NFPF News

THE BARGAIN in the NFPF Screening Room

William S. Hart in The Bargain (1914)

The NFPF has the pleasure of announcing that The Bargain (1914) is now available for free viewing in our online screening room. This epochal western, produced by Thomas Ince, directed by Reginald Barker, and added to the National Film Registry in 2010, marked the feature film debut of William S. Hart, one of the genre's greatest stars. It kicked off Hart’s decade-long mission of giving the Western a greater semblance of realism and intense morality. Hart plays his favorite character type, the “good badman,” the outlaw who finds redemption in uneasy reach.

Though The Bargain is available elsewhere online, our copy is in High Definition and graced with a score by Ben Model! Our thanks to the Library of Congress for providing a scan of the 35mm paper print, originally deposited at the Library for copyright purposes in 1914, and for … Read more

15 Video Upgrades Now Online

Thanks to the generosity of the Audio-Video Conservation Center at the Library of Congress 15 videos on the NFPF website have received high-definition upgrades. The films, preserved and first uploaded more than a decade ago, have been recently scanned by the Library, and viewers will appreciate the jump in visual quality.

Rips and Rishes (1917), directed by Larry Semon, now in HD.

Two films are from the “Lost and Found: Australia” project, begun in 2008 to preserve and make available American silent films found in the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. The Prospector (1912) is a one-reel Western from the Essanay studio, while U.S. Navy of 1915 (1915) is a fragment from a documentary by Lyman H. Howe promoting American naval preparedness. Both were preserved by the Library of Congress with NFPF support.

The 13 remaining films are from “Lost and Found: New … Read more

Now Online: Harry Carey, Christopher Walken, and Code Blue

Christopher Walken knows many secrets as The Boy Who Saw Through (1958).

The National Film Preservation Foundation wishes you a festive holiday season! Should you wish to celebrate with some eclectic home viewing, take a look at three additions to our Online Screening Room: the urban western Soft Shoes (1925), starring Harry Carey; The Boy Who Saw Through (1958), produced by the legendary animator Mary Ellen Bute and starring a 14-year-old Christopher Walken; and Code Blue (1972), an inspiring recruitment film for minorities in the medical profession, produced by Blackside Inc., the company behind Eyes on the Prize. Taken as a set, these titles testify to the variety of films preserved through our grant program.

Recently rediscovered at the Czech National Film Archive, Soft Shoes is a charming short feature starring Harry Carey as a small-town sheriff who visits San … Read more

Now Online: Six More Films from the EYE Project

Oliver Hardy menaces Jimmy Aubrey in The Backyard (1920).

A rich mix of fiction and non-fiction films has joined the NFPF website’s screening room. All are freshly preserved products of the NFPF’s ongoing partnership with EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. Unseen since their original release more than 90 years ago, these movies are accompanied by new music from acclaimed silent film accompanists Stephen Horne, Ben Model, and Michael Mortilla, and by program notes from scholars and film experts. The preservation and web presentation of the nonfiction films was made possible through a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Two comedies were preserved under the direction of the Library of Congress and are presented with notes from silent comedy historian Steve Massa. The Backyard (1920) is a Vitagraph studio comedy, featuring a pre-Laurel Oliver Hardy as the villain, set … Read more

"Soft Shoes" at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Starting May 30th the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary with five days of programs showcasing silent classics from around the world. The NFPF is honored to have played a part in the celebration by supporting the preservation of Soft Shoes (1925), which screens May 31 with live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin.

"Harry Carey is willing to risk an eye as Lillian Rich adjusts her stocking" in Soft Shoes (1925). Photo and text from Exhibitor’s Trade Review, March 14, 1925.

Directed by Lloyd Ingraham and photographed by Sol Polito, Soft Shoes was part of a series of Westerns produced by Hunt Stromberg and starring Harry Carey. Set in 1925, the semi-comedic story involves small-town western sheriff Pat Halahan (Carey) visiting San Francisco and apprehending the alluring burglar Faith O’Day (Lillian Rich), who had attempted to rob his hotel room. … Read more