# What is the latest "lost" major movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225 "2005-10-07T17:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/41 "2005-10-10T02:47:20Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Although there are several hours of film footage of the 1936 Summer Olympics (notably, Leni Riefenstahl’s two-part documentary _Olympia_), I have never heard that any recording of the television broadcasts exists. With only 180 lines of resolution, it was reportedly difficult to discern what was going on. > > [More](http://www.tvhistory.tv/1936%20German%20Olympics%20TV%20Program.htm) on television at the 1936 Summer Olympics. > [_Popular Wireless_](http://www.tvhistory.tv/1936%20QF.htm) article. So it was only newsreel footage in Contact? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/42 "2005-10-10T03:11:26Z")
Since you’re mentioning TV, the most of the first couple of seasons of “What’s My Line?” are missing as well as an experimental color broadcast (9/9/54). ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/43 "2005-10-10T03:25:18Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Thus far and no mention of Colin McKenzie, the pioneering NZ director whose entire _oeuvre_ {apart from a few fragments of **Salome** } has been lost to posterity? For shame! I’m sure that if the garden sheds of New Zealand were systematically searched some more examples of McKenzie’s work would be unearthed. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/44 "2005-10-10T03:35:15Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I’m sure that if the garden sheds of New Zealand were systematically searched some more examples of McKenzie’s work would be unearthed. Peter Jackson probably has a pretty big shed by now. ---
**Author:** ![Lime\_Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f0a364/32.png) [@Lime\_Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lime_Jello)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/45 "2005-10-10T03:49:28Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > I doubt this counts as a “major studio” movie, but evidently it did have a theatrical release: the 1985 movie [**Blood Circus**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Circus). It was apparently a really horrid movie about wrestlers from outer space, or something. It was produced by the shady character who also produced the [Santo Gold infomercials](http://infomercial.tvheaven.com/santogold.htm), which are plenty weird in their own right. The movie’s very limited theatrical run even included a giveaway “Scream Bag”. > > Producer Santo Rigatuso was arrested for mail fraud, and his attorney used **Blood Circus** at trial to prove Rigatuso’s mental incompetence. Despite such compelling evidence, he was convicted. The film is now either lost or destroyed; all that survives are the clips that were shown during the Santo Gold infomercials. Holy cats, I thought I’d been sniffing glue and hallucinated those commercials. I think I even did a half-assed google search on the subject some time back(unsuccessfully). . .can’t remember much of them (might be the glue, might be a self-defense mechanism of the mind), but they were so out there that I evidently could not purge them entirely. SANTO GOLD! That reference startled me out of a year of lurking! Thanks. . .I know I’m not alone now. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/46 "2005-10-10T04:42:21Z")
There was apparently an Ultimate Cut version of Dune (David Lynch, '84) which was a good 4 hours long. Not the Lynch Version… Not the Alan Smithee version… Not the edited Lynch + Smithee version… …but a four hour ass-cramper version. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/47 "2005-10-10T05:46:04Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > So it was only newsreel footage in Contact? Right. > [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Since you’re mentioning TV, the most of the first couple of seasons of “What’s My Line?” are missing as well as an experimental color broadcast (9/9/54). Experimental color broadcasts ended on [December 17, 1953](http://novia.net/~ereitan/rca-nbc_firsts.html), when the FCC approved the NTSC color system. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/48 "2005-10-10T06:18:01Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > Not sure why you would consider game shows to be a big loss. If it’s a celebrity panel show, it may be some of the only footage of someone who was primarily a stage performer, or whose films were also lost. I find old game shows quite entertaining regardless. They aren’t _Playhouse 90_ or anything, but they’re still an interesting part of American culture. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/49 "2005-10-10T06:21:38Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Peter Jackson probably has a pretty big shed by now. I hear he’s looking to buy a second one. > [@Peter Morris](#): > > Some important lost movies: > The piefight in Doctor Strangelove Having read about that, I don’t think that’s a major loss. Even if it wasn’t any good, I’d certainly like to see the lost Marx Brothers film. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/50 "2005-10-10T08:07:48Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I hear he’s looking to buy a second one. **The Two Sheds** ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/51 "2005-10-10T08:40:00Z")
> [@Dusty](#): > > By all contemporary accounts, _London After Midnight_ was a rather lackluster film with the only thing going for it being Chaney’s makeup. (snip) > Don’t get me wrong, if a print were to surface, I’d be there in line to see it, but as far as my lost film tears go, I’ll save those for _Greed_. I’d like to see **Greed** too. Hey, am I nuts?! I could have sworn I saw **Greed** on tv one night. It would have been on Knowledge Network, KCTS or FrenchCBC, all out of the Vancouver area. I know for sure that I’ve seen clips. I particularly remember the windstorm. I’ve got one. “ **Monster Dog** ”, AKA " **Leviathan** , starring Alice Cooper. It was made in Spain back in the Eighties. The film isn’t exactly lost, just the soundtrack. See, here’s how it happened. The thing was filmed in English, but a while later the producers decided they’d rather release it in Spanish. They got Spanish speaking actors to redo all the dialogue. For whatever reason (cheapness, I guess), they simply recorded over the original. Then they decided to go back to English, got _another_ set of actors and re-did it again. All that’s left of the first soundtrack is two songs - “Identity Crisis” and “See Me In The Mirror”. From what I hear, it sucks kinda bad, but I’d love to get my hands on it! It’s out on DVD now. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/52 "2005-10-10T08:42:15Z")
[QUOTE=zoogirl] I’d like to see **Greed** too. :smack: I mean “ **London After Midnight** ”, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/53 "2005-10-10T08:42:31Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > [Dinah East](http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0190364/) (1970) isn’t commercially available and prints may or may not exist. _Dinah East_ has been owned since 1998 by Applause Networks, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Parasol Group, Ltd., a German multi-media company. [Contact info.](http://www.usa-chamber-of-ecommerce.com/cgi-bin/distribute.pl?sstate=California&scategory=Studios+_+Films&sprofession=O) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/54 "2005-10-10T10:20:25Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > I’d like to see **Greed** too. > > Hey, am I nuts?! I could have sworn I saw **Greed** on tv one night. It would have been on Knowledge Network, KCTS or FrenchCBC, all out of the Vancouver area. I know for sure that I’ve seen clips. I particularly remember the windstorm. It exists alright, but in heavily edited form. > **[Greed (1924) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015881/alternateversions)** > > Greed (1924) on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/55 "2005-10-10T10:22:11Z")
Oh, I didn’t see your correction. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/56 "2005-10-10T10:41:19Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > … the 1985 movie [**Blood Circus** [/url was produced by the shady character who also produced the [url=http://infomercial.tvheaven.com/santogold.htm]Santo Gold infomercials](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Circus)… Funny, but I’m sure I remember seeing informercials not for Santo Gold but for a fake diamond material called “Ice”. The slogan went “ICE… the official gem of the new motion picture _Blood Circus_!” So as not to be completely off-topic, aren’t there lots of scenes missing from the Judy Garland version of “A Star is Born”? I recently saw a version which seemed to have all of the audio but the action for several scenes was represented by either black and white stills or storyboards. I assume that there were creative diffferences leading to a shorter cut being released a la _The Wicker Man_. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/57 "2005-10-10T12:43:51Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > I’d like to see **Greed** too. > > Hey, am I nuts?! I could have sworn I saw **Greed** on tv one night. It would have been on Knowledge Network, KCTS or FrenchCBC, all out of the Vancouver area. I know for sure that I’ve seen clips. I particularly remember the windstorm. > … > I mean “London After Midnight”, of course. > > . Thinking about it, could it have been _Nosferatu_ that you saw? I don’t know if there was a storm in either _Greed_ or _London after midnight_ but I’m pretty sure there was a storm and shipwreck in _Nosferatu_ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/58 "2005-10-10T12:57:37Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Experimental color broadcasts ended on [December 17, 1953](http://novia.net/~ereitan/rca-nbc_firsts.html), when the FCC approved the NTSC color system. “What’s My Line” was on CBS. [Cite](http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/episode-1/episode/92406/summary.html) The person who maintains that show (back when it was on TVTome) is a hardcore enthusiast about the show and has done extensive research, FWIW. > [@](#): > > CBS Studio 72 (On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Broadway at 81st St., NY) (One special early experimental color show was broadcast from this studio on EPISODE #225 on 9/19/1954.) Sorry, my date was off. It was 9/19/54. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/59 "2005-10-10T14:50:50Z")
Throughout 1954, CBS did one-time-only color broadcasts of their otherwise black and white series like _What’s My Line?_ So in that sense the color broadcast was “experimental”, but not in the sense that the FCC used to describe color broadcasts made before the FCC had set a standard. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225/60 "2005-10-10T20:29:12Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > Thinking about it, could it have been _Nosferatu_ that you saw? I don’t know if there was a storm in either _Greed_ or _London after midnight_ but I’m pretty sure there was a storm and shipwreck in _Nosferatu_ Storm, no shipwreck, as I recall. **Nosferatu** seduced my daughter, who normally doesn’t give a rip about old movies. I was watching it in the basement when she came in to ask some question. She looked at the screen and asked, “What’s this?” A minute later, a voice from over my shoulder (she hadn’t managed to make it out of the room): “This is interesting!” An hour later, “Wow, that was really good!” Muuwahahahahahahahaaaaaaa… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latest-lost-major-movie/325225.md?page=4)