Film Researching
Reconstructing plots from lost films using film booklets
Collectors of paper movie memorabilia might be familiar with and even own a number of film booklets. These film booklets, generally published in Europe, contain film stills plus a condensed story of an American film. The popular Biblioteca Films or Los Films del Far-West publications, by Gato Negro in Barcelona, Spain, are commonly seen in places like antique shops, ephemera shows, or online auction sites. Often printed on newspaper-quality paper, these film books were acquired by cinema patrons in the lobby at the box office. While these film booklets are an intriguing addition to any paper film collection, they can also be used as a valuable tool in writing about a film plot – particularly if none is available through standard Hollywood trade or…
Locating foreign language versions of American film titles
The average person conducting a fairly in-depth Google search on a well-known classic film like “Stagecoach” (1939) will come across a film directory or two that shows the searched film title in another language, like French or German. While this information might seem intriguing, maybe even useful in a game of film trivia, online foreign language film directories serve as a valuable tool for the film researcher. Websites such as Moviecovers.com (French), Filmstarts.de (German), Moviepilot.de (German), and Spielfilm.de (German) are a few examples of western European based film directories that contain many American films translated into the languages of those countries. Being familiar with a film title in another language permits the researcher to scour many digitized newspapers and…
Using foreign newspaper archives as research tools for writing about film
While an online newspaper database can be a goldmine for film research, foreign newspaper archives can provide both research information and photo images not easily found elsewhere. Newspapers.com contain a few foreign newspapers from countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Ireland – primarily English-language newspapers – but what it does not contain are newspapers from nations such as France, Spain or Germany. Databases such as International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON), Biblioteca Virtual de Prensa Histórica (Spain), Biblioteca Digital das Artes do Espetáculo (Brazil), and Biblioteca Nacional de España are just a handful of online newspaper archives useful for film research. In particular, the ones in Spain and Brazil are especially helpful in researching information about American-made western films…
Locating a lost silent film
Locating a silent film bearing the “lost” status can be a challenge to the researcher who is interested in finding out if a print of the film does in fact exist, whether it be in a film archive or a private collection. A film archive, like any other museum archive, constantly accessions and deaccessions objects in its collections. Trying to locate a lost silent film can be a challenge, since silent film loss is around 75% according to a study conducted by the Library of Congress. This high percentage is due to many reasons, from the film reels being melted down for their silver nitrate content, to the flammability of the nitrate material that 35mm film reels were made of. There was also the problem…
Vintage vs. Modern Film Posters
One of the more interesting aspects of collecting vintage printed film memorabilia is the comparison of how they were made in the past to how they are presently made for movie theatres. Lobby cards, posters in all sizes from one-sheets to 24-sheets (billboard size) were intended for movie promotional use to place inside of movie theatre lobbies as well as the outside walls. In addition, foreign movie lobby cards and posters vary in size by country, such as England, Spain, Germany and France. American lobby cards are 11” x 14”, while British- and French- made lobby cards were 8” x 10” in size.The first lobby cards were made in black and white during the early 1900’s and by the 1920…
Using pressbooks as a source for film research and writing
While publicity materials such as pressbooks (also referred to as presskits) are useful tools in writing about films, finding a digital copy online might be a challenge, depending upon the movie written about and the popularity of press materials for the film in question. Some film archives will have a portion of their collections digitalized and easily accessible online like the William K. Everson Archive at NYU, while others may require an in-person visit, such as the film archives at UCLA. Long regarded as the most important marketing tool for a newly released movie, pressbooks are not only valuable as historical film memorabilia, but can be very useful for a number of research and writing projects. For example, a pressbook can be used as…
Using film scripts as research material for silent film reviews
The writer of silent film reviews can look to press releases and reviews appearing in Hollywood trade publications as original source material, but for a more in-depth film review containing details about the story and dialogue, a film script can fill in many of the holes when a copy of the actual film print is not readily available for viewing.In this case, the silent film being reviewed is “Idaho Red” (1929), which is also a lost film. Some information about “Idaho Red” does exist, but again it is in the form of general plot information easily available, such as through Lantern Media History or Newspapers.com. For a more in-depth film review, a university library collection containing film scripts is the best…
Identifying film scenes from arcade/exhibit cards and reconstructing film plots and synopses
Arcade and exhibit cards have a fascinating history of their own – they were originally manufactured by Exhibit Supply Company in Chicago and distributed through vending machines for a penny per card. These cards would often be tinted in different colors ranging from red to blue, green, purple, even aqua. Many arcade and exhibit cards dating back to the late 1920’s and 1930’s would depict film scenes in addition to portraits of actors and actresses. Sometimes these film scenes might bear just the star’s name but not the film they were from. For example, here is an arcade card from my personal collection bearing the following print:“Tom Tyler helps Buddy capture the bandit”Tom Tyler in “The Wyoming Wildcat” 1925Buddy here…
Saving and Labeling Newspaper Clippings for Research Purposes
A writer is researching on Newspapers.com, happily searching and clipping away (the website has an awesome clipping feature), accumulating information for a project. What is the best way to keep these clippings (usually saved in PDF format from Newspapers.com) organized in your computer without losing pertinent information? If a newspaper clipping is going to be referred to in the article the writer is working on, the title of that newspaper story must be referred to, along with the byline if any, the name of the newspaper, the location (city and state) of the newspaper, and date it appeared in.Once the desired newspaper item is clipped from Newspapers.com, the next thing to do is to name it before the website saves…