Would the full unedited film of a movie made in 1930 still exist somewhere?

Would the full unedited film of a movie made in 1930 still exist somewhere? - Black and Silver Camera on Brown Wooden Table

Suppose that a movie was made in 1930. Would the unedited film of that movie still exist somewhere and can be retrieved?



Best Answer

Thanks to Tetsujin for the link

Almost certainly not.

The vast majority of pre-1930 film stock has been lost either due to destruction or simply that the nitrate film stock used at the time is was not suitable for long term storage.

To understand how the movie studios and archives got into this predicament, it helps to know a little about what came before LTO. Up until the early 1950s, filmmakers shot on nitrate film stock, which turned out to be not just unstable but highly flammable. Over the years, entire studio collections went up in flames, sometimes accidentally and sometimes on purpose, to avoid the costs of storage. According to the Film Foundation, a nonprofit founded by director Martin Scorsese to restore and preserve important films, about half of the U.S. films made before 1950 have been lost, including an astounding 90 percent of those made before 1929.

Even if the complete film could be found and was capable of being restored, an extremely unlikely event in the first place, there has to be a commercial or cultural reason to do so.

Restoration is time consuming and expensive and there has to be a significant reason to attempt it.




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What was the 1st movie ever made?

1888. In Leeds, England Louis Le Prince films Roundhay Garden Scene, believed to be the first motion picture recorded.

What was one movie released in the 1930s?

Top-grossing filmsRankTitleStudio1Whoopee!United Artists/Samuel Goldwyn Productions2Check and Double CheckRKO Radio Pictures3All Quiet on the Western FrontUniversal Pictures4Hell's AngelsUnited Artists6 more rows

What are 3 major movies that were released during the 1930s?

The social aspects and politics of some of these pictures date them, while others remain positively timeless.
  • King Kong (1931) ...
  • The Wizard of Oz (1939) ...
  • Frankenstein (1931) ...
  • Mr. ...
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) ...
  • Gone With the Wind (1939) ...
  • M (1931) ...
  • It Happened One Night (1934)


How many silent films are lost?

Seventy-five percent of silent-era films have been lost forever to history, according to a new comprehensive study from the Library of Congress.



History of Video Editing As Fast As Possible




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