# What lost film would you most like to see recovered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975 "2013-02-21T15:54:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![StJoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@StJoan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StJoan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/41 "2013-02-24T11:24:53Z")
Now that “Metropolis” is nearly complete, and Louise Brook’s “Pandora’s Box” still survives, I would really like to see Theda Bara’s “Cleopatra”. For the sake of the costumes, if not for anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/42 "2013-02-24T11:25:50Z")
**Wings** with its original soundtrack (which won it the Oscar). The original records _do_ still exist, but it’s a case of a certain type of historical society lady who is in charge of the archive and not allowing anyone near the recordings (if she doesn’t downright insist that the records do not exist if you’re not the ‘right’ kind of person.) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/43 "2013-02-24T15:20:56Z")
> [@from\_a\_to\_z](#): > > Great minds gape alike? Mary Astor was also in CC, 4th billed per IMDb and per the teaser linked below, in the days (and nights and early mornings) when the studios were taking full advantage of their employees. In her book [A Life on Film](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2132929.A_Life_On_Film), written about 38 years after CC was released, she mentions But thanks to pages like [“Convention City A Lost Film?”](http://www.jazzage1920s.com/conventioncity/conventioncity.php), we can imagine. I just wanted to say that this is why I love this place. Here’s a poster that’s been around eight years, has less than two hundred posts, yet knowledgeably chimes in on a post that piques his or her interest. I find these instances fascinating. Sorry for the hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/44 "2013-02-24T15:40:36Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I just wanted to say that this is why I love this place. Here’s a poster that’s been around eight years, has less than two hundred posts, yet knowledgeably chimes in on a post that piques his or her interest. I find these instances fascinating. Sorry for the hijack. Quite all right. Reclusive people often have very special knowledge. I’d like to see the newsreel version of NBC’s first TV broadcast in 1936. RKO Pathé News filmed it as it was being broadcast live, with a movie camera right beside the TV camera. RKO handed over the reel to their parent RCA, who wanted it for a screening for bigwigs who hadn’t been able to make the live show. It was subsequently “lost,” but seeing as the show was so top secret that even the press weren’t invited, it was probably burned. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/45 "2013-02-24T16:14:16Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > **Wings** with its original soundtrack (which won it the Oscar). The original records _do_ still exist, but it’s a case of a certain type of historical society lady who is in charge of the archive and not allowing anyone near the recordings (if she doesn’t downright insist that the records do not exist if you’re not the ‘right’ kind of person.) Hoarders. Hate 'em. It was my great pleasure to demolish a largish and very self-satisfied group of such, a decade or so back. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/46 "2013-02-24T16:37:23Z")
> **[The Life of General Villa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_General_Villa)** > > The Life of General Villa (1914) is a silent biographical action–drama film starring Pancho Villa as himself, shot on location during a civil war. The film incorporated both staged scenes and authentic live footage from real battles during the Mexican Revolution, around which the plot of the film revolves. The film was produced by D. W. Griffith and featured future director Raoul Walsh as the younger version of Villa. > Currently the film is presumably lost, with only unedited fragments and public... ---
**Author:** ![Kepler1571](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@Kepler1571](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepler1571)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/47 "2013-02-24T17:43:37Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > The missing First and Second Doctor episodes of Doctor Who. This. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/48 "2013-02-24T23:04:15Z")
[The Patriot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Patriot_(1928_film)) I’m slowly trying to watch all the Best Picture winners and nominees. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/49 "2013-02-24T23:18:41Z")
[Santo Gold’s immortal _Blood Circus_.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Circus) I’d love to see it, and if I had a million dollars I’d have Joel and the 'Bots do their thing over top of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/50 "2013-02-24T23:55:27Z")
I’d like to see the dailies, production stills, or read the script to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s _Dune_, which was to star Orson Welles and Salvador Dali, with a score by Pink Floyd. Heck, I’d like to hear the music. Sadly, the financial backers backed out half way through and we ended up with _Alien_ instead. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/51 "2013-02-25T00:24:41Z")
Many of the above, plus the 1916 version of _Under Two Flags_, with Theda Bara. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/52 "2013-02-25T06:09:43Z")
Hat’s Off, early Laurel & Hardy short, and the first where they played more or less their famous Stan & Ollie characters. . The Music Box, where they famously carry a piano up a long flight od steps, is a remake. [recontruction on Youtube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_WbrXEMU6E) ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/53 "2013-02-25T09:55:17Z")
There’s a lot of “Lost” films I’d love to see but one which springs to mind (and doesn’t appear to have been mentioned yet) is _The Life of General Villa_, the film of the Mexican Revolution which starred Pancho Villa as himself\*. They actually filmed some of the (real) battles and got Villa’s army to re-stage others - I’m sure it’d be interesting, not to say historically fascinating, stuff. \*There was a movie in 2003 called _And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself_ about this, with Antonio Banderas in the lead role. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/54 "2013-02-25T13:08:47Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’d like to see the dailies, production stills, or read the script to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s _Dune_, which was to star Orson Welles and Salvador Dali, with a score by Pink Floyd. Heck, I’d like to hear the music. > > Sadly, the financial backers backed out half way through and we ended up with _Alien_ instead. You can see some of the production sketches in back issues of _Cinefantastique_ devoted to the movie _Dune_. I know a lot of people go nuts over this one, but I’m pretty skeptical myself about how it would have turned out. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/55 "2013-02-25T20:02:11Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I’d like to see the dailies, production stills, or read the script to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s _Dune_, which was to star Orson Welles and Salvador Dali, with a score by Pink Floyd. Heck, I’d like to hear the music. > > Sadly, the financial backers backed out half way through and we ended up with _Alien_ instead. Not only Pink Floyd. Tangerine Dream and another band were supposed to do the music. Apparently, each major planet would have been covered by its own band. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/56 "2013-02-25T20:09:22Z")
> [@detop](#): > > Not only Pink Floyd. Tangerine Dream and another band were supposed to do the music. Apparently, each major planet would have been covered by its own band. It’s the Ultimate House Band! ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/57 "2013-02-26T02:06:01Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I just wanted to say that this is why I love this place. Here’s a poster that’s been around eight years, has less than two hundred posts, yet knowledgeably chimes in on a post that piques his or her interest. I find these instances fascinating. Sorry for the hijack. Yes, I am happy to contribute whatever I can, and a big thank-you to you others who have contributed much more. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/58 "2013-02-26T06:32:27Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > There’s a lot of “Lost” films I’d love to see but one which springs to mind (and doesn’t appear to have been mentioned yet) is _The Life of General Villa_, the film of the Mexican Revolution which starred Pancho Villa as himself\*. They actually filmed some of the (real) battles and got Villa’s army to re-stage others - I’m sure it’d be interesting, not to say historically fascinating, stuff. > \*There was a movie in 2003 called _And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself_ about this, with Antonio Banderas in the lead role. Pssst… [Check post #46…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16039206&postcount=46) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/59 "2013-02-26T06:50:43Z")
I don’t know the titles, but I know who starred in them! 😉 And about what year they came out. Seriously, just kidding. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jack\_tardiff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jack\_tardiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_tardiff)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975/60 "2013-02-26T08:25:29Z")
Yeah, more in the spirit of the OP and some other posts – I think a lot of Ford silents have been lost, as have those of Lubitsch. I’d much rather see the Lubitsch 1920s films, but it could be instructive to watch the work of even well-documented workhorses like Ford and Hawks. To my knowledge, there’s only been one (or perhaps a small handful of) serious scholarly monographs/books on Lubitsch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-lost-film-would-you-most-like-to-see-recovered/650975.md?page=4)