By Jennifer Baldwin. For classic movie cinephiles, the discovery of old films once thought to be lost is one of the more thrilling aspects of our fandom. There are so many silent-era films that have been lost to the twin scourges of time and neglect that when a new discovery is made — such as the case with the recently discovered print of METROPOLIS containing footage previously thought lost — it’s the cinema equivalent of an archeologist discovering artifacts from a forgotten civilization.
Back in the day — before film preservation was finally acknowledged as a worthwhile historical enterprise — silent films and other older movies that were past their “sell date” were deemed to have no commercial value by the film studios (and were often dangerous to store, since the nitrate film stock used in the silent era is so highly flammable), and so these films were often left alone to deteriorate and die or were even melted down on purpose in order to extract the silver from the emulsion. Thousands of films are believed to be lost to history thanks to the ravages of time and neglect.
But these are exciting times. Not only the recent discovery of the lost METROPOLIS footage in Argentina, but now, a discovery in the New Zealand Film Archive of dozens of American films from the early part of the twentieth century, including a once-thought-lost John Ford silent feature called UPSTREAM (It’s a backstage drama! From John Ford!). Seventy-five of these rediscovered films are en-route to the U.S. right now for preservation and restoration.
If you love old movies as well as history, this is awesome news. But I’m not just writing about this because it’s awesome news. I’m writing about this because I want conservative movie lovers to get involved. Actually, I’m sure there are plenty of conservative movie lovers already involved but I just wanted to see if I could get even more conservatives involved because I believe it’s a cause that we on the Right should and need to be involved in.
Why film preservation? What’s so conservative about that? Well, the most obvious answer is actually the best one: since conservatives are usually pretty keen on preserving and respecting our cultural heritage they should also be pretty keen on helping to restore and keep alive historical artifacts like old films. It’s as simple as that. These films are part of our history and as conservatives we claim to respect history and want to preserve American culture – well, here’s our chance.
Part of our mission here at LFM is to celebrate and promote cinema and the arts – and what better way for those of us on the Right to do this than by contributing to film preservation?
But conservative movie lovers should get involved in preservation efforts not only because it’s a good thing to do, but also as a way to show that conservatives are interested in culture in a positive way and not just as a means to score political points. I might be a little unfair in this critique of conservatives – because there ARE conservatives out there writing and commenting on film and culture that do it intelligently and with great love and enthusiasm – but there has also been a tendency for conservatives on the internet and elsewhere to simply bash Hollywood and retreat from the mainstream culture.
Standing up for our cultural past means more than just wistfully saying “I wish they still made movies like that today!” It means actually supporting and championing those cultural objects from days gone by. It means putting your money where your wistful heart is. There are opportunities now for ordinary film lovers to help save and preserve older films.
One such opportunity is to contribute money to a film preservation campaign called “For the Love of Film,” a fund raising effort started by Marilyn Ferdinand of Ferdy On Films and Farran Smith Nehme of Self-Styled Siren (with help from Greg Ferrara and dozens of other bloggers who participated in the February blogathon) that was started to help pay for the costly process of preserving old films.
Partnering with the National Film Preservation Foundation, “For the Love of Film” has raised $13,500 in donations so far from classic film lovers and people who care about film preservation – and this money is going towards the restoration and preservation of at least two films from the collection of seventy-five films recently discovered in New Zealand.
Here is a chance for conservative-minded movie lovers to be pro-active and actually contribute to the preservation of our cinematic history. Watching TCM and buying classic movie DVDs and commenting about old movies on blogs and whatnot are all positive ways to keep our cultural heritage alive, but there’s also now a way to literally save an old film – by contributing money to the National Film Preservation Foundation, conservatives (and any movie lover of any political stripe), can save an old film from oblivion.
The NFPF contribution page is HERE.
“For the Love of Film” has a Facebook page HERE, if you’d like to keep up with the ongoing efforts to save these films.
Isn’t this what being a conservative who loves the arts is all about? About trying to save our cultural heritage? The fight to save and preserve old movies is a fight against that dangerous utilitarianism of our age, which says that old movies “don’t matter” in the grand scheme of things. Yes, they may not matter in terms of reducing the federal budget or solving the illegal immigration problem. Saving these strange silent cinema ghosts isn’t going to win us the war against Islamic radicals or stop the spread of anti-liberty ideologies.
But as conservatives we should stand for more than just “what’s useful.” We need to also stand for what is good. And preserving our American cultural history is simply A Good Thing. It’s a fight that says, history matters and that American culture matters and old movies are worth saving in and of themselves and not as any sort of means to an end. Film preservation isn’t going to solve any of the world’s ills or win elections for our side. But it’s worth doing because preserving art, preserving history is a good unto itself.
Posted on June 12th, 2010 at 12:38pm.
Hi Jennifer, This certainly sounds like a good cause. Thanks so much for bringing it to our attention!
“But as conservatives we should stand for more than just ‘what’s useful.’ We need to also stand for what is good.”
Thoroughly well said! This recognition is the essence of a meaningful conservative cultural movement. The point is not to turn art into a conservative propaganda device, but to demonstrate by counterexample what it means to create art that isn’t propaganda. I would add, however, that what’s good is likely, in the end, to be useful, because the greatest art tends to embrace the values and perspectives in which conservatism is rooted. I know of only one categorically great artist who is likewise a genuine temperamental liberal — Charles Dickens. His liberalism, however, constantly works against the greatness of his art, and he manages to overcome it only by the unstoppable juggernaut of his genius.
Thanks, Looksoverpark! And it is a good cause. The historical value of these films alone (not to mention the value they have to lovers of classic cinema) should be enough to get conservatives donating. One of the films being restored, THE SERGEANT, includes incredible historical footage of Yosemite Valley before it became a national park. How cool is that?!
I too believe the “good” is also what is “useful,” in a larger human sense. I believe that both Ms. Baldwin and David Ross are correct in this regard. An excellent post Ms. Baldwin. You bring much needed attention to the important issue of saving the West’s cinematic heritage. I often think of the pioneering efforts Henri Langlois of the Cinémathèque Française made in this regard. We would not have many silent films if it were not for him, and he never truly received the support he needed in his era either. Yet he almost singlehandedly saved thousands of European and American film classics. Therefore, it is up to individuals in every era to put forward the effort to save our art, history, and the cultural memories they embody. Please keep up the good effort at Libertas.
Well put. Conservatives do not support the arts enough, and then they complain about the culture being “liberal.” Nothing will change until conservatives takes the arts more seriously. But how to make that happen?