NFPF News

Tom Mix in Trailin’ at the UCLA Festival of Preservation

Eva Novak watches Tom Mix take aim at the villains in Trailin' (1921).

Late May sees the return of the biennial UCLA Festival of Preservation, which allows the public to view UCLA Film & Television Archive’s recent preservation and restoration projects on the big screen of the Billy Wilder Theater. All screenings are free, and on May 31 you can see the Tom Mix western Trailin’ (1921), preserved through a National Film Preservation Foundation grant. 

Mix takes the role of a polo-playing Bostonian who heads West to learn the truth about his mother after the death of his father in a mysterious duel. Stunt-filled action ensues as foolish Westerners lock horns with our hero and live to regret it: “He looks like a tenderfoot and he talks like a tenderfoot, but he ain’t no tenderfoot!”

Using skills learned during his years as a ranch hand and … Read more

“Amazing Tales from the Archives” This Week!

Jimmy Aubrey will do anything to get out of the house and into mischief in A Musical Mixup (1928).

Come out and see a presentation on a wonderful film funded through a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Thursday, May 7 sees the return of “Amazing Tales from the Archives” at the San Francisco Silent Festival. This free annual program, begun in 2006, brings together archivists from around the world to present reports on recent preservation projects. This year audiences will enjoy four presentations (with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne) from leading archivists and scholars. 

Among them is Kyle Westphal, co-founder of the Chicago Film Society, who will present A Musical Mixup (1928) and the saga of its preservation. This two-reel comedy shows what happens when two friends (Jimmy Aubrey and Bud Duncan) connive to attend the … Read more

New National Film Registry Films Online! Watch "The Oath of the Sword" and "The Maid of McMillan"

Masao and Hisa gaze across the ocean that will separate them in The Oath of the Sword (1914)

Today the Library of Congress announced the latest additions to the National Film Registry. Two of those films were preserved through NFPF grants and can be viewed for free on the NFPF’s website. They are: The Oath of the Sword, a three-reel drama produced by the Japanese American Film Company in 1914, which makes it the earliest surviving film made by Asian Americans; and The Maid of McMillan, the earliest known student film, shot in 1916 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. Both are presented with notes and musical accompaniment.

The Japanese American Film Company, which produced The Oath of the Sword, was formed in Los Angeles, and according to trade press was “the first company in America to be owned, controlled … Read more

Happy Holidays! Now Streaming the Search for Santa in "It Was Just Like Christmas," Plus One More Amateur Gem

Santa is front and center in It Was Just Like Christmas (1948)...

To celebrate the holidays, we’re sharing two Christmas-themed amateur shorts preserved by Northeast Historic Film through NFPF grants.

It Was Just Like Christmas (1948) follows a 5-year-old girl’s search for Santa Claus, while Sweeter by the Dozen (ca. 1950) depicts a day in the life of the second graders at the Westlake School in Los Angeles. Both films were created by Herbert F. Sturdy and feature his young daughter Sally.

Mr. Sturdy was a prominent attorney for the firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, and his clients included Walt Disney, whose will he executed. But according to Sturdy's daughter, filmmaking was “his gift, his talent, his great joy.” He shot 47,368 feet of 16mm film between 1929 and 1968, primarily consisting of home movies, usually … Read more

Five Silent Films Premiere on the NFPF Website: Starring Clara Bow, Richard Barthelmess, Corinne Griffith, and Hank Mann

Clara Bow is unlucky at cards but lucky in love in Poisoned Paradise (1924).

To celebrate Silent Movie Day the National Film Preservation Foundation is proud to present five new silent films in our online screening room. All were preserved with NFPF support and all but one are appearing online—and on video—for the very first time. The HD videos are presented with notes and new scores by Michael Mortilla and Ben Model, two of the finest silent film accompanists working today. The titles include three features—Poisoned Paradise (1924), a melodrama starring Clara Bow; The Fighting Blade (1923), a costume drama starring and produced by Richard Barthlemess; A Virgin’s Sacrifice (1922), a frozen north saga starring Corinne Griffith—and two shorts: the Hank Mann comedy Way Out West (1920) … Read more