A movie is considered “lost” if the original negative or a complete copy does not exist in any known archive or private collection. Estimates suggest that 75% of silent-era films and about 50% of “talkies” made between 1927 and 1950 have been “lost in time like tears in rain,” to quote Blade Runner.
One of the reasons there are so many lost movies is that early pictures used nitrate film, which is highly flammable and degrades quickly. Many movies made a century ago were lost forever due to fires at studio archives or poor storage techniques.
Through digitization and other modern processes, most films made after 1950 are preserved for future generations. Sadly, no one is likely to see any of the following lost films again unless someone stumbles upon a forgotten copy somewhere.
London After Midnight (1927)
Tod Browning’s silent horror film London After Midnight stars horror icon Lon Chaney as Edward C. Burke, aka the Man in the Beaver Hat. The movie involves vampires and hypnotism. The gothic rock band London After Midnight even adopted the film’s name.
The last known copy of London After Midnight was destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire. In 2002, Turner Classic Movies reconstructed the script using original film stills, which you can watch here. Browning remade London After Midnight in 1935 as Mark of the Vampire starring Bela Lugosi.
The Mountain Eagle (1926)
The lost film The Mountain Eagle is Alfred Hitchcock’s second directorial effort. The silent romantic drama set in Kentucky follows a widower, his crippled son, and a man the widower despises as they compete for the attention of a schoolteacher.
The Mountain Eagle is the only lost film directed by Hitchcock. Several official production stills as well as a lobby card and 24 behind-the-scenes photographs are all that remain of Hitchcock’s second film. The Master of Suspense reportedly told actor-director-critic François Truffaut that he was relieved the film was lost.
Cleopatra (1917)
J. Gordon Edwards’ silent historical epic Cleopatra stars iconic silent-film actress Theda Bara in the titular role. The last two known prints of Cleopatra were destroyed in a fire at Fox studios in 1937.
Today, only a few fragments of video survive, including a 40-second fragment found in a toy projector bought on eBay. A film historian named Phillip Dye put together the remaining footage and production stills to make Lost Cleopatra,which he has not yet made available to the masses.
The Street of Sin (1928)
Mauritz Stiller’s silent drama The Street of Sin stars future King Kong damsel in distress Fay Wray as a “virtuous Salvation Army lass.” Stiller passed away in Sweden in 1928, so an uncredited Ludwig Berger stepped in to complete the film for him.
Although a few The Street of Sin production stills exist today, no footage from the movie’s seven reels survived. In addition, it’s unknown why all the prints of The Street of Sin vanished without a trace.
A Woman of the Sea (1926)
Charlie Chaplin produced the silent film A Woman of the Sea starring Edna Purviance and directed by Josef von Sternberg.
Unlike other lost films that were destroyed in studio fires, Chaplin purposely destroyed all film negatives of A Woman of the Sea in 1933 in front of witnesses for tax purposes and to get the IRS off his back. Along with His Friend the Bandit, A Woman of the Sea is the only other lost film by the Chaplin Film Company.
Speakeasy (1929)
Benjamin Stoloff’s sports drama Speakeasy stars Lola Lane and Paul Page in the lead roles and features an early appearance by John Wayne as a speakeasy patron. Lane plays a newspaper journalist sniffing out a juicy story involving the boxer played by Page.
Although Speakeasy is presumed lost and no known prints exist, Movietone discs of the soundtrack surfaced in 2010.
The Big Party (1930)
In the romantic comedy-musical The Big Party, Sue Carol and Dixie Lee play two jazz-lovin’ party girls who hatch a plan to live their best lives by attracting the attention of wealthy millionaires to their party to end all parties.
Critics described The Big Party as a movie one “can’t miss” and praised Lee’s performance as one of the best of 1930. Sadly, no known copies of the Fox Film Corporation movie survived to this century.
Convention City (1933)
Archie Mayo’s comedy Convention City follows the thirsty — in every aspect of the word — employees of the Honeywell Rubber Company at a convention in Atlantic City.
Due to the film’s racy content that caused the ratings boards of the time to clutch their collective pearls, Warner Bros. began destroying prints of the film after Convention City‘s initial theatrical run and the Production Code went into effect in 1934. Although rumors of surviving prints continued until 1999, none have officially come to light. Warner Bros. still has a copy of the original screenplay in its archives, however.
Four Devils (1928)
Nosferatu director F. W. Murnau helmed this drama starring Janet Gaynor about four orphans who are taken in by an elder clown who raises them and trains them as circus acrobat performers.
According to Fox papers on Four Devils, a print was given to actress Mary Duncan, who stars in the movie. An urban legend suggests that Duncan either burned the film or destroyed it in her swimming pool. Although Duncan died in 1993, curator Martin Koerber hopes that some heir of Duncan still has the lost film.
Janet Bergstrom’s 2003 documentary short Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film features sketches, production stills, and other surviving artifacts from the movie.
A Blind Bargain (1922)
In yet another lost horror film starring Lon Chaney, A Blind Bargain features Chaney playing the dual roles of both Dr. Lamb and the “Ape Man.” Dr. Lamb is a mad scientist who strong-arms a down-on-his-luck stranger into participating in the doctor’s crazy experiments.
MGM destroyed the original negative in 1931. Any surviving footage went up in flames in the same 1965 backlot fire that torched London After Midnight and several other Chaney films.
Humor Risk (1921)
The unreleased silent comedy Humor Risk is the very first film featuring the Marx Brothers: Chico, Groucho, Harpo, and Zeppo. Little is known about the plot of Humor Risk, but Harpo supposedly plays the romantic lead and Groucho plays the villain.
The short film Humor Risk had its first public showing at a children’s matinee in 1921. Both the original negatives and all known prints have remained lost for over a century now.
The Oregon Trail (1936)
This Scott Pembroke-directed Western stars John Wayne as retired Army Captain John Delmont, who discovers his dead father’s journal and sets out to find the man responsible for leaving him to die.
According to Bob Sigman, the former president of Republic Pictures, he believes that The Oregon Trail was misfiled and placed in an incorrect canister years ago and may still sit in some archive somewhere. Although a copy of The Oregon Trail hasn’t yet surfaced, production stills of the movie have circulated online.
Treasure Island (1920)
It’s lost-films icon Lon Chaney again! In Maurice Tourneur’s 1920 silent film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Chaney plays two different pirates: “Blind Pew” and “Merry.”
Although production stills exist of Treasure Island, including photos of Chaney as both pirates, no reels of the film are known to have survived to the present day. Since the movie was distributed by Paramount and not MGM — the studio that lost many films during a 1965 fire — there is a remote chance that some copy of this 1920 treasure may still be gathering dust in a warehouse or archive somewhere.
Robert DeSalvo
+ posts
