After spending many hours researching that famous person from stage or film, you finally discover one particular silent film which appeals to you in some manner – perhaps after reading a number of reviews, seeing a lobby card or two, or even a few stills from the movie – but remains largely unviewable. Maybe the movie itself is classified under “lost film” status, or does exist in print form in a film archive somewhere in Europe but for some reason not transferred to DVD. Most importantly, you are an active contributor to IMDB, and would like to write a film summary for the movie that interests you but remains a bit obscure to the general public. You might also have information such as taglines or budget expenses that can be added to the film entry. Where would a tagline be found? From an original advertisement from the movie. For example, this newspaper ad for “The Cowboy Cop” from The Circleville Herald, Circleville, Ohio, June 25, 1927:
The film summary would include the basic information gleaned from an original film review, such as the following from Motion Picture News, August 28, 1926:
Any additional information that accompanied the review above – like a series of screencaps such as the below – might also be included in the film summary:
“Frankie Darro looks every bit the young gentleman as his idol Tom Tyler does, wearing matching tuxedos at the party given by heiress Jean Arthur.”
There is indeed a film print of “The Cowboy Cop” at EYE in Amsterdam in 16mm negative format.
Note: This article was first published on February 14, 2016.
