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- When I first, you know,
became aware of lost films,
2
00:00:05,964 --> 00:00:07,716
it was more of so the realization,
3
00:00:08,050 --> 00:00:12,846
like, artwork in general can
just degrade and become lost.
4
00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:17,476
- You know, a lost film, by definition,
5
00:00:17,809 --> 00:00:19,478
would basically, or at
least my definition would
6
00:00:19,811 --> 00:00:22,189
basically be a film that
has otherwise not survived.
7
00:00:22,523 --> 00:00:23,440
You know, it's a film that
8
00:00:23,774 --> 00:00:26,777
for whatever reason, we don't have.
9
00:00:28,529 --> 00:00:29,780
But when you start
looking at the lost films
10
00:00:30,113 --> 00:00:31,114
in the '60s and '70s, and especially
11
00:00:31,448 --> 00:00:33,992
the genre films the Vinegar
Syndrome is interested in,
12
00:00:34,326 --> 00:00:37,704
you start unpacking this
treasure trove of film.
13
00:00:38,038 --> 00:00:39,998
- Don't call me, baby, I'll call you.
14
00:00:40,958 --> 00:00:43,710
- It seems like genre
films are more vulnerable
15
00:00:44,044 --> 00:00:48,215
to being lost because there
were fewer prints made of them.
16
00:00:48,549 --> 00:00:51,093
A lot of times, these are
independently produced films,
17
00:00:51,426 --> 00:00:53,303
as opposed to studio films.
18
00:00:55,514 --> 00:00:56,932
- One of the problems with genre films,
19
00:00:57,266 --> 00:00:59,434
they were done at these smaller labs,
20
00:00:59,768 --> 00:01:02,688
DuArt in New York, WRS in Pittsburgh,
21
00:01:03,021 --> 00:01:04,356
and when those labs closed,
22
00:01:04,690 --> 00:01:06,316
a lot of negatives disappeared.
23
00:01:06,650 --> 00:01:08,193
- Check me out.
24
00:01:08,527 --> 00:01:09,152
- My God.
25
00:01:09,486 --> 00:01:12,614
- I think that these independent
producers weren't thinking
26
00:01:12,948 --> 00:01:14,533
about the life of these films
27
00:01:14,866 --> 00:01:17,202
after their initial
exploitation, which is where
28
00:01:17,536 --> 00:01:19,371
they're gonna make the
majority of their money.
29
00:01:19,705 --> 00:01:22,374
- If you want a good
smoke, try one of these.
30
00:01:22,708 --> 00:01:25,544
- I mean, they just had a
low opinion of the movies.
31
00:01:25,877 --> 00:01:27,379
They just saw them as a commercial product
32
00:01:27,713 --> 00:01:28,964
and they didn't really
see them as something
33
00:01:29,298 --> 00:01:31,466
that was deserving of being preserved.
34
00:01:33,260 --> 00:01:34,553
The level of restoration work
35
00:01:34,886 --> 00:01:39,558
that has to be done on
these movies is so extreme
36
00:01:39,891 --> 00:01:42,769
that it takes a lot of
work and a lot of passion
37
00:01:43,103 --> 00:01:44,438
to keep these old movies alive.
38
00:01:46,273 --> 00:01:47,232
- Our mentor, Dave Friedman,
39
00:01:47,566 --> 00:01:50,569
would often say that a film
is like a sack of flour.
40
00:01:50,902 --> 00:01:53,155
Every time you shook it, a
little bit more would come out.
41
00:01:59,286 --> 00:02:00,287
- Before Vinegar Syndrome
42
00:02:00,621 --> 00:02:03,165
and my professional career, I was working
43
00:02:03,498 --> 00:02:05,792
at a place called Film
Workers Club out of Chicago,
44
00:02:06,126 --> 00:02:08,920
and there I specialized in film transfers,
45
00:02:09,254 --> 00:02:13,342
digital color work, but
mostly on advertisements,
46
00:02:13,675 --> 00:02:16,720
not necessarily feature
films, but occasionally.
47
00:02:17,054 --> 00:02:18,680
My first job was actually working
48
00:02:19,014 --> 00:02:22,100
as a projectionist in a movie
theater during high school,
49
00:02:22,434 --> 00:02:25,062
and second job was at a
video and records store.
