My Top 1920s Lost Films

A majority of films from the silent era are lost, this being partly due to them being made of more delicate material that was prone to disintegrating after many years. There were many gems from the 1920s that have been lost, and these are just the 5 that I would most like to see discovered again. There have been plenty of cases where important lost films were found again, though many of these happened in previous decades. As the years go by, it becomes more and more likely that, if they are sitting in an archive, they will be too badly damaged to ever be seen and appreciated again. At the end of the video, I'll name some organizations dedicated to finding lost films. The links will be at the bottom of this description. This video idea was suggested a while ago and I finally got around to doing it. There's definitely more films that could have been included, so maybe there will be a part 2 somewhere along the way.
The British Film Institute: www.bfi.org.uk/
The Film Foundation: www.film-foundation.org/
Lost Films: www.lost-films.eu/

[@shannonc.5837]

only silent film fans know the saddening feeling of wanting to watch a movie only to discover that no copies of it are known to exist 😔✌🏻

[@janetlieb2507]

Yes! So sad!

[@veramae4098]

No. There's a Gene Wilder movie "Rhinocerous" I saw once and would love to see again. When I finally got around to nudging the Internet for information I found out there was a copyright issue. Northing was said directly that I can find, but I'm guessing that's why it's vanished.

[@clintonearlwalker]

@@veramae4098 The whole damn movie is on Dailymotion, it took me about 10 seconds to find it and I'm drunk. I got it playing in another tab right now (Rhinoceros (1974) Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Karen Black - Feature (Comedy, Drama, Fantasy)

[@Tadfafty]

Also that feeling when it does exist, but you can't watch it anyways.

[@brettcoster4781]

No, it's also some sound films, some from very recent times. For example Wake in Fright, an Australian movie from 1971 was very nearly lost. The negative was in a group of film reels marked "To be destroyed" in 2002. There are plenty of other films from the 30s, 40s, and later that are now lost. Any films shot on nitrate (used into the 1950s) are on very shaky ground because of their risk for fires and degradation. It depends on the amount of effort that has been put into preserving negatives; even too many copies being taken from a negative can mean that it eventually degrades past all use.

[@talmadge1926]

I read in Gloria Swansons autobiography that Colleen Moore quite late in life donated her collection of her own films to The American Film institute. She was puzzled , as time passed, why she had not received any letter of thanks. She telephoned them and panic lights went on as nobody knew of the shipment. It turned out that her shipment had been misplaced and confused with another crate of films which were deemed beyond restoration and had been destroyed. She was heartbroken.

[@dizzy56]

That is disgraceful 😓💔

[@meritofapproval]

😱❗

[@TheBee87bee]

Horrifying; then they might still be recovered?

[@talmadge1926]

TheBee87bee No the whole shipment of her films was destroyed (burnt) because of this error

[@maxlinder5262]

This is DISGUSTING !!!!!!!!!!!

[@angelsinger4574]

I would love to see the full “Cleopatra” with Theda Bara. We have some of it, but not all.

[@lottaandgus]

Only a couple of seconds exist! Luckily, there are lots of production stills, and a great book, called Lost Cleopatra, by Phillip Dye.

[@noman6041]

A film is only truly 'lost' when no one remembers it. As long as there are people like you out there, educating us and showing us these films existed, then they are never really lost.

[@marklott2927]

The City Gone Wild with Louise Brooks is one of the most important lost movies. It was, no doubt one of the films that inspired G W Pabst to cast Brooks in Pandora's Box, which, I am sure many would agree, is the most essential silent film ever made. The story of how The City Gone Wild was almost recovered but then still discarded is heart breaking.

[@dennisloveland498]

Two lost films I am personally very interested in are Lon Chaney's London After Midnight and Hats Off starring Laurel and Hardy.

[@Dennis-de2ot]

Like your name sir

[@mgconlan]

A few years ago Turner Classic Movies showed an attempt to reconstruct "London After Midnight" from the surviving production stills and drawings. But it wasn't very easy to follow the movie in that form and there were parts in which I couldn't have told what was going on if I hadn't seen the 1935 remake, "The Mark of the Vampire."

[@paulnorman3709]

I'm surprised he didn't cover London After Midnight.

[@randykirkland3927]

It’s never too late to discover decent prints of lost movies. Cleopatra with Theda Bara , well just about all Bara movies, I would kill to see !

[@janetlieb2507]

Yes!! Such a tragedy her films being lost!!! Love Theda Bara! Have seen A Fool There Was! Hope her films are found!!!!❤

[@elliottschertzer876]

Yes indeed!!

[@searchthewind99]

East Lynne (1916) ,The Unchastened Woman(1925), and Madame Mystery(1926) are all on You Tube. Those and a few minutes of Cleopatra still exist.

[@juliannehannes11]

Search Alaska

[@klausstock8020]

I guess they took great care to destroy all copies of these films. I guess that's what also happened to "Aloma". "Almost all of Gilda is revealed..." -- yep, definitely a victim of the great Hays Code "cleanup" of "inappropriate movies". Theda Bara definitely was a great actress, conveying all that intense emotion in silent movies!

[@bgp001]

Speaking of lost films, "Gold Diggers (1923)", which was lost, was recently found (4 of the 6 reels).

[@dizzy56]

Oh wow!! Fantastic... 😍😍😍

[@HerAeolianHarp]

So many of Colleen Moore's films were lost or left to degrade through neglect. MOMA should have known better. She was a huge star in her time. Her charm transcends the decades.

[@kinescope-zr8lh]

I'd love to see "red hair" with Clara bow

[@Tadfafty]

I've never actually seen any of her movies, maybe I should.

[@dizzy56]

Same here 😓

[@batman5224]

London After Midnight is the most sought after lost horror film. When I think of lost silent movies, that’s the first film I think of. Lon Chaney’s vampire makeup has become iconic, even inspiring the look of the Babadook, but the film itself remains lost. I would sell the rest of my film collection to get my hands on it.

[@janetlieb2507]

Yes! I hope this film is found!! Love Lon Chaney!

[@REALcatmom]

Hopefully...a copy will turn up.

[@evolvetrooper]

@@REALcatmom if the film survived all these years cause some old 1920 films are so brittle to even be handled.

[@juniorjames7076]

I heard The Invisible Ray (1920) had bonkers special effects for the time! "Mighty buildings, rocks and forests are set afire and exploded. The expert application of clever photographic devices makes the picture appear strikingly realistic." - newspaper review. Its still lost.

[@catlover34fl]

I met and spoke with Colleen Moore during her book promotion (Silent Star) at Ulbrich's Book Store in Buffalo, New York. She was lovely, warm, and fascinating to both my mother and myself.. I still have her book autographed to me with best wishes dated March 11, 1968. I treasure it and wonder what will happen to it when I die. No one left in my family and I really have not met anyone at this stage of my life interested in the 1920s movies, music, stars, cars, styles, etc. as I have been most of my life. I wish three films could be found: Footlights and Fools from 1929 with Colleen Moore, American Venus with Esther Ralston from 1925 or '26, and Convention City from 1933 with Joan Blondell. Although it is not lost, when are they going to release Letty Lynton 1932 with Joan Crawford? I've waited a lifetime to see that film.

[@lonelyglen]

The old movie reviewers sure had no problem revealing spoilers!

[@willedelman7960]

You are concerned about spoilers for movies you will probably never be able to see?

[@robertdoherty2001]

Garbo’s ‘’The Divine Woman’’; that any of her films are lost is a tragedy.

[@comulist7220]

2 personal choices: Tip toes(1927)-starring the hugely under appreciated dorothy gish, along with will rogers, and also looking like a musical without music(the film is about a musical, songs are plot important) The terror(1928)- the second all talking and the first sound horror film, described as "so bad it's suicidal" " screaming and whisphering are the only tones these actors speak", sounds liks great fun honestly

[@PungiFungi]

Still insanely curious about the Theda Bara version of Cleopatra. The production stills and the surviving seconds long fragment were tantalizing appetizers to a main course that have yet to be.

[@yohannbiimu]

I'd love to see the lost footage from "Greed" which is something like 3/4 of its original runtime. It broke von Stroheim's heart that they ditched so much of his magnum opus.

[@DPSFSU]

It was originally 9 hours long! They pain stakingly painted everything in the film green that was actually green, to show the power and influence of money. What an amazing piece of art to be lost by stupid budget men running the show back then.

[@yohannbiimu]

@@DPSFSU Right. They had no foresight of what people would desire in the future. If we were able to find the missing footage you could make a trilogy out of it. At the very least edit it down to a four hour picture.

[@meeeka]

@@yohannbiimu I saw a 4 hour version; I had been looking forward to it. It felt like 20 hours! And it was just so depressingly sad.

[@clintonearlwalker]

The reason many of these old films were lost is because the substrate was nitrate. I was a projectionist at a drive in, I probable know more about film than most people. Nitrate was inherently unstable. As the films deteriorate, they change physically as well as chemically: Turning a yellow or tan color, Becoming brittle, sticky, or even powdery, depending on the extent of deterioration, Developing a pungent odor through the off-gassing of nitric oxide or nitrogen dioxide. Nitrate films were also extremely flammable. The film I ran in the 1970's was acetate. It also deteriorates and is flammable, but not nearly as much as nitrate. Our projectors produced light by a constant electrical arc between basically 2 welding rods. They produced a shit ton of light and a butt ton of heat. The projectors had an exhaust fan that went up through the roof, and a water circulator for cooling and they were still hot. The film could never be stopped in the head of the projector unless the "dowser" was closed, It was a metal flap, operated by a handle, to keep the heat away from the film. If the film broke and jammed in the head, it would catch on fire almost instantly, (unless I ran in and closed the dowser). That's why I had to sit through 2 of the same movies 7 nights a week, basically not taking my eyes off the screen. I never ran nitrate, but there's this: "The year 1978 was particularly devastating for film archives when both the United States National Archives and Records Administration and George Eastman House had their nitrate film vaults auto-ignite. Eastman House lost the original camera negatives for 329 films, while the National Archives lost 12.6 million feet of newsreel footage. Because cellulose nitrate contains oxygen, nitrate fires are impossible to extinguish. The US Navy has produced an instructional movie about the safe handling and usage of nitrate films which includes footage of a full reel of nitrate film burning underwater. The base is so flammable that intentionally igniting the film for test purposes is recommended in quantities no greater than one frame without extensive safety precautions. The smoke produced by burning nitrate film is highly toxic, containing several poisonous gases and can become lethal if inhaled enough." I was a senior in high school in 1979, one classic movie I particularly remember that I ran starred Carol Connors, she had previously been a hostess on "The Gong Show". The X rated movie was "Candy Goes to Hollywood", here's a clip suitable for KZbin, but the entire film can be found online--Hooray for Hollywood!!--kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWiVqqWsi7KJhMU

[@joseybryant7577]

It's so wonderful to see so many people passionate about cinema! I can't believe we haven't been more careful with films. Some rare film, may be sitting in a canister in some random, run-down theater.

[@biggerock]

"The Magic Flame" from 1927 is a lost silent that I wish was found.

[@johnevans935]

At 5:58 in your video, the Exchange Hall article talks about “Buck Jones’s latest success, “30 Below Zero.” Buck Jones died of injuries suffered from the Coconut Grove fire in 1942. The other thing which I’m sure you have heard more than once is the 1926 “The Great Gatsby” stared Neal Hamilton as Nick Caraway. He later went on to stardom by my generation as Commissioner Gordon in the “Batman” TV series. I just found your Channel and love it. Keep up the excellent work…

[@fernandocardenas3791]

It's hard to believe you're talking about films already has almost one hundred years. Grat work! Thanks for sharing! Greetings from Cuernavaca México, from a passionate of classic films!

[@jeenkzk5919]

To imagine that films weren’t thought to ever have new life on television, home formats or streaming. As a result, they were burned to make room for new additions. Being on highly flammable and degradable stock didn’t do them any favors either. Another reason was once sound came around, no one wanted these films because they felt silent films were considered instantly dated.

[@mgconlan]

Please pay tribute to the unsung heroine of film preservation: Iris Barry, who in the 1930's was a curator at the New York Museum of Modern Art and suggested to her bosses that they open a film department and start to collect old movies for preservation as works of art. It is due to Iris Barry, more than any other single individual, that we owe the idea that movies should be preserved for future generations instead of merely thrown away after their commercial life was presumably over. Among the films Barry preserved was :"The Flapper," starring Olive Thomas and made in 1920, three years before Colleen Moore's "Flaming Youth" supposedly launched the flapper genre.

[@georgetreepwood1119]

I heard the studios buried a lot of them --- if we could figure out where it might be worth doing some dirt time...

[@smallies7154]

Its like that old video game you love that just won't work on a modern PC. Stuck watching clips of it on KZbin

[@janetlieb2507]

Was excited when lost footage of Metropolis was placed into the movie! Would like for the rest of the footage to Be found! Would love for London After Midnight to be found! Also the movies of Theda Bara! And the movie about Jeckyll and Hyde by Murnau!❤

[@kathymartin7724]

I'm definitely a fan of metropolis. The original and the 1984 one with music of that era. My personal favorite is the original from 1927.

