Lost Georges Méliès Film Discovered in US Attic After Century
A lost silent film by French cinema pioneer Georges Méliès, titled 'Gugusse and the Automaton,' has been recovered after being stored in a wooden trunk in a Michigan attic for over a century. Bill McFarland, a retired teacher, inherited the trunk from his great-grandfather, William DeLyle Frisbee, who exhibited silent movies in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. Unaware of the treasure's value and warned about the combustibility of vintage nitrate film, McFarland donated the reels to the US Library of Congress. Experts at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center identified the 45-second clip, made in 1897, spliced within one of ten reels. The film features Méliès as a magician battling an automaton, showcasing early special effects techniques. This discovery is significant as Méliès destroyed many original negatives, and much of his work was lost or melted down during World War I. The recovered reel is believed to be a third-generation copy, preserved due to early film piracy. The find not only restores a piece of cinematic history but also sheds light on the itinerant life of McFarland’s ancestor, who traveled with projection equipment across the American Midwest.
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Lost Georges Méliès Film Discovered in US Attic After Century
A lost silent film by French cinema pioneer Georges Méliès, titled 'Gugusse and the Automaton,' has been recovered after being stored in a wooden trunk in a Michigan attic for over a century. Bill McFarland, a retired teacher, inherited the trunk from his great-grandfather, William DeLyle Frisbee, who exhibited silent movies in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. Unaware of the treasure's value and warned about the combustibility of vintage nitrate film, McFarland donated the reels to the US Library of Congress. Experts at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center identified the 45-second clip, made in 1897, spliced within one of ten reels. The film features Méliès as a magician battling an automaton, showcasing early special effects techniques. This discovery is significant as Méliès destroyed many original negatives, and much of his work was lost or melted down during World War I. The recovered reel is believed to be a third-generation copy, preserved due to early film piracy. The find not only restores a piece of cinematic history but also sheds light on the itinerant life of McFarland’s ancestor, who traveled with projection equipment across the American Midwest.
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