50
00:02:25,395 --> 00:02:28,231
So it very much plays
into what I do today.
51
00:02:29,232 --> 00:02:32,903
- Prior to meeting
Ryan, and certainly long
52
00:02:33,236 --> 00:02:36,031
before Vinegar Syndrome was
even a concept for either of us,
53
00:02:36,365 --> 00:02:39,076
I was helping to manage
a video store in Chicago,
54
00:02:39,409 --> 00:02:41,870
where I was born and raised,
called Odd Obsession Movies,
55
00:02:42,204 --> 00:02:46,333
which became kind of a
meeting ground social club
56
00:02:46,667 --> 00:02:51,463
for a lot of the more interesting
cinephiles in the city.
57
00:02:51,922 --> 00:02:55,175
And I was also working
on a volunteer basis,
58
00:02:55,509 --> 00:02:56,176
‘cause it was a volunteer cinema,
59
00:02:56,510 --> 00:02:58,845
at Doc Films at the University of Chicago,
60
00:02:59,179 --> 00:03:00,972
where I was helping as a programmer
61
00:03:01,306 --> 00:03:03,141
and finding materials and so on.
62
00:03:03,475 --> 00:03:04,935
And this is one of the ways
63
00:03:05,268 --> 00:03:09,773
that I initially became
more aware of film rights
64
00:03:10,107 --> 00:03:11,983
and actually began speaking
65
00:03:12,317 --> 00:03:14,695
to filmmakers and film distributors.
66
00:03:15,028 --> 00:03:19,825
It didn't ready faze me
in that I wanted to find
67
00:03:20,659 --> 00:03:22,452
or rescue lost films.
68
00:03:22,786 --> 00:03:26,123
My interest was always themed around films
69
00:03:26,456 --> 00:03:29,960
that look bad in the available versions,
70
00:03:30,293 --> 00:03:33,380
or seemingly don't have
good materials available.
71
00:03:35,966 --> 00:03:39,469
- The term "lost film," to me,
72
00:03:39,803 --> 00:03:44,266
is a film that we know
existed at some point,
73
00:03:44,599 --> 00:03:47,686
but we cannot find any
existing elements to it.
74
00:03:48,019 --> 00:03:50,147
- You know, this is one of those questions
75
00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:52,983
where I've been thinking
about this for so long,
76
00:03:53,316 --> 00:03:55,193
where I feel like now I've lost
77
00:03:55,527 --> 00:03:57,195
what a lost film actually is.
78
00:03:57,529 --> 00:03:59,906
- I would not consider a film to be lost
79
00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,951
if it was still on a digital format.
80
00:04:03,285 --> 00:04:06,371
I think that a lost
film, in order to qualify
81
00:04:06,705 --> 00:04:09,916
as a lost film, is there is
literally nothing left of it,
82
00:04:10,250 --> 00:04:12,586
save for maybe, you know, a couple of,
83
00:04:12,919 --> 00:04:15,797
I don't know, a couple of
frames or something like that.
84
00:04:16,131 --> 00:04:18,383
It's something that we
literally cannot get back.
85
00:04:20,552 --> 00:04:22,554
- When I began being
interested in film history,
86
00:04:22,888 --> 00:04:27,058
a lost film was something
which I couldn't view,
87
00:04:28,769 --> 00:04:31,313
and that was my perspective of it.
88
00:04:32,773 --> 00:04:35,442
That being said, nowadays, I'm much more
89
00:04:35,776 --> 00:04:38,236
of the opinion that there
are different classifications
90
00:04:38,570 --> 00:04:40,155
of a lost film.
91
00:04:40,489 --> 00:04:42,282
There's a lost film which is accident,
92
00:04:42,616 --> 00:04:45,368
which means it survives
somewhere, it's just not viewable.
93
00:04:45,702 --> 00:04:49,748
There's a lost film which is
lost to its original medium,
94
00:04:50,081 --> 00:04:52,042
something which may only exist on tape.
95
00:04:52,375 --> 00:04:54,878
- Cut, let's try
and get it right this time.
96
00:04:55,212 --> 00:04:59,800
- But all in all, a lost film is a work
97
00:05:00,133 --> 00:05:03,303
that doesn't exist in
the accessible format
98
00:05:03,637 --> 00:05:07,766
that it's meant to be seen in, I think.
