NFPF News

Five Silent Films Premiere on the NFPF Website: Starring William Powell, Clara Bow, Wallace Reid, Charles Ray, and Marin Sais

Frank Keenan, Clara Bow, and William Powell share a tense moment on the phone in My Lady's Lips (1925).

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 films include three features—My Lady’s Lips (1925), starring William Powell as an ace reporter tasked with protecting the reputation of his editor’s daughter, Clara Bow, from a gang of crooks; Paris Green (1920), starring Charles Ray as a war hero returning with mixed … Read more

Now Streaming: “America at 250”

Skip James performs in Festival in Washington (1968)

The newest addition to the National Film Preservation Foundation's Online Screening Room is “America at 250,” a program that celebrates our country’s 250th anniversary by showcasing 12 films that trace the American spirit—and its contradictions—across more than a century of cinema. Drawn from archives across the country, these films—whether amateur or animated, documentary or travelogue, spoof or newsreel—demonstrate how moving pictures have served to inform, honor, document, and shape our nation.

Three of the films are new to our website, and all preserved through NFPF grants. Tellin’ the World (1972), preserved by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, is a public service announcement created to encourage working-class and minority youth voting after the passage of the 26th amendment, … 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