no fault to the archives themselves which are doing the best they can for preservation.
When working on my filmography of Hollywood Musicals from the Studio System, one film I came across was Lady in the Dark. This 1944 film stars one of the most prominent female actresses of the 30s and 40s, Ginger Rogers, and tells the story of a magazine editor undergoing psychoanalysis. The film was a commercial success upon its release and an important Technicolor film from Paramount Pictures; however, it has never seen a release on home video for VHS, DVD, BLU-RAY, or streaming. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Cinematography, Music, and Art Direction. It is amazing to me that so many Academy Award-nominated films have remained ‘lost’. After going through the checklist of 5 questions, this film is definitely worthy of being added to the list of lost films. The only copy I was able to find was a low-quality YouTube stream which does not showcase the beautiful art design and costumes of this Technicolor production. A barrier to its release may be the fact that the film is based on a 1941 Broadway Musical of the same name. There may be complicated copyright issues related to the music and screenplay; however, something tells me there would just not be a big enough fan base to restore and release the film to its original glory.
Reference:
Film at Lincoln Center. (2023, January 9). Liberating lost films with Maya Cade, Ira Deutchman & more: NYFF60 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6d6OsJfF-c&t=2254s