Lost Our Gang Films

[unluckycorner]

I thought I would start this post for any updates fans may have regarding lost Our Gang (Little Rascals) films. With the recent discovery of 20 minutes of lost footage for the silent classic Metropolis, bringing the film close to its original production length, hope is always there for Our Gang.

To start off, here is a list of what I believe to be rare of lost Our Gang films:
1925 YOUR OWN BACK YARD (updated: entire film exists in Europe)
1927 BRING HOME THE TURKEY (updated: Mischief Makers synd. to TV)
1927 YALE V.S. HARVARD (entire film believed to be lost)
1927 THE OLD WALLOP (a 9.5mm print exists in Europe)
1927 HEEBIE JEEBIES (entire film believed to be lost)
1928 EDISON MARCONI & CO. (entire film believed to be lost)
1928 FAIR AND MUDDY (recently found print in Europe)
1928 GROWING PAINS (entire film believed to be lost)
1928 SCHOOL BEGINS (recently found print in poor condition)
1929 THE HOLY TERROR (entire film believed to be lost)

And the original Vitaphone music & effects disc for 1929 NOISY NOISES is believed to be lost.

If anybody has any additions or updates on the status of these films, I would like to know.

[zootmoney]

Both reels of Your Own Back Yard exist. In fact, I think there are a couple of copies of both.

[unluckycorner]

Thanks, I will update our records. Now we need to find a print for the Museum.

[ymymeatemup]

I'm not sure about "Bring Home The Turkey." From the description in their book, Maltin & Bann seem to be familiar with the whole thing. "Your Own Back Yard" was sent to Laughsmith by Robin Cook, so presumably it will be on their set.

[unluckycorner]

re: "Bring Home The Turkey", Maltin & Bann probably saw the Mischief Makers TV syndication print, episode no. 1034, "Little Orphans". I don't know how much of reel 1 is in that release. I have not seen this TV print.
I am going to update our records to show it as a "Mischief Makers" release, and not as missing reel 1.
Thanks for the info.

[ymymeatemup]

In addition to the Mischief Makers version, I know of at least one Exclusive Movie Studios fragment, which I've got in my collection. It shows perhaps the last third of the film. I've never seen the MM version, so I don't know if the Exclusive version includes footage not seen there, other than inter-titles.

[marsh]

Hello! I'm new here and having a blast. Does anyone know if SCHOOL BEGINS has been made available at all?

[mtw12055]

Jun 5, 2014 23:47:07 GMT -5 marsh said:

Hello! I'm new here and having a blast. Does anyone know if SCHOOL BEGINS has been made available at all?

Hi, marsh! Welcome to the forum.

From what I've heard, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City has a 35mm nitrate print with foreign (possibly Czech) titles. It's been shown at a few private screenings.

[marsh]

Fantastic! Thanks for the info.

[arno]

This brings up questions. How long do we have to wait to see some of these films? Is it an ego or monetary thing to possess a film that no one else has or is it a copyright issue? I just wish someone would restore and put all available movies in one set for everyone to enjoy. I am in my sixties and fast approaching geezer status so I bought every silent film available, bootlegs included. I just wonder how long we have to wait?

[antifrodis]

Clearly, no major company is interested in officially releasing these films. Otherwise, it would have been done by now. I used to own "The Old Wallop" on film, but did not have the finances to have it transferred to a usable format. It was a 9.5mm film. There are very few services in the US that do that format. Furthermore, another owner of the film has interest in making the film available on dvd or blu-ray for profit. However, we all know how easy it is to copy discs. So I understand the owner's hesitance, since he spent a lot of money to get the film and have it transferred. Let us not forget that some of these lost films are still under copyright. So now you have to deal with the copyright holders in order to release the films. Lots of hurdles to jump. The bootleg sets are the easiest way to obtain these films. However, they were put together at the expense of others that used their money to have the films transferred. It's not cheap. I completed about 25-30 of my own edits the silents. They were cobbled together using various prints to make the films as complete as possible. Some unscrupulous person decided to sell some of them on amazon.com without my consent. While I am not happy about this, I also realize that some of the footage I used was not originally mine either. So, although I did not sell the films for profit, I probably stepped on some feet as well. If you'd like to see these films, your best bet is to try and find film prints of them and pay to have them transferred yourself. Just beware that there are a lot of shoddy film transfer services that do poor quality work. Those are the ones that (usually) cost less.

[arno]

Thanks for the answer. It's more involved than I imagined.

[marsh]

Copyright issues aside (as many of the silent are presumably in the public domain) I wonder if it would be possible to crowdfund a transfer. If someone had prints of one or two rare shorts, maybe interested parties could chip in ahead of time to cover the transfer costs, and get rewarded with DVD-Rs on the back end. I'm pretty happy with my collection, but am also glad to be gradually filling in missing titles and doing the occasional upgrade when possible.