These Amazing Shadows (PBS/DVD/2011)
The art and science of film restoration is the subject of this lovely documentary. Directed by Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton, it is both a valentine to the art of film-making and a detailed examination of how fragile this art-form is and what it takes, in both money and dedication, to protecting film from the ravages of time and mishandling.
Coming from the reality that 50% of all films shot before 1950 and over 90% of all silent-era films have now crumbled away, the race against time is on full-tilt. Helped by grants from individuals and some forward-thinking folk at the Hollywood Studios, along with recognition from the powerful National film Registry (year-by-year at least 25 films are recognized as culturally important), all of which leading to more salvations of our filmic pasts.
Taking from active artists such as directors Rob Reiner, John Walters, John Singleton and Wayne Wang, the successful producer Gale Anne Hurd, documentarian Barbara Kopple, film historian Leonard Maltin and Dr. James Billington, the current Librarian of Congress, the arguments for preservation are cogent and illuminating.
The sadness lies in how film wasn’t considered anything like an artform until after WWII, so the notion of actually saving the films, let alone the ephemera that surrounds them (posters, lobby cards, press kits, movie-stills, etc.) didn’t exist in large numbers. But today that has changed. Libraries across the country, along with film buffs and the studios themselves, have been amassing information that will do well for academic film studies for decades to come.
This delightful and informative documentary will educate as well as entertain. You couldn’t go wrong with it on your shelves.