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There are several really interesting documentaries available on super 8 on the growth of films and the cinema, and this is no exception.
It is the story of the film archive collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York featuring excerpts from the silent era starting with the very first 1 minute movies that first aroused the public's interest in a picture that could move, through to the first comedy films, Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, to D.W.Griffiths "Birth of a Nation" epic, and the advent of sound in 1926/7 with Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer and a few of the very early sound films.
The film actually shows the archive storage area itself, and also scenes of the first Hollywood carpenters buildings with many people busy constructing sets for future productions.
The origin of this documentary is a little vague. The full set of titles at the beginning are as follows.... "The Editor's of Time Life Fortune present....." "The March of Time...... Forum Edition," "March of The Movies." A bit obscure but at least the commentary is very informative. I estimate this was made in the mid 1950's as the narrator remarks on the fifty or so years progress in film technology.
The film is obviously black and white and is housed on a 600' spool but is only about 450' to 500' so the running time is about 23 minutes. The picture quality can only be described as average, possibly on the level of an average Mountain release to give you some idea. It was transferred from a fairly worn original with the compounded irritation that my review copy also had a few lines on it itself. The sound is also just okay. No more, no less.
Not withstanding the not so good quality, this film is a very repeatable gem to have in ones collection and I would certainly recommend it due to its archive content.
It is the story of the film archive collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York featuring excerpts from the silent era starting with the very first 1 minute movies that first aroused the public's interest in a picture that could move, through to the first comedy films, Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, to D.W.Griffiths "Birth of a Nation" epic, and the advent of sound in 1926/7 with Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer and a few of the very early sound films.
The film actually shows the archive storage area itself, and also scenes of the first Hollywood carpenters buildings with many people busy constructing sets for future productions.
The origin of this documentary is a little vague. The full set of titles at the beginning are as follows.... "The Editor's of Time Life Fortune present....." "The March of Time...... Forum Edition," "March of The Movies." A bit obscure but at least the commentary is very informative. I estimate this was made in the mid 1950's as the narrator remarks on the fifty or so years progress in film technology.
The film is obviously black and white and is housed on a 600' spool but is only about 450' to 500' so the running time is about 23 minutes. The picture quality can only be described as average, possibly on the level of an average Mountain release to give you some idea. It was transferred from a fairly worn original with the compounded irritation that my review copy also had a few lines on it itself. The sound is also just okay. No more, no less.
Not withstanding the not so good quality, this film is a very repeatable gem to have in ones collection and I would certainly recommend it due to its archive content.
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