99
00:05:08,099 --> 00:05:10,519
- You know, a film that
was never completed,
100
00:05:10,852 --> 00:05:12,229
in my minds, that's not a lost film.
101
00:05:12,562 --> 00:05:14,731
Like, "New York Ninja" is not a lost film.
102
00:05:15,065 --> 00:05:15,774
It's just an incomplete film.
103
00:05:19,277 --> 00:05:21,905
- If it's not finished,
how can it be a lost film?
104
00:05:22,239 --> 00:05:24,533
Like, it needs to be finished
in order to be a lost film.
105
00:05:24,866 --> 00:05:26,201
I agree with that to an extent.
106
00:05:26,535 --> 00:05:29,120
However, when it comes to
something like "New York Ninja,"
107
00:05:29,454 --> 00:05:31,790
which is what I worked
on and helped finish,
108
00:05:32,123 --> 00:05:34,876
it was a film that had
been shot but not finished.
109
00:05:35,210 --> 00:05:37,212
So the question is, is
it an unfinished film
110
00:05:37,546 --> 00:05:38,713
or is it a lost film?
111
00:05:39,047 --> 00:05:39,840
In the case of "New York Ninja,"
112
00:05:40,173 --> 00:05:42,384
I would probably say it's
a little bit of both.
113
00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,847
There was actually some knowledge
of the film existing prior.
114
00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:48,974
One of the great things
about "New York Ninja" is it
115
00:05:49,307 --> 00:05:52,102
actually shows our love of preservation.
116
00:05:52,435 --> 00:05:53,144
I'm not sure a lot
117
00:05:53,478 --> 00:05:55,689
of other companies would
have taken the time
118
00:05:56,022 --> 00:05:57,107
to take an unfinished film
119
00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,485
and put the money and
resources into finishing it.
120
00:06:04,322 --> 00:06:05,782
- An orphan film is a film that
121
00:06:08,076 --> 00:06:10,328
we have elements for, however,
122
00:06:10,662 --> 00:06:14,541
the copyright owner has either passed away
123
00:06:14,875 --> 00:06:16,626
or cannot be identified.
124
00:06:17,794 --> 00:06:20,171
I guess the best example
for that would be a lot
125
00:06:20,505 --> 00:06:22,966
of stag films are considered
to be orphan films
126
00:06:23,300 --> 00:06:27,262
because these people who created
them, they used fake names.
127
00:06:27,596 --> 00:06:30,223
So we don't really know
who these people were
128
00:06:30,557 --> 00:06:31,641
or created them.
129
00:06:31,975 --> 00:06:33,351
These are different from lost films,
130
00:06:33,685 --> 00:06:35,353
though, because we know
that they actually existed
131
00:06:35,687 --> 00:06:37,772
and we have the elements
to kind of prove it.
132
00:06:38,106 --> 00:06:40,525
- You've already proven how good you are.
133
00:06:40,859 --> 00:06:42,819
Now let's see if you can act.
134
00:06:43,153 --> 00:06:46,031
- Now, I would always read
"American Cinematographer,"
135
00:06:46,364 --> 00:06:48,074
and they had some just great articles
136
00:06:48,408 --> 00:06:50,744
with Scorsese and directors, you know,
137
00:06:51,077 --> 00:06:53,204
concerned about their films, you know,
138
00:06:53,538 --> 00:06:54,205
especially the film stocks
139
00:06:54,539 --> 00:06:56,041
just weren't gonna last over time.
140
00:06:56,374 --> 00:06:58,001
And that was probably, like, in the '90s
141
00:06:58,335 --> 00:06:59,461
when I started to really realize
142
00:06:59,794 --> 00:07:02,714
that, you know, film itself was,
143
00:07:03,048 --> 00:07:05,425
like, more fragile than
some of the other art forms.
144
00:07:07,135 --> 00:07:07,928
- Phew, this one's bad.
145
00:07:08,261 --> 00:07:09,763
- Probably everyone that's
watching this hopefully knows
146
00:07:10,096 --> 00:07:13,016
what the definition of
vinegar syndrome is by now.
147
00:07:14,225 --> 00:07:16,186
And I think that's something that,
148
00:07:16,519 --> 00:07:18,521
you know, both of us are proud of.
149
00:07:21,566 --> 00:07:23,652
You were asking me what vinegar
syndrome smells like,
150
00:07:24,361 --> 00:07:26,988
It smells like vinegar,
yeah.
151
00:07:27,322 --> 00:07:30,617
- So how I originally got started here,
152
00:07:30,951 --> 00:07:32,827
I was being asked to do some QC work,
153
00:07:33,161 --> 00:07:34,871
and then they started training me.
154
00:07:35,205 --> 00:07:37,749
I was also learning to restore, really,
155
00:07:38,083 --> 00:07:39,292
the first releases.
156
00:07:39,626 --> 00:07:40,877
- So I think it's really important
157
00:07:41,211 --> 00:07:45,298
to call attention to the fact
that the people who work here,
158
00:07:46,466 --> 00:07:48,385
even if they had interest in film
159
00:07:48,718 --> 00:07:51,680
or some kind of, like,
formal technical training
160
00:07:52,013 --> 00:07:55,517
in digital editing or post production,
161
00:07:55,850 --> 00:07:57,394
they, for the most part,
had never touched a piece
162
00:07:57,727 --> 00:07:58,937
of film before coming into this building
163
00:07:59,270 --> 00:08:01,439
and beginning to work here,
and certainly had never worked
164
00:08:01,773 --> 00:08:04,609
in terms of restoration
and archival materials.
165
00:08:04,943 --> 00:08:06,611
Yeah, I think that that's really important
166
00:08:06,945 --> 00:08:09,948
because it shows both
their level of interest
167
00:08:10,281 --> 00:08:12,951
and dedication to what they're doing
168
00:08:13,284 --> 00:08:14,953
and what we're doing collectively,
169
00:08:15,286 --> 00:08:17,372
but also, you know, this is work
170
00:08:17,706 --> 00:08:20,834
that can be done by anyone
171
00:08:21,167 --> 00:08:22,585
if they are really motivated
172
00:08:22,919 --> 00:08:25,964
and have the discipline to study it
173
00:08:26,297 --> 00:08:30,677
and focus on it and learn
the technical side of it.
174
00:08:33,805 --> 00:08:34,305
- You got it.
175
00:08:34,639 --> 00:08:35,140
- Excellent, thank you.
176
00:08:35,473 --> 00:08:37,308
- So the lost films of
Herschell Gordon Lewis,
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these were three films,
"The Ecstasies of Women,"
178
00:08:40,979 --> 00:08:42,856
"Linda and Abilene,"
and then "Black Love."
179
00:08:43,189 --> 00:08:44,983
- A young man begins in earnest
180
00:08:45,316 --> 00:08:47,694
to try to arouse a girl sexually.
181
00:08:48,028 --> 00:08:51,197
He caresses her leg and
talks to her gently.
182
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She resists, but he continues.
183
00:08:54,826 --> 00:08:55,702
- It was cool to find these
184
00:08:56,036 --> 00:08:58,621
because there was kind of,
like, rumors about them.
185
00:08:58,955 --> 00:09:03,043
You saw posters, but
otherwise these were lost.
186
00:09:03,376 --> 00:09:05,920
- It's hard to ignore the
name Herschell Gordon Lewis,
187
00:09:06,254 --> 00:09:08,548
and as somebody who had been, you know,
188
00:09:08,882 --> 00:09:11,926
really interested in the
history of erotic cinema,
189
00:09:12,260 --> 00:09:14,763
seeing Herschell Gordon Lewis, you know,
190
00:09:15,096 --> 00:09:16,514
with lost films and having all those films
191
00:09:16,848 --> 00:09:20,727
also be erotic was really interesting.
192
00:09:21,061 --> 00:09:22,604
- Oh, hi, my name is Harry,
193
00:09:22,937 --> 00:09:25,190
glad you could drop in, this is?
194
00:09:25,523 --> 00:09:26,024
- Sandy.
195
00:09:26,357 --> 00:09:28,693
- Oh, yeah, Sandy, that's it, Sandy.
196
00:09:29,027 --> 00:09:30,528
Excuse me a minute, will you, folks.
197
00:09:30,862 --> 00:09:33,281
- Genre filmmakers who worