The successful launch in July of BFI Most Wanted, the nation-wide hunt for the 75 Most Wanted ‘lost’ films has resulted in an impressive amount off interest from members of the public and press alike and, throughout August, The BFI continues its call to arms to find these missing gems and offers audiences a rare opportunity to see a selection of the BFI National Archive’s recent discoveries.
Missing films have an aura about them, a mystery they accrue due to being unavailable and sought after. Lost titles such as Alfred Hitchcock’s The Mountain Eagle (1926) have become holy grails for film enthusiasts the world over. In 1992, the BFI compiled a list of titles called Missing Believed Lost, in a bid to track down elusive British films. Since then, 16 of them have found their way to the BFI National Archive; while not every discovery is a candidate for ‘masterpiece’ status, they nevertheless enable greater understanding of our film history and fill important gaps in the filmographies of some of our best directors.
The BFI are very keen to find these films for the national collection. Some may exist in private collections, others might turn up in foreign archives, but the aim is to find as many as possible so it can continue to preserve and make available the nation’s film heritage.
The new project takes the form of an online resource at the BFI website, which describes the lost films using reviews, stills and original publicity materials.
Throughout August, many of the titles that have been unearthed since 1992 will be screened at BFI Southbank, as well as other rare films not seen in the UK for many years including new prints of The Constant Nymph (1928) and Emil and the Detectives (1935).