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Abstract

This essay details the trials and tribulations of attempting to restore 450 short films, shot between 1908 and 1913. Details discussed include a history of paper prints created for copyright purposes, and sometimes the only source of degraded material; the eclectic nature of the Biograph camera negative and the challenges of scanning it on modern scanners; the challenges of the surviving material existing in shooting order, not in final print assemblies; missing intertitles; the degradation of nitrate-based film and negative stock; subsequent reissues and re-editing of material, and missing or lost material. Finally, we discuss the challenges of dealing with temperamental and dueling archives, including infighting, internecine jealousies, and blocking of access. A series of solutions and triumphs are also documented, intended to prevent despair on the part of film scholars, buffs and historians.

Additional Files
Goessel Table 1.png (35 kB)
Table 1. Distribution of Biograph Materials
Goessel Figure 1.png (639 kB)
Figure 1. A paper print roll.
Goessel Figure 2 Redone.png (828 kB)
Figure 2. Two frames of The Redman and the Child, Griffith’s second film, printed and tinted on safety stock. The Biograph camera sprocket holes appear as dark, rectangular objects, two to a frame, more clearly seen on the left. (Source: Los Angeles Museum of Natural History)
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Figure 3. Biograph production records listing the films for which intertitle lists exist.
Goessel Figure 4.png (438 kB)
Figure 4. Sample Biograph production record with the handwritten notations of the footage assigned to each intertitle.
Goessel Figure 5.png (177 kB)
Figure 5. Title marker for A Baby’s Shoe, scanned from contact preservation fine-grain positive produced from the Biograph negative in the 1970s by camera operator Karl Malkames.
Goessel Figure 2.png (659 kB)
Figure 6. Two frames from the Dawson City copy of Unexpected Help (1910). Careful frame-by-frame examination will permit determination of the full text, while placement and length are provided by the print itself, if there are no splices.
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Figure 7. Sample worksheet documenting serial changes in creating intertitles for The Medicine Bottle.
Goessel Figure 8.png (437 kB)
Figure 8. Two frames from the paper print of The Adventures of Dolly followed by the same two frames postrestoration. They are much improved, but note that the badminton racquets have disappeared because they are moving, necessitating manual correction of each frame.
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Figure 9. A 1908 letter to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company requesting the name of Florence Lawrence. (Source: Florence Lawrence Collection, Los Angeles Museum of Natural History)
Goessel Figure 10.png (895 kB)
Figure 10. Aywon reissue intertitle for An Arcadian Maid, left. Original intertitle, right, was sourced from paper print. It would have been white text on black background in the release print.
Goessel Figure 11.png (871 kB)
Figure 11. Nitrate degradation on original camera negative at the time of transfer to safety stock. Left: The Politician’s Love Story; right: Those Awful Hats. We have yet to get the paper prints from the Library of Congress to scan and replace these sections.
Goessel Figure 12.png (789 kB)
Figure 12. A 35mm frame of The Cord of Life, left, with the corresponding paper print frame, right. The tighter cropping of the paper print omits the edge of the frame. For narrative purposes, it matters little in this shot, but it can make a difference.
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Figure 13. A 16mm frame inset in the corresponding 35mm frame from A Cry for Help. In the scene, Lionel Barrymore has been begging and was not given a coin. He contemplates his empty palm, then turns it upside down to show that he received nothing. In the 16mm version, his hand is cut from the frame, and he appears to be looking at his lap.
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Figure 14. The first two frames of a missing shot from A Cry for Help.
Goessel Figure 15.png (394 kB)
Figure 15. A sample of the shot-by-shot description (including intertitles) for A Cry for Help, which supplanted the paper prints in July 1912.
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