Lost film found in box in basement
TORONTO — As a kid in Winnipeg, Richard Scott used to huddle in the basement with his family and watch 1920s-era silent films projected onto a bedsheet hung up with clothespins. His dad, who worked at Eaton’s, acquired the 16-mm films when the local department store discontinued its rental service and got rid of its stock in the late 1940s.
“We had piles of these movie tins,” Scott recalled. “In total there were 15 feature movies, but none of them were the big-name actors of the time. They weren’t Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.”
Still, one of them has turned out to be a gem. which the Library of Congress in the U.S. had declared as one of the thousands of “lost” movies of the silent-film era, was among the titles in the Scott family collection.
“It’s, dare I say, more than rare — it is unique,” said Brock Silversides, director of the University of Toronto’s Media Commons department, which received the film and many others from the Scott family.
Scott, who is retired, said the films had been kept in their original tins in an insulated box in his basement in Mississauga, Ont., for about 30 years.
When he started downsizing, he reached out to the university, which has since restored and digitized the copy of a 1924 murder-mystery comedy starring James Kirkwood, Madge Bellamy and ZaSu Pitts.
Last week, the school organized a special screening of the film with a pianist providing the soundtrack.
Overall, the entire Scott collection comprises lower-budget, “good, solid films that give a wonderful idea of filmmaking during the silent era,” Silversides said.
“They’re extremely professional, they’re good lighting, good editing, good acting, just good feature films.”
Scott said he’s “thrilled” that the films have found a new home and will be appreciated.
“It’sbetterthatthefilmsbeviewed and restored than have them just continue to deteriorate.”
I wasn’t looking forward to another Smurfing Smurf movie. (Pardon my Smurf.) After the dreadful live-action/computergenerated mash-ups of 2011 and 2013, the series held a special place in my heart, alongside the four
movies and the 10 plagues of Egypt. But the makers of
have learned a valuable lesson — pick on someone your own size! As a result, the latest chapter is an all-cartoon affair, freeing Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and the rest of the liveaction cast to lead fuller, more productive lives.
There’s still a full-size villain in Gargamel, voiced by Rainn Wilson, but he’s as cartoon as everyone else in this simple, inoffensive, G-rated story. The plot finds Smurfette (Demi Lovato) heading into the forbidden forest, where she has spotted evidence of a different kind of Smurf. Gargamel is looking for them, too.
Accompanying her on this quest are Brainy (Danny Pudi), Clumsy (perfectly voiced by Jack McBrayer) and Hefty (Joe Manganiello), who has the mildest of flirtations with the tribe’s lone female. Of greater concern to kids and grown-ups alike is that, like Bryce Dallas Howard in
Smurfette has to go through the whole thing in heels. But maybe director Kelly Asbury
didn’t want to rock the boat too much. And so the Smurfs are pretty much as you’ll remember them from the 1980s TV series — decent chaps, each with a single defining characteristic, not unlike Antoine Fuqua’s except, you know, on purpose.
They make their way through the movie with nary a nod to modern culture; no SmurfChat for them. Even the sound effects are old school, with mouth harps and slide whistles and that diving-board boiyoi-yoi-yoing sound to represent springiness.
About the only evidence of modernity is hiring celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay as the voice of Baker Smurf.
The cast also includes Mandy Patinkin as the mildly befuddled Papa Smurf, and (at the risk of letting Azrael out of the bag) Julia Roberts, Ellie Kemper and Ariel Winter. Throw in Michelle Rodriguez along with the forest setting, blue skin hues and some unusual animals (glowing rabbits?), and there’s a bit of an vibe in
It also brushes up against although with less originality and fewer songs; the big number is Meghan Trainor singing
The film doesn’t even feature the Smurfs’ la-laaaa-la-la-lala theme song, which is one more reason to like it. Parents may not get much out this kids’ movie, but at least they won’t be stuffing popcorn in their ears.