NFPF News

THE RED MARK at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The fastest way out of the penal colony of Nouméa, as seen in The Red Mark (1928), preserved by and screening at the San Francisco Silent Festival.

On Sunday, April 14th the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will the premiere the new restoration of The Red Mark (1928), a prison-set potboiler preserved with NFPF support.

Directed by James Cruze, best known for epics The Covered Wagon (1923) and Old Ironsides (1926), the film is a set on the South Seas prison island of Nouméa. Its governor is De Nou (Gustav von Seyffertitz), who loves nothing more than sending a inmate to the guillotine. Pickpocket Bibi Ri (Gaston Glass) has won his freedom and refuses to leave the island without his girl (Nina Quartero), but she has caught the creepy, jealous eye of De Nou...

"A powerful story, though not a pretty one," was the judgment of Motion Picture … Read more

Catch MAN AND WIFE at the UCLA Festival of Preservation

Norma Shearer goes mad in Man and Wife (1923), preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Early April brings the return of the biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation, showcasing UCLA Film & Television Archive's latest preservation and restoration projects on the big screen. All screenings are free, and on April 7 attendees will have the opportunity to see the short feature Man and Wife (1923), preserved through a Roger Mayer Legacy Grant administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Directed by John L. McCutcheon and starring Norma Shearer and Maurice Costello, Man and Wife was an independent production filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey, known in the silent era as “Hollywood on the Hudson.” The film’s exuberantly melodramatic plot, involving secret identities, a character returning from the dead, insanity, and bigamy, caused … Read more

Reminder: Catch THE UNKNOWN on the big screen, September 30th!

Mark your calendar: on Saturday, September 30th, the National Film Preservation Foundation and Silent Movie Day will join forces to present a special screening of Tod Browning’s macabre masterpiece The Unknown. Featuring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, the film screens the day after Silent Movie Day at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas throughout the USA. Proceeds will support the NFPF’s preservation efforts.

Lon Chaney in The Unknown (1927), screening at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas on Sept. 30th.

The September 30th screenings take place at the following Alamo Drafthouse locations; tickets are available through the links:

Alamo South Lamar (Austin)
Alamo Wrigleyville (Chicago)
Alamo Sloans Lake (Denver)
Alamo DTLA
Alamo 28 Liberty (Manhattan)
Alamo Yonkers
Alamo Raleigh
Alamo Stone Oak (San Antonio)
Alamo New Mission (San Francisco) … Read more

The NFPF teams with Silent Movie Day to screen THE UNKNOWN

Lon Chaney gives his most disarming performance in The Unknown (1927), screening at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas on Sept. 30th.

To celebrate silent film history and raise funds for film preservation, the National Film Preservation Foundation and Silent Movie Day are joining forces to present a special screening of Tod Browning’s macabre masterpiece, The Unknown. Featuring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, the film will screen on Saturday, September 30th—the day after Silent Movie Day—at nine Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas throughout the USA. Proceeds from the screening will go to support the NFPF’s preservation efforts. You can donate to the NFPF directly by clicking here.

Directed by horror legend Tod Browning and released in 1927, The Unknown is a highwater mark of Browning’s silent-era work and one of ten films he made with Lon Chaney. Set in … Read more

Four NFPF-Preserved Films Unspooling at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Norma Shearer going mad in Man and Wife (1923), preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Next week the 26th installment of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival opens in San Francisco’s Castro Theatre. Four of the films have been preserved through grants administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation.

On Thursday, July 13, Doll Messengers of Friendship (1929) will screen during the free “Amazing Tales from the Archives” program. This short film commemorates a doll exchange between the U.S. and Japan that was initiated by the Committee on World Friendship Among Children. 58 dolls commissioned by the Japanese government from master doll makers toured the U.S. and were acclaimed as works of art. Doll Messengers of Friendship was screened at the local doll exchange ceremonies that comprised the tour. The surviving 9-minute … Read more