[@markandresen1]

No complaints from me about your choices. I'd only replace 'We Moderns' with Louise Brooks's 'The City Gone Wild' (1927). Her only gangster picture and her first (I'd argue) serious role.

[@bbzbigboobszombie7798]

I Love knowing im not the only 20ish yo person whose interested in 1920s everything ^.^

[@addie_is_me]

I was too since back when I was in my 20s. A lot of it had to design, but I just loved the silents as well of course.

[@damiancourtis7513]

Me too,an amazing era! Long live the roaring twenties ♥️

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

I love this video, I wouldn't mind seeing another list like this in the foreseeable future

[@cocoaorange1]

Ever year, I hear about lost films being discovered in other countries.

[@brober]

Love your channel! Rediscovering lost films can be a mixed bag. I recall going to the first screening of Beyond The Rocks the great lost silent film that was rediscovered about 10 years ago. This was a legendary lost film. The only co-staring of Swanson and Valentino. Swanson wrote in her auto bio that her dress cost 5K. She tangoed sensually with Rudy. Their kiss was was so long and sexy it had to be cut. Well..after the lights came up at AMPAS our disappointment was palatable. No tango. No kiss. A bore. My friend turned to me and said 'Some things should remain lost". Be careful what ya wish for.

[@DPSFSU]

I hope you included 1925s "Greed" in this video. A movie that was adapted from a novel, but it was a true adaptation. It used every page of the book, every piece of dialogue, everything! The movie was 9 hours long! In editing, they painted everything that was green... GREEN! IN A BLACK AND WHITE FILM! All to show the color of money and it's influence. It was cut down to 3 hours then to a measley hour and a half. The rest of the film is lost. Such a shame for a man's great work of art.

[@joefleming2053]

Another great episode! So glad to have found this channel. As a fellow Colleen Moore fan, I would be over the moon to actually see “Flaming Youth,” but the number one missing film for me would be Lon Chaney’s “London After Midnight.”

[@FRESHboosters]

Before watching I hope “London After Midnight” is on your list 🤞 I’ve always been fascinated by the artwork and stills from this lost film. It’s a 1927 film which was actually very popular. Love your channel!

[@mikepellerin4611]

You can find some of the only known clips here on KZbin, including one that has stills pieced together to form a sort of movie clip.

[@brennocalderan2201]

Some of the buildings that stored many films reels end up being burned down for some reason. It happened more than once. It's like someone did it on purpose.

[@joseybryant7577]

Some old film reels just combusted. It was actually very flammable. It isn't out of the ordinary, to find that it got a little too hot and just went up in flames.

[@kenthepen4857]

Old 'nitrate' film stock was/is very unstable and, as Josey Bryant says, can simply burst into flames. A problem still with us today for film archives and restorers. Later film (1930's onwards I think) was made differently and therefore tended to be 'safety film' that was much more stable. I seem to recall reading about film theatres in the early days burning down owing to the film being projected bursting into flames. Its a wonder we have any films from the 1920's to watch!

[@jmen4ever257]

I recall reading a story years ago, about how a swimming pool that had been filled with films then covered over had been found. It can happen.

[@vhsninjaccoon7705]

Yeah. People who don't know: there was lost films in their (good conditions), yet they burn it down with the stuff innit. Talk about carrying a vendetta

[@jeffreyk5734]

One of my most wanted Lost Silents has to be TIN GODS (Paramount, 1926). Starring Thomas Meighan, Aileen Pringle, Renee Adoree and William Powell. Directed by the prolific Allan Dwan. The sad thing is a print survived into the 60's and perhaps even the early 70's in the Yale University archive. After that all records of it seemed to vanish. The picture was widely praised as Meighan's best work in years at the time of it's release. Anything with Renee Adoree has to be close to the top of my list. While her second movie she made with Meighan THE MATING CALL (1928) survives and in very good condition, having the earlier film as a basis of comparison would be interesting. Aileen Pringle's movies have all but disappeared. She made several features with Lew Cody at MGM and not one of them seems to still be around today.

[@melb6888]

Fantastic commentary! You bring the 20s back to life. Thank you!

[@addie_is_me]

It’s always so thrilling when a lost silent is found and even restored. I recently saw several William Boyd movies that had been restored. What a gift!

[@vilstef6988]

The 1920s, my favorite decade! I love the crazy lavishness of it and appreciate how you use so many sources to bring it to life!

[@mgconlan]

I especially liked your section on "The Great Gatsby." I'd seen the trailer in the Flicker Alley compilation "Fragments" and I'm especially interested in its director, Herbert Brenon. Another Brenon film, his 1924 version of "Peter Pan," was long thought lost but did eventually turn up -- and it turned out to be a masterpiece, a far darker and richer version of the story than the Broadway-ized and Disneyfied versions we've had since. Also, your inability to find U.S. mentions of Hitchcock's "The Mountain Eagle" is its U.S. release title was "Fear O'God" (the nickname of the hermit character). And it was supposedly set in Kentucky but actually filmed in the Swiss Tyrol, and one of the reasons Hitchcock was embarrassed by it may have been that it was set in the U.S. at a time when he'd never been here or known anything about American life, and once he settled in the U.S. he realized how wrong he'd been in his depiction of it.

[@Brian-wf9xy]

This is so interesting! Love the 20s. This channel was one of the best finds.

[@emilyclarke4360]

I wish all lost films will be found!!!!!!!!😭😍😭 Colleen Moore is awesome may her memory live forever!!!!!!!!😍😍

[@lilypondlane]

I’d love to see “Celebrity” (1928) with Robert Armstrong and Lina Basquette.

[@DrTeeth-ss1ek]

I know London After Midnight is the big one for most but there is just such a massive swath of missing films. If you go on a big search looking through directors you may have enjoyed from the 20s and find their other missing films you will surely find some very interesting stuff that seemingly nobody is talking about. There is just so much out there and I’m glad you highlight some lesser known ones that sound super interesting. One example is Paul Fejos’ film The Last Moment. This film was about a man committing suicide but as he’s dying he has flashbacks of his entire life. The film is unique as it is told in a non-linear fashion and has no intertitle dialogue at all. Charlie Chaplin reportedly adored the film and thought it was incredible and Fejos would get the opportunity to direct another classic which we still have today called Lonesome.

[@jknuttel]

For me, _Wanderer of the Wasteland_ would be at the top. A 1924 western starring Jack Holt and Billie Dove … shot in Technicolor.

[@jeffreyk5734]

Wanderer of the Wastelands is a really sad case since it survived up until roughly 1971 when the remaining copy was not preserved. I was going to mention that movie earlier. The private collector who owned the last known copy tried to have it copied to safety stock but ran into numerous problems in doing so.

[@steelers6titles]

Most of all, the first version of "The Great Gatsby", released soon after the novel was published. All that remains is a trailer.

[@Fantomas4616]

"4 Devils" from 1928 starring Charles Morton, Janet Gaynor might be important to find.

[@519MaLoNeY]

Just found your channel. I love it man! Awesome idea and presentations!

[@cristopherderose]

Your channel has given me hope for the future. Thank you.

[@RedcoatsReturn]

Superb reviews of lost gems! So many talented stars who have all but for a handful been forgotten. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😊😊👍👍

[@rbbonotto]

I'm glad 'London After Midnight' isn't in your top five. Snark aside, while 80% of worldwide silent films are lost, the figure for Brazilian silents is closer to 98%. In the 1950's the Brazilian Film Institute's storeroom of Brazilian films burned to the ground. There's continuing work trying to find silents from the currect Cinematoqua Brasileira.

[@MiuMiuKoo]

What a wonderful presentation 🤗 It is a shame that these lovely films are lost Especially the Hitch film Thank you for sharing💕

[@JJONNYREPP]

These 1920s Lost Films Must Be Found! (Part 1) 0834am 6.5.24 didnt you ever get that.... some parent from the locale calling you into their pad/home to watch the tv cos there's a "picture" showing...?

[@voyaristika5673]

In the late 1950s, early 60s (?) there was a tv show called "Silents Please" I watched as a kid. Those films were only about 30 yrs old then. Hard to believe! It must be frustrating as a silents film fan to read about films, see trailers, and not be able to watch. Still, you never know what might surface from unlikely places. I hope some of them will surface, especially Fitzgeralds works since they have subsequent remakes.

[@2KDUDE22]

The 2 greatest found films thought to be lost of the 20s are dreyer s passion of joan of arc and gance s napoleon, restructured by brownlow, i d like to see the original 9 hr version of von stroheim s greed

[@mgconlan]

Also Sam Wood's "Beyond the Rocks" (1923) with Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. Swanson named three lost films of hers she particularly regretted: her 1925 French-filmed production "Madame Sans-Gene," "Beyond the Rocks" and the last reel of "Sadie Thompson."

[@shoesareverybad]

@@mgconlan BEYOND THE ROCKS was found some years ago. It was shown at the NY Film Festival and is available on video.

[@TheBee87bee]

9 hours?, incredibly long, but would be intriguing to view!

[@DPSFSU]

@@TheBee87bee it was a true adaptation of the book. Every piece of dialogue, every set piece, every side story. It was screened to a few close friends (the 9 hour version) and said it was an absolute masterpiece. Studio heads had it cut to 3 hours and then 1 and a half hours. In editing they even painted everything that was green, green to show the power and influence of money throughout the film. It was a true adaptation from book to screen.

[@The-Portland-Daily-Blink]

Your videos are FABULOUS. I really enjoy them. Thank you!!

[@aadamtx]

LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT is the one film that seems to be on every "lost" list and one I'd love to see. I'd also add F.W. Murnau's 4 DEVILS, starring Janet Gaynor, and any of the early Michael Curtiz films (THE GAMBLERS, MADONNA OF AVENUE A, TENDERLOIN). But the lost Hitchcock would also be a great find!

[@JM-bg5oh]

1. 4 Devils, (Murnau) 2. After Midnight (Browning) 3. Greed (Stroheim) full director's cut 4. The Miracle Man (Tucker) 5. Humorisk (Smith)

[@nathaliebatiste9521]

Yes, I agree with you about Greed. I’d like to see the original 9 hour movie.

[@JM-bg5oh]

@@nathaliebatiste9521 Hey thanks. 🤞🏻 ...hoping that many lost silents can be located for all to enjoy.

[@bobbyfrancis8957]

Wasn't there a lost 1920's silent movie called "The Side Show" that shows W.C. Fields COMPLETE juggling act?

[@RayPointerChannel]

Your script is excellently written, reflecting meticulous research. Since this is something of a personal account combined with your research, your delivery of the script as spoken needs variety. One of the keys to good narration is modulation of the voice and pacing. There is a lot of important information that suffers from being jammed together with a delivery that is too fast, lacking in variety of tone, and does not allow for pauses to allow the listener to comprehend what was said. You want your narration to sound "conversational" and natural, not like you are "reading." Putting certain inflections on key words makes your narration sound like you are speaking to your audience and believe what you are saying. And since you are obviously sincere about this subject, you want your audience to believe in you and your passion.

[@johnwillard8311]

'Mighty Lak a Rose' (1923), starring Dorothy Mackaill, is another lost silent. It was the first motion picture my mother saw, at a Chicago theater, at age 13.

[@CaesiusX]

What a fantastic channel!

[@barbaraeffros4804]

Wonderful work. Thanks a million!

[@JSB1882]

It really is sad that someone as popular as Colleen Moore really now longer exists in film. She really did represent the "flapper youth" of that period.

[@steve2474]

I had only heard of FLAMING YOUTH and THE GREAT GATSBY, but think you have a great list. Finding any Colleen Moore film would indeed be a treasure and ALOMA OF THE SOUTH SEAS is quite intriguing. The Hitchcock one is only one that didn't really pique my interest. That being said, I would add the following to your list. RED HAIR and ROUGH HOUSE ROSIE- Clara Bow films GREED- director's cut before studio took a hatchet to it- Erich von Stoheim AMERICAN VENUS, NOW WE'RE IN THE AIR, A GIRL IN EVERY PORT, ROLLED STOCKINGS- Louise Brooks QUEEN KELLY- Gloria Swanson under the direction of Erich von Stoheim- though I guess portions of it do exist

[@1marilynable]

Thank you for making this video! I wish more people would be interested in this stuff.

[@suzeauster2223]

Greetings from florida 🏄‍♀️ Thank You 4/ Sharing this Gem 💎 I’m a new subscriber 🤙 Luv Your Uploads!!

[@ariesleorising9421]

@1:12 I have my hair done just like Colleen Moore’s. I love the 1920s fashion and hairstyles.

[@radicalross7700]

The more you talked about Aloma of the South Seas, the more I remember a Popeye cartoon which must have been a parody of Aloma. In it, Bluto and Popeye were fighting over a South Sea princess named "Alona" (Olive Oyl, of course).

