Staying home, practicing social distancing and binge-listening to podcasts, we're thinking of our friends who are in the business of rescuing and preserving our celluloid heritage.
Today we pay tribute to the National Film Preservation Foundation.
NFPF posted Too Much Johnson, a long-lost 1938 film by Orson Welles which was originally shot to be incorporated into a Mercury Theatre stage presentation. The cinema rarity was found in a Pordenone warehouse. Thanks to George Eastman House and National Film Preservation Foundation, we can see it.
We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog have enjoyed the DVDs the NFPF have been involved in.
Quite a few amazing finds, especially comedies, in the New Zealand collection restoration, completed in 2013, now available on the Lost & Found: American Treasures From The New Zealand Archives DVD.
Also enjoyed what we found via the following links courtesy of the National Film Preservation Foundation blog:
33 More Films Added to NFPF’s Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films
Online Field Guide to Sponsored Films
Treasures From The American Archives
For toon heads and stop-motion fans, we note the presence of very cool animated films available in the screening room of the National Film Preservation Foundation website. These include everything from Bil Baird’s Marionettes in Adventure in Telezonia (1949), silent era cartoons A Smashup in China (1919), Mutt & Jeff - On Strike (1920), Col. Heeza Liar's Forbidden Fruit (1923) and the Fleischer Studios' Koko's Queen (1926) to WW2 propaganda Private Snafu - Spies (1943) by the Warner Bros. animation crew (plus Ted Geisel).
In addition there are historic 1950's style animated industrial films, such as The Story of Creative Capital (1957). Note: don't chortle too loudly at the film's topper, beginning with narrator Marvin Miller's WTF-inducing description of a post-World War II economic miracle, starting at 12:47. Could this be a deliberate joke (snuck in by writer Bill Scott) or was it merely the product of a much more innocent time? We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog put our two cents on the latter.
This "you, the average Joe, are the cornerstone of our thriving economy" opus by John Sutherland Productions was sponsored by The Chamber of Commerce of the United States and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. - and created by quite the all-star lineup of talent. Sutherland would continue producing industrial and educational animated films for business into the 1970's.
A few NFPF restorations, such as this black and white version from The Library Of Congress of a Walter Lantz "Cartune" promoting dental hygiene for Ipana Toothpaste, are up on YouTube.
Since this B&W print of Boy Meets Dog was posted awhile back, an excellent Castle Films color print was located, restored and posted on the Cartoon Research website. Many of us animation buffs first saw Boy Meets Dog in 8mm silent black and white prints, so it's fantastic to see this.
The National Film Preservation Foundation does amazing work. Kudos, bravos and huzzahs to them!
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