In today’s digital world, we don’t have to worry about losing a film (not like hard drive failures aren’t a thing), but overall, it’s pretty much impossible, considering the variety of storage and archive options available today. Unless you’re a disaster at organizing or purely unlucky, your films will definitely outlive you and a few generations after (so make sure you make great ones!). Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in the early days of cinema, when filming was done on fragile and highly flammable nitrate. Naturally, countless movies shot on film have vanished due to negligence and fire. Thankfully, some of these cinematic gems were found and restored, allowing cinephiles a chance to get a glimpse into cinema’s magical past. In this article, we’re listing some of the incredible cinematic gems that were eventually recovered and the thrilling stories behind their rediscovery. Lost Films That We Eventually RecoveredZepped (1916) Only about seven minutes long, this Charlie Chaplin short film was lost for almost a century. In fact, nobody even knew that it existed until 2009, when an English citizen stumbled upon a can of film labeled Zepped and bought it for a measly $5. Two years later, it was auctioned off for a whopping £100,000 ($164,070). Zepped explores Charlie Chaplin’s unique take on World War I. Tarzan And The Golden Lion (1927) It still baffles me how this film was recovered. For over half a century, lead actor James Pierce tried to track down lost copies of it, exhausting almost...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday