10 Lost Films Recently Found: Amazing Discoveries

Movies are like amazing time machines. They show us old fashions, hairstyles, and how people talked long ago. They capture what society cared about back then. So, when a film gets lost, it’s a real shame. Films can disappear for lots of reasons. Sometimes, storage vaults catch fire. Other times, movie cans get misplaced or stolen. Or maybe people just didn’t care enough to save them.

Did you know that a huge number of early movies, about 75% of silent films, are gone forever? Even today, newer films can vanish because of complicated rights issues. This makes it hard to make new copies. But don’t lose hope! Every year, lost films are found and fixed up. Let’s explore ten lost movies that have recently been brought back to light!

10. The Horror Master’s Unexpected PSA

George A. Romero is a true legend in horror movies. His 1968 film Night of the Living Dead started his famous “Dead” series. This series includes hits like Dawn of the Dead (1978) and fan favorites such as Day of the Dead (1985) and Land of the Dead (2005). So, you might be surprised that a charity hired him for a public service film.

In 1973, The Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania asked Romero to make a film about aging. This group was an early version of “meals on wheels” services for older adults. The result was The Amusement Park. It’s a strange, dream-like movie that uses an amusement park as a metaphor for the tough times elderly people face. For instance, a “freak show” features young people staring at ordinary older folks. Unsurprisingly, the charity was horrified by the work and decided not to release it. Romero showed it at the 1975 American Film Festival. After a few more festival showings over the years, the movie eventually became lost.

Amazingly, in 2017, just weeks before Romero passed away, he received the only known copy of the film. This discovery led his widow to arrange for a 4K scan and reconstruction. The film was finally released in 2021, thrilling Romero’s many fans.

9. Rescued from the Nazis: A Surreal Warning

In 1931, Polish filmmakers Stefan and Franciszka Themerson, a husband-and-wife team, created a short, surreal film with strong anti-fascist messages. Titled Europa, it powerfully reflected the dread and horror they felt as Europe edged closer to World War II. In 1938, the Themersons moved to Paris. They left Europa and four other films at the Vitfer film laboratory in Warsaw. After the Nazis later seized these films, Europa was tragically assumed to be lost forever.

Over the years, this lost film gained legendary status, with many in the film community mourning its absence. A remake using surviving still photos was even made in 1983. Sadly, the talented couple both passed away in 1988, believing their powerful film was gone for good. Then, a breakthrough came in 2019. Researchers notified the Themersons’ niece, Jasia Reichardt, that they believed Europa was actually housed in one of Germany’s national archives, the Bundesarchiv. This amazing tip proved correct! The Themerson estate generously donated the film to the British Film Institute (BFI). Following a careful restoration, it premiered on October 6, 2021, at the BFI London film festival.

8. Pandemic Downtime Leads to a Silent Film Find

Finding good things about the global pandemic can be tough, but having more free time at home was a small silver lining for some. Olivia Babler, who manages film transfers at the Chicago Film Archives, likely agrees. While at home in early 2020, Babler decided to tackle a large collection of film reels. These reels had been discovered in a basement in Peoria, Illinois. Excitingly, one of those reels contained the previously lost 1923 Universal Pictures murder mystery, The First Degree.

Described as a movie about “sheep farming and blackmail” and featuring “a villain with a great mustache,” The First Degree hadn’t been seen by audiences since it first played in theaters. For nearly 100 years, it was considered lost. This incredible find also highlighted Chicago’s important role as a major center for film production during the early days of the movie business. The rediscovered film had its 21st-century premiere at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago on September 29, 2021.

7. A Controversial 1960s Crime Drama Re-emerges

Before the familiar movie rating system (G, PG, R, etc.) was established by the Motion Picture Association of America, the Catholic Legion of Decency had significant influence in Hollywood. Formed in 1934, this group aimed to identify objectionable content in films. A “C” rating, meaning condemnation, from the Legion could severely hurt a film’s success at the box office. This was the fate of Private Property, an intense and artistic crime drama from 1960. The film starred Corey Allen and Warren Oates (a frequent collaborator with Sam Peckinpah) as two criminals who take a woman hostage in her home. The Legion’s condemnation scared away distributors and audiences, and the film eventually vanished.

Fortunately, in 2015, the UCLA Television & Film Archive successfully located Private Property. This led to its restoration and a re-release in 2016. Modern viewers found much to appreciate in the film. Critics also praised it; it currently holds an impressive 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Writing for rogerebert.com, critic Matt Zoller Seitz remarked that Private Property “is a terrific example of the spell that a confident film can weave by placing a handful of troubled characters in a confined location.”

6. The Mickey Rooney Slasher Film No One Knew Existed

Mickey Rooney was a true acting icon. He started appearing on screen as a child and accumulated an astounding 343 acting credits throughout his long and diverse career. With such a vast filmography, it’s understandable that a few movies might have slipped through the cracks. That’s precisely what happened with the 1975 slasher film called The Intruder.

In 2016, Harry Guerro journeyed from his New Jersey home to California’s Mojave Desert. He was there to investigate a storage facility packed with old films. Among the stored movies, he discovered The Intruder. Guerro is the owner of Garagehouse Pictures, a DVD/Blu-ray label that focuses on making obscure films available again. The most astonishing thing about The Intruder was its complete obscurity – virtually no one had ever heard of it. “I was not familiar with the film at all—no one was! The film had no Internet Movie Database entry and didn’t appear on any filmographies of the principals,” Guerro told The Life and Times of Hollywood. After a six-month restoration process, The Intruder was released on Blu-ray in 2017, making a truly forgotten film accessible for the very first time.

5. Unseen Home Movies from the Infamous Altamont Concert

The Rolling Stones’ concert at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway in 1969 is infamous. A violent interaction between the Hell’s Angels, hired for security, and a fan tragically ended with the fan being stabbed to death. This terrible incident was famously captured in the documentary Gimme Shelter. However, new footage from that fateful day has recently come to light.

In 2002, The Library of Congress acquired 200,000 film reels from archivist Rick Prelinger. Prelinger himself had purchased these reels in 1996 from Palmer Films, a San Francisco company that was closing down. The Library has been carefully going through these reels. In January 2022, they announced an exciting discovery: previously unseen home movies shot at the Altamont Free Concert. These home movies offer candid glimpses of not only Mick Jagger and Keith Richards but also show footage of artists not seen in Gimme Shelter, like Carlos Santana and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. This remarkable footage can now be viewed online at the National Screening Room.

4. A Lost Treasure from Orson Welles

Today, we take home video for granted, but in the early 1970s, it was a brand new and thrilling technology. An early home VCR system, Avco’s Cartrivision, hit the market in 1972. To attract buyers, Cartrivision commissioned some original productions. Among these were six short films directed by the legendary Orson Welles. Unfortunately, when Cartrivision failed commercially, these shorts and Avco’s other original tape productions were bulk erased, leaving them unseen for decades.

Incredibly, in early 2022, the Welles estate managed to purchase two surviving Cartrivision titles he made at an auction: Two Wise Old Men: Socrates and Noah, and American Heritage Vol. 2: Clarence Darrow. While the Clarence Darrow tape had unfortunately been erased, the Socrates and Noah tape survived! It was recently digitized in Los Angeles. There are now plans to make this short film available to the public. Though likely a modest production, Orson Welles’s status as one of America’s greatest filmmakers makes the discovery of Socrates and Noah very exciting news for film enthusiasts.

3. A Critic’s Darling, Lost and Found

In the 1960s, Joe Anderson was a young film professor at the University of Ohio. He admired international cinema, particularly Italian Neorealism. Anderson gathered students and volunteers to shoot a film in rural Appalachian communities, aiming for a European cinematic style. The outcome was Spring Night, Summer Night, a sensitive drama about two step-siblings who fall in love. Anderson even secured a spot for his movie’s premiere at the prestigious 1968 New York Film Festival. However, it was bumped at the last minute to accommodate John Cassavetes’s Faces, a landmark in independent American cinema.

Those who did manage to see Spring Night, Summer Night at the time became big fans. This included renowned director Martin Scorsese, who reportedly called it a perfect film. Despite this early acclaim, the film faded into obscurity. It was even re-edited in the 1970s into a drive-in exploitation movie titled Miss Jessica Is Pregnant. The original version was presumed lost until director Nicolas Winding Refn tracked down the original film elements. He had it restored and made it available for free viewing on his website. The restored film finally got its New York Film Festival showing in 2018—a mere 50 years after its originally scheduled premiere.

2. House Clearance Unearths Silent Era’s The Gold Diggers

The Gold Diggers was a hit Broadway play in 1919 which later inspired a Warner Bros. film series. The very first film in this series, released in 1923 and also titled The Gold Diggers, had long been considered one of the many lost silent films. Astonishingly, in 2019, a user on the silent film forum Nitrateville announced an incredible find. He had discovered the film near his home in central England. The seller he purchased it from mentioned that he had originally bought it at a house clearance sale.

This story is a perfect example of how many lost films are rediscovered—often found in the homes of collectors. While collecting theatrical film prints has always been a costly hobby, making it relatively rare, such finds offer hope. They suggest that many missing films might just be sitting in someone’s closet or attic right now, waiting to be found. As for this particular The Gold Diggers, it has journeyed from an attic to the internet and is now available for everyone to watch on YouTube.

1. Fragments of Hollywood’s First “Vamp” Emerge

Theda Bara was Hollywood’s original sex symbol. She was known for wearing daring outfits for her era and pioneered the “Vamp” image – that of a seductive, man-hunting woman. Tragically, most of her films have not survived the passage of time. Her 1917 version of Cleopatra is one of the most eagerly sought-after lost films. The last known prints of this movie were unfortunately destroyed in vault fires.

Given this history, it was incredibly exciting when an announcement came in late 2021. Fragments of her 1918 film Salome had been discovered in a Spanish archive. While the complete film was not found, this is still major news. Any surviving footage of Theda Bara is extremely rare. The discovery brings joy to her many fans today and fuels hope that more footage of this iconic actress is still out there, waiting to be unearthed.

The rediscovery of these films is more than just finding old movies; it’s like uncovering lost pieces of our cultural puzzle. Each found film, whether a horror flick, a silent drama, or a piece of avant-garde art, offers a unique window into the past. They remind us of the artists who made them and the times they lived in. It’s a testament to the dedication of archivists, collectors, and film lovers who never give up the search.

These stories highlight the ongoing importance of film preservation. While many treasures are still missing, every find like these ten brings a piece of history back to life, allowing new generations to experience them. It’s a hopeful reminder that what’s lost isn’t always gone forever.

Which of these rediscovered films are you most excited to see? Or do you know of other lost films that have been found? Share your thoughts in the comments below!