MORE TREASURES FROM AMERICAN FILM ARCHIVES (2004) C & B/W 3 volumes: 210m/each
From the Image Entertainment website: "Synopsis: Like the first "Treasures from American Film Archives" produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation, "More Treasures" takes as its starting point the preservation work of our nation's film archives. More Treasures covers the years from 1894 through 1931, when the motion pictures progressed from a peepshow curio to the nation's fourth largest industry. This is the period from which fewest American films survive. Five film archives have made it their mission to save what remains of these first decades of American film: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. More Treasures (made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities) reproduces their superb preservation work --- fifty films followed by six previews for lost features and serials."
From Now Playing: A Viewer's Guide to Turner Classic Movies, November, 2004: "TCM proudly presents the second collection of world television premieres of rare films from the movies' formative decades as presented by the National Film Preservation Foundation, the non-profit organization created by Congress to save America's cinema heritage. More Treasures from American Film Archives, which was released as a 3-DVD boxed set through Image Entertainment, covers the years 1894 through 1931, when movies progressed from a peepshow curio to the nation's fourth largest industry.
"The works in this festival include features, serials, political spots, industrial documentaries, product ads, cartoons, newsreels, promotional and instructional shorts and avant-garde works as preserved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Scott Simmon, creator of the project and a professor of English and co-director of the film studies program at the University of California, Davis, will join TCM host Robert Osborne in introducing the films.
"Highlights include The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910), the earliest surviving film treatment of the classic L. Frank Baum story that would also form the basis for the 1939 MGM musical. Dorothy is played by 9-year-old Bebe Daniels, later famous for 42nd Street (1933). This silent Wizard, constructed as a series of disconnected vignettes, was thought lost until a nitrate print was discovered in 1983. Clash of the Wolves (1925) offers the rare chance to see canine star Rin Tin Tin in action in one of his enormously popular starring vehicles --- his ninth, in which he plays a half-breed wolf-dog hunted by ranchers.
"Rip Van Winkle (1896), featuring stage star Joseph Jefferson in his most famous role, offers an unparalleled look back into 19th-century theatrical styles. Thought the earliest-born actor to star in a film, Jefferson had his first theatrical successes before the Civil War. With Lady Windermere's Fan (1925), starring Ronald Colman and Irene Rich, sophisticated comedy master Ernst Lubitsch succeeds in the daunting task of capturing the flavor of the Oscar Wilde masterpiece in a silent film --- without benefit of the sparkling dialogue!"
Volume 1:
Volume 2:
Volume 3: