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Once thought to be lost for ever, the 1923 rags-to-riches story Love, Life and Laughter has been found and restored, bringing Balfour’s magnetic charm to a new audience

“There was once a happy little chorus girl who lived alone in a garret, and there was a lonely boy in the attic above, who wrote tales nobody wanted, except perhaps the girl.” The chorus girl is called Tip-Toes, and she is destined for great stardom. The young man, not so much.

This is the fairytale scenario for a movie made in 1923 by George Pearson, an ambitious, occasionally self-aggrandising British director. It is a scenario that he reprinted in his florid autobiography, Flashback. The cheery chorine was to be played by Pearson’s protege, and one of the biggest stars in British silent cinema, Betty Balfour. The resulting film, Love, Life and Laughter, combines whimsy with realism to tell a story about optimism and ideals.

Gala screenings include ‘The Lighthouse’ and ‘The King’.

Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, Pablo Larrain’s Ema, Tom Harper’s The Aeronauts and David Michod’s The King will all be showcased as gala screenings at this year’s BFI London Film Festival (October 2-13).

The full programme has been announced today. Scroll down for the list.

Lff artistic director Tricia Tuttle talks new festival hub, ticket prices and venue challenges

Further galas include Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy And Punch, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, and Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood,...

BFI launches campaign to find missing film featuring Sherlock Holmes.

The BFI has launched a campaign to find a copy of the first feature film featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Silent film A Study in Scarlet, directed by George Pearson, was released in autumn 1914.

The work is an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story of the same name, which shows a fictional murder during Brigham Young’s trek across America with his Mormon followers.

The film was shot on location at Worton Hall studios in the Summer of 1914. Cheddar Gorge in Somerset and Southport Sands in Merseyside stood in for the Rocky Mountains and the Utah plains.

Pearson’s second Holmes film, The Valley of Fear (1916), starring H.A. Saintsbury, is also missing.

Bryony Dixon, curator, silent film, BFI National Archive said: “Every archivist dreams of finding lost films. But this is a film of great importance. Sherlock Holmes is internationally renowned as a great detective. It would be...

BFI launches campaign to find missing film featuring Sherlock Holmes.

The BFI has launched a campaign to find a copy of the first feature film featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Silent film A Study in Scarlet, directed by George Pearson, was released in autumn 1914.

The work is an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story of the same name, which shows a fictional murder during Brigham Young’s trek across America with his Mormon followers.

The film was shot on location at Worton Hall studios in the Summer of 1914. Cheddar Gorge in Somerset and Southport Sands in Merseyside stood in for the Rocky Mountains and the Utah plains.

Pearson’s second Holmes film, The Valley of Fear (1916), starring H.A. Saintsbury, is also missing.

Bryony Dixon, curator, silent film, BFI National Archive said: “Every archivist dreams of finding lost films. But this is a film of great importance. Sherlock Holmes is internationally renowned as a great detective. It would be...

The 1923 film Love, Life and Laughter stars Betty Balfour.

The BFI is has revealed the discovery by Eye, the Dutch Film Museum, of a lost masterpiece of British silent cinema, George Pearson’s Love, Life and Laughter (1923), starring Betty Balfour.

Balfour, also known as Britain’s “Queen of Happiness”, was the most successful British actress of the 1920s, known also as the country’s answer to Mary Pickford. It is one of the most wanted on the BFI’s list of 75 films published to mark the BFI National Archive’s 75th anniversary in 2010. Only one other complete film by director Geroge Pearson survives.

The film was recently discovered in the archives of Eye, while being catalogued following its arrival at the archive in November 2012. The print is part of a collection of film cans that belonged to a local cinema in the small town of Hattem, near Zwolle.

Cinema Theater De Vries had only been active for three...

George Pearson's 1923 rags-to-riches story starring Betty Balfour had been on BFI 'most wanted' list for years

There are few who can claim to have seen the 1923 film Love, Life and Laughter, but the critic of the Manchester Guardian appears to have enjoyed it, acknowledging its masterpiece credentials and calling it "ambitious, spectacular" and "lit and photographed with a beauty to dream of".

Film-goers will now be able to decide for themselves. The BFI has announced, with some excitement, that the long lost film has been rediscovered in Amsterdam.

Today's generation is surrounded by technology. Rapidly-advancing tools of all sorts are so prevalent in every aspect of our lives that we depend on them, nay, expect them to make our lives easier, more enjoyable, and more interesting. Multi-billion dollar industries such as cinema are in no way immune from the public's desire for bigger and better things. Moviegoers have the options of watching films in a variety of locales, in IMAX or 3D, via regular projection screens or the latest in digital picture. For those who prefer to stay close to home, the options multiply. Satellite TV, cable TV, Redbox, a widespread availability of DVDs, and even the disappearing neighborhood rental store all combine to contain every movie that the discerning film aficionado could ever hope to watch, available at the push of a button or a short drive up the street.

Well... almost every movie. It may seem...

Officials at the British Film Institute (BFI) are urging fans to 'adopt' an Alfred Hitchcock movie as part of a scheme to raise money for the restoration of the legendary director's early pictures.

The campaign aims to gather enough donations to allow movie experts to restore nine of Hitchcock's silent film reels from the 1920s, including Blackmail, The Ring and Easy Virtue, which have all been damaged over time and are in need of repair.

Movie enthusiasts can hand over their cash through the BFI's website - a contribution of $7,500 (£5,000) earns the donor an onscreen credit, while $37.50 (£25) is enough to restore 50 centimetres (20 inches) of film.

BFI bosses have also launched a hunt for 75 missing films, with Hitchcock's The Mountain Eagle topping the 'most wanted' list.

Also included in the top 10 is 1914's A Study In Scarlet, directed by George Pearson and believed to feature the first ever onscreen appearance of super sleuth Sherlock Holmes in a British movie.