[@nathaliebatiste9521]

I love this channel. My choice for recovery of silent films, would be for the lost Harold Lloyd films and Baby Peggy films.

[@kathymartin7724]

I read baby peggy s book whatever happened to baby Peggy. It was very interesting. She wrote about her life as well as the history of Hollywood.

[@nathaliebatiste9521]

@@kathymartin7724 I’ve read that book as well.

[@jackmorrison7379]

The problem in no small part is the old film stock itself. Nitrate film is highly flammable, and deteriorates as well making it hard to preserve. There was also the belief in Hollywood that once films lost their commercial appeal they were dangerous waste matter. It is actually surprising we have any silent films left and only because a few outstanding persons took the time to preserve some of them.

[@zacharyrome3432]

Wonderful video !!

[@1lovesgreatness]

Imteresting how fonts, art and fashion came back into style in the late 60s and 70s.

[@samanthamorris5340]

I would love to see American Venus omg

[@cdpetee]

There are three Joan Crawford silents considered lost - Rose Marie (1928), Dream Of Love (1928) and The Duke Steps Out (1929). Those are my big three.

[@tomc8115]

Great choices. Would love to see The Taxi Dancer, Joan's first starring role.

[@michaelterry1000]

I don’t really understand how films can get lost especially when they were so popular. I always wonder when it was that they noticed that they couldn’t find the film? In old newspaper archives I found “The Mountain Eagle” was shown in Bridgeport Connecticut on 11/28/1927 at the park city theater and at Zanesville Ohio on 11/25/1927 as the 2nd film, the first being “Wings of the Storm” with Thunder, the dog and William Russell at the GRAND

[@EB1878]

I'd love to see Lon Chaney, Sr. in London After Midnight, which is considered a "lost" film. I think where some of these forgotten silents are stashed (and likely stored improperly due to it being celluloid and extremely volatile), are likely in some eccentric elderly, or deceased millionaire's film collection and haven't been rediscovered as of yet possibly. As for those film "archive" preservation museums, there's a TON of early Edison films that haven't been released onto DVD. I've only seen (and bought) two boxed sets of "Edison invention of the movies" years ago and I haven't seen anything else released by the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). I actually enjoyed all of the films and wished there had been more released. Another lost film I'd really love to see if it's ever found is Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) starring Antonio Moreno. I seen him with Clara Bow in the fun, cute flapper movie, "It". There's a few more of Antonio Moreno's silents I'd love to see, (nearly all are lost), but I realize that finding these silent gems is an extreme rarity like winning the lottery three times over. And sadly, some of these silents including Harold Lloyd's one reelers Lonesome Luke, before he created the "glasses" character we all silent film fans know him as were victim of studio fires and elements of time, and natural deterioration.

[@malfattio2894]

"The Gold Diggers" (1923) was (largely) rediscovered and posted online only yesterday

[@cocoaorange1]

True, KZbin has quite a few silent classic films.

[@dizzy56]

OMG I must search for it!!

[@maudemathildeh335]

My relatives have two abandoned homes filled with a bunch of old film reels, Photplay Magazines, etc. I remember two pictures on the wall of Valentino. Thing is they will not allow anyone in there even though the one home is literally falling down on one side. Soon I hope to get in and have a look around. I wouldn't be surprised if there are "lost films" as my grandfather was a movie buff and worked a projector many many years ago.

[@RickVanMorty]

great video, thanks

[@brober]

The Mountain Eagle. Nita Naldi as a small village rural school teacher. I'd pay to see that.😁

[@stefanschleps8758]

This is a great channel. Thank you. You'd pay an obscene ammount of money to just watch one of these films? I'll keep you posted in case I'm on to something. BTW have you tried finding them? The EU is where I would start. Greetings from Vienna.

[@veramae4098]

b "Antiques Roadshow" mentioned one time there were no surviving posters from ... oh, slips my mind. Darn. About 20 years later one was found. A.R. guessed if it was found it would go for $1 million. Close. $900,000 something. I always wonder if someone had seen the A.R. episode and so knew what they were looking at when they found it. "Metropolis"! That was it.

[@carloshugogeib7961]

So sorry for so many movies are Lost fornecer. It's really a pity. I did like tô know something about the films you listed. I' m asking you to being more about films that are lost. I like Very much know these stars who made the industrie grows and were the first one that made people dream beyond their ordinary lives

[@tonystorms1705]

I would love for someone to find East of Suez . I believe it was Nita Naldi, around 1925. I stumbled across it in a newspaper once while looking for an obituary. I would also like to see Cappy Ricks it was the first film shown at the Indiana theater in Terre Haute, IN. Well I've rambled enough. Love your channel

[@steelers6titles]

I think the full-length “Greed” is gone for good, as the still-new MGM, which was going broke over the film, took it away from Von Stroheim. Someone would have had to have held onto the thousands of additional feet of footage the director had shot, in negative or already-printed form, which is unlikely. Much more common is for a complete print of a movie which had disappeared completely to turn up somewhere many years after its original release.

[@davidmartin5802]

One of the lost films more important for me would be The Gulf Between. Its from 1917, maybe out of the scope of this channel.... but was the first all-color film of all history

[@steelers6titles]

Things turn up all the time. A print of C. B. DeMille's "The Godless Girl" was discovered among his possessions, and is available in the indispensable Treasures From American Film Archives series.

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

I recently discovered a story about a 1921 camping/road trip between President Warren G. Harding and a group of famous people known as "The Vagabonds" perhaps that could be a future video

[@joseybryant7577]

There's a super good VOX video on that! It is very interesting!

[@TheNyteScrybe]

I'd love to see Theda Bara movies, of which so many are lost..particularly Cleopatra. What a shame they're lost.

[@steelers6titles]

BUT, long after her stardom days, Ms. Bara (Theodosia Goodman) gave a radio interview in the late 1930s. It's on YT. A warm, gracious woman.

[@kilgoretrout4491]

While not silent films. I would love to see some of the full color and sound films made in the late 20’s. Some of them are in only black and white and some are completely lost.

[@melaniesilver6470]

Colleen Moore's dollhouse is on permanent exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago

[@kathleenfleming7519]

Isn't it a shame that Hollywood studios aren't doing the majority of the work in preserving the films that the studios spent money creating.

[@OriginalRocketJock]

I'll add London After Midnight, too. But I am hoping that Cleopatra with Theda Bara is found one day.

[@elveskickass]

Those were the films I would choose too. Nice.

[@janetlieb2507]

Yes!! London After Midnight! And all of Thedas films!! Also the Jeckyll And Hyde film by Murnau!!!❤

[@kathymartin7724]

Especially Cleopatra with theda bara.

[@Dave9thesnob]

A number of years ago the Museum of Modern Art had an exhibit entitled stills from lost films. It was hoping that maybe some of these films might turn up. At least two of the films did turn up The Devils Circus and the Street Angel. Maybe there should be another exhibit entitled stills from lost films and it be shown throughout the US but in Canada , Australia and New Zealand etc. This exhibit should shown world wide maybe some of these lost films might show up.

[@Grantthetruthteller]

Reviews of the silent film " last man on earth" from 1927 (?) makes it sound hilarious. I wish that could be found and shown or even copies offered for sale.

[@roybo1930]

I can`t hear the AWESOME Music You are playing very well! What are the songs? I LOVE this!!! I totally Agree with Your list of Beautiful Films! I WOULD KILL TO FIND THESE! My Friend who goes by the name "Tricky Springs" did a Sound Track for a very early Silent "Our Gang" episode "Spooking The Spook" 1927, on facebook, It brought the film to life! It was indeed AMAZING!

[@MonaLisa-zz5cv]

I'm kind of interested to see what the original Gentlemen Prefer Blondes would have been like. The remake isn't set in the 20s, which isn't bad, but when I found out that it was based on her memoir and there was a silent film, I wanted to see it ever since. Also, Lorelei's black friend, Lulu, is not included in the remake and she was talked of more in the book then Dorothy.

[@steelers6titles]

Yeah, the first version of Anita Loos’ "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" would be interesting.

[@caraqueno]

"Aloma of the South Seas" is known as a 1942 film starring Dorothy Lamour.

[@ericalbany]

I have a few clipped frames from the trailer of ALOMA, from one of those tins of frames sold with a viewer.

[@The1920sChannel]

Those would be pretty cool to see!

[@sharoneiff3626]

I have many films on my most wanted to be found list only one of your films appears on it, The Great Gatsby although I am a huge Colleen Moore fan and I hope that Flaming Youth is found some day..

[@constantine7382]

As valuable as all of these films are, personally I think the most sought after recording from the 1920's isn't even a true film. There is NO FILM of the great middleweight boxing Champion Harry Greb in the Ring. That is the most sought after relic in the history of boxing and the perfect representation of the 1920's.