Forgotten Treasure

Forgotten Treasure (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Another entry in John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series with this one taking a look at early film preservation a the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Earlier in the series Nesbitt and director Lee made THE FILM THAT WAS LOST and it was a little bit better than this one but this film does offer some clips from some early cinema. Whereas the first film actually talked about the work going into saving films, this one here pretty much just shows us clips and talks about how this footage will be used in the future to look back and see how times were. We get footage of President William McKinley just hours before he was assassinated and we also get to see footage from the 1906 San Fran earthquake and then compare that footage to MGM's SAN FRANCISCO.

Here's a short in the John Nesbitt "Passing Parade" series that hardly does justice to its subject matter--film preservation so that in 1999 people can still view historic newsreel footage of important events captured on nitrate film, and how the Mueum of Modern Art decided to salvage much of the historic footage.

It begins with a glimpse of President McKinley only a short time before being shot and footage of Teddy Roosevelt who followed him as the next president; some actual footage of the 1906 San Francisco quake which helped MGM duplicate the historic quake for its film, SAN FRANCISCO; the death of Edward VII in 1910 wherein there was a meeting of various kings from different countries, including the Duke of Austria who would be shot four years later leading to WWI; the Wright Brothers testing their airplane in footage believed to have been shot in 1908; air power becoming essential during WWII, with a scene of the destruction at Pearl Harbor.

All presented in routine fashion. Nothing special, except that it makes the point that students of history can learn a lot if film preservation keeps history alive.

This is an episode of John Nesbitt's Passing Parade. The Museum of Modern Art in New York is preserving degrading film stock for future generations. It is funny to see their version of 1999 kids which looks like little 50's punks. Certainly, they didn't predict any future tech. That part is disappointing. They could have had fun with that.

This basically becomes a clip show of various footages. Some are more compelling than others. Some may even be important historically. It is a lot of politicians and royalties. There is even the Wright brothers. Those footages elevate this one from the usual standard episode.

As a lover of very old movies and a New Yorker, I am very grateful to the Museum of Modern Art on West 53rd Street, for its pioneering efforts in recognizing, preserving, and making available a vast library of very old films. The idea for the film department was Iris Barry's, and for decades she ruled the department, deciding what would be preserved or restored or made available. I disagree with a lot of her decisions, as I would with anyone's: even mine own, looking back.

This episode of John Nesbitt's long-running series for shorts for MGM chooses to focus instead on what has been preserved, and its educational value. We get long lines of forgotten royalty at a king's funeral instead of a look at Miss Barry at work. It's a choice I disagree with, but then, the only person who could make a choice I would agree with would be.... well, not me, certainly.