Saturday Reads

It's their school, their rules, I'm afraid.
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Silent film historian Kevin Brownlow believes there is a pile of "lost films" in Cuba of all places.

But Brownlow isn’t content to just be honored for his own past work — he wants the work to continue, freely offering up advice about how future milestones in film preservation might be achieved. And where “lost” silent masterpieces might yet be found.

“I remember a Cuban refugee meeting me in London and saying all the films you’re looking for are in the Cuban archive,” Brownlow said, referring to Havana’s Cinemateca de Cuba, which is in possession of some 80,000 reels of historic films, including early American silent films. “So I spoke to a high ranking member [of the Cinemateca] on the telephone, and just to try and test the waters, I asked him if he had a print of the lost Erich von Stroheim film ‘The Devil’s Pass Key.’ And he simply said, ‘I’ve seen it.’”

“The Devil’s Pass Key,” a 1920 silent drama mounted by Universal Pictures under its Jewel label, is still considered lost, and its rediscovery would help illuminate more about von Stroheim’s career.

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