Treasure Trove of American Silent Films Still In Russia

[Gagman 66]

Back in November of last year, news broke that 10 American Silent films, at least 7 of which were largely considered lost, were repatriated back to the United States Library Of Congress, from the Gosfilmofond Russian Film Archive. This was only the first shipment. As some 194 additional films are expected back in the near future. Since then details on the remaining titles have been difficult to come by. However, here is a partial listing derived from the FIAF Data Base of the Gosfilmofond Russian Archive Collection.

Again, we don't know how complete any of these films are. Some of them may be missing a reel here or there, or more. In any event, this is nowhere near 194 additional titles. Around 75 so far. So I am still hoping for at least a couple of Colleen Moore movies, Corinne Griffith, Dolores Costello, Olive Borden. Some of the big missing Renee Adoree pictures such as A MAN'S MATE (1924) with John Gilbert, and TIN GODS with Thomas Meighan, Etc.

There is lots of Charles Ray, Richard Dix and even Milton Sills and Mae Murray listed. Four Jackie Coogan features, and Three Arbuckle's. An interesting batch of Stars, and some big name directors. Including James Cruze, Victor Fleming, Victor Seastrom, Herbert Brenon and King Vidor. Most of these films do not exist anyplace else in the world, others may contain lost footage that can be restored to incomplete prints. I will keep you posted as I receive more information and movie titles.


Eye For Eye (1918) Alla Nazimova

Red Hot Dollars (1918) Charles Ray

Wolves Of The Rail (1918) Starring and Directed by William S. Hart

Riddle Gwan (1918) William S. Hart, Lon Chaney

Behind The Door (1919) Hobart Bosworth, Jane Novak

Bill Henry (1919) Charles Ray, Edith Roberts

His Majesty, the American (1919) Douglas Fairbanks

Egg Crate Wallop (1919) Charles Ray, Colleen Moore

The Red Lantern (1919) Alla Nazimova, Frank Currier

The Market of Souls (1919) Dorothy Dalton

John Petticoats (1919) William S. Hart

Told In The Hills (1919) Wanda Hawley, Monte Blue, Aileen Percy

Civilian Clothes (1920) Thomas Meighan, Martha Mansfield

The Restless Sex (1920)-Marion Davies (Possibly her oldest surviving film?)

Down On The Farm (1920) Ben Turpin, Marie Prevost, Louise Fazenda, Teddy The Dog

The Woman Gives (1920) Norma Talmadge, Edmund Lowe

The Village Sleuth-(1920) Charles Ray

What's Your Hurry? (1920) Wallace Reid, Lois Wilson

The Life of the Party- (1920) Roscoe Arbuckle

Crazy To Marry (1921) Roscoe Arbuckle, Lila Lee

Li Ting Lang (1920) Sessue Haykawa

Idols Of Cly (1920) Mae Murray, Dorothy Cumming

Old Fashioned Boy (1920) Charles Ray

The Little Clown (1921) Mary Miles Minter, Jack Mulhall

The Swamp (1921) Sessue Hayakawa, Bessie Love

A Small Town Idol (1921) Ben Turpin, Phyllis Haver, Marie Prevost

Forbidden Fruit (1921) Cecil B. De Mille-Agnes Ayres

Molly 'O (1921)-Mabel Normand

At The End of The World (1921) Betty Compson, Milton Sills

Her Husband's Trademark (1922)-Gloria Swanson

Suzanna (1922)-Mabel Normand (May contain missing footage.)

Trouble (1922) Jackie Coogan

The Bonded Woman (1922) Betty Compson, John Bowers, Richard Dix

Broadway Rose (1922) Mae Murray, Monte Blue

Siren Call (1922) Dorothy Dalton

The Woman Who Walked Alone (1922) Dorothy Dalton, Milton Sills, Wanda Hawley

Three Live Ghosts (1922) Anna Q. Nilsson, Norman Kerry

The Iron Trail (1923)-Reginald Denny

Little Robinson Crusoe (1923)-Jackie Coogan

Grumpy (1923)-Theodore Roberts, May McAvoy, Conrad Nagel

Condemned (1923) Mildred Davis

Three Weeks (1923)-Aileen Pringle, Conrad Nagel. Directed by Alan Crossland

The Spanish Dancer (1923) Pola Negri, Antonio Moreno, Adolphe Menjou. Directed by Herbert Brenon

The Spoilers (1923)-Milton Sills, Anna Q. Nilsson, Barbara Bedford

The French Doll (1923) Mae Murray, Rod La Rocque

The Dangerous Maid (1923) Constance Talmadge, Conway Tearle

To The Last Man (1923) Richard Dix, Lois Wilson

Black Oxen (1923) Corinne Griffith, Clara Bow. (May contain missing footage.)

Drifting (1923)-Priscilla Dean, Matt Moore, Wallace Beery. (Early appearance by Anna May Wong)

Garrison's Finish (1923) Jack Pickford, Madge Bellamy

The Girl I Loved (1923)-Charles Ray, Patsy Ruth Miller

Long Live The King (1923) Jackie Coogan

In Search of a Thrill (1923) -Viola Dana, Warner Baxter

Black Lightning (1924) Clara Bow, Thunder The Dog

Happiness (1924)-Laurette Taylor, Hedda Hopper. Directed by King Vidor

The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924) Barbara La Marr, Lew Cody

The Mine with The Iron Door (1924) Dorothy Mackaill, Pat O'Mally

The Mask Of Lopez (1924) Fred Thomson

Mademoiselle Midnight - (1924) Mae Murray, Monte Blue

One Night In Rome (1924) Laurette Taylor, Tom Moore, Warner Oland

Pided Piper Malone (1924)-Thomas Meighan, Lois Wilson

Singer Jim McKee (1924) William S. Hart, Phyllis Haver, Patsy Ruth Miller

Women Who Give (1924)-Renee Adoree, Babara Bedford

The White Moth (1924)-Barbara La Marr, Conway Tearle

Secrets (1924) Norma Talmadge, Conrad Nagel. Directed by Frank Borzage

Racing Luck (1924) Monty Banks

The Heritage of the Desert (1924) Bebe Daniels, Lloyd Hughes

Side Show of Life (1924) Anna Q. Nilsson. Neil Hamilton

Captain January (1924)-Baby Peggy, Hobart Bosworth, Irene Rich

Nellie, The Beautiful Cloak Model (1924) -Clarie Windsor, Edmund Lowe, Mae Busch, Raymond Griffith, Hobart Bosworth

The Fighting Coward (1924)-Mary Astor, Phyllis Haver, Ernest Torrence. Directed by James Cruze.*

Speed (1925) Betty Blythe, Pauline Garon

Name The Man (1925)-Aileen Pringle, Patsy Ruth Miller Conrad Nagel-Directed by Victor Seastrom

Wild Horse Stampede (1926) Jack Hoxie, Fay Wray

Horse Shoes (1927) Monty Banks, Jean Arthur

Sal of Singapore (1928) Phyllis Haver, Alan Hale

[feaito]

WOW!!

[moira finnie]

This is really exciting news, Gagman.

Thanks for sharing it here. I found an article related to this on The Washington Post with video from "You're Fired" (1916-James Cruze, dir.) describing the arrival of ten of the recovered films in the United States.

[Gagman 66]

This is really exciting news, Gagman.

Thanks for sharing it here. I found an article related to this on The Washington Post with video from "You're Fired" (1916-James Cruze, dir.) describing the arrival of ten of the recovered films in the United States.

Yes, of the first 10 films returned two of the Wallace Reid features have brief clips posted on-line. The quality is excellent, because it is from original well preserved Nitrate. Reid was about as big a name as you could find in Hollywood before his death in 1923, and his films have not been easy to see. The most popular leading man of his day. I myself have only seen two or three of his movies. Rex Ingram's THE ARAB (MGM, 1924) is probably the film that has the best chance of popping up on TCM in the next couple years. Big name director, and two huge Stars. Plus they have shown most of Ingram's surviving Silents.

To recap, here is a complete list of the first 10 films that were shipped from Gosfilmofond to the LOC in November.

"Valley of the Giants" (Famous Players, 1919) Wallace Reid, Alice Terry

"You're Fired" (Famous Players, 1919) Wallace Reid, Wanda Hawley

"The Conquest of Canaan" (Famous Players, 1921) Thomas Meighan

"Kick In" (Famous Players, 1922) Betty Compson, May McAvoy

"The Call of the Canyon" (Famous Players, 1923) Richard Dix, Lois Wilson

"Canyon of the Fools" (R-C Pictures, 1923) Harry Carey

"Circus Days" (First National, 1923) Jackie Coogan, Claire McDowell

"The Eternal Struggle" (Metro Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923)

Renee Adoree, Barbara LaMarr, Wallace Beery

"The Arab" (Metro, 1924) Ramon Novarro, Alice Terry

"Keep Smiling" (Monty Banks, 1925) Monty Banks, Anne Cornwall

"The Arab" (Metro, 1924). Director: Rex Ingram. Cast: Ramon Navarro, Alice Terry. Jamil (Navarro), son of a Bedouin tribe leader, falls in love with the daughter of a Christian missionary. Ingram shot portions of the film on location in Algiers, using native Bedouins as extras. His career break came three years earlier when he directed "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," which made a star of Rudolph Valentino. Novarro's collaboration with Ingram on this and two earlier films propelled him to major stardom.

"Kick In" (Famous Players, 1922). Director: George Fitzmaurice. Cast: Betty Compson, Bert Lytell, May McAvoy. Released from prison, thief Chick Hewes (Lytell) resolves to go straight but is harassed by police when he refuses to turn stool pigeon. "Kick In" was a successful Broadway play starring John Barrymore.

"The Conquest of Canaan" (Famous Players, 1921). Director: Roy William Neill. Cast: Thomas Meighan, Doris Kenyon. Defiant of polite society and friendly with corrupt town leaders, Joe Louden (Meighan) is encouraged by his friend Ariel (Kenyon), a recent heiress, to succeed. Previously filmed in 1916, "Canaan" was based on a popular novel by Booth Tarkington.

"The Eternal Struggle" (Metro Pictures, Louis B. Mayer, 1923). Director: Reginald Barker. Cast: Renee Adoree, Earle Williams, Barbara La Marr, Wallace Beery, Pat O'Malley. Engaged to Canadian Mountie Neil Tempest (Williams), Andree (Renee) falls in love with one of her fiance's underlings, Bucky O'Hara (O'Malley). This is one of the last films produced or released by Louis B. Mayer's Metro Pictures Corp. before he helped establish MGM in 1924.

"You're Fired" (Famous Players, 1919). Director: James Cruze. Cast: Wallace Reid, Wanda Hawley. In order to win the hand of Helen Rogers (Hawley), wealthy idler Billy Deering (Reid) agrees to her father's wager -- if Billy can keep a job for one month, the father will agree to the marriage. The comedy's screenplay was based on O. Henry's story, "The Halberdier."

"Keep Smiling" (Monty Banks, 1925). Directors: Albert Austin, Gilbert Pratt. Cast: Monty Banks, Glen Cavender. An unnamed boy (Banks), who is afraid of good old H2o, invents a life preserver that inflates when it hits water.

As for the remaining films, it should be noted that all of this stuff is still on Nitrate film stock as far as I know? Only the first 10 have had digital copies made. Some of the titles might have been transferred to safety film, but I doubt it. Rumor had it that Lon Chaney's TOWER OF LIES (1926) with Norma Shearer, and possibly the Silent version of THE GREAT GATSBY were in the same archive. No indication so far. Incredibly, it looks like they just might have a 35 millimeter print of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME? If so, that would definitely make all other versions redundant, depending on what sort of shape it is in. The general prognosis is these are extremely well preserved movies. At least from what the LOC has been saying. So that is most encouraging. For years HUNCHBACK has only been known to survive from 16 Millimeter Show At Home prints struck in the early 30's.

[MichiganJ]

Pretty good story on All things Considered yesterday on the silent films found in the Russian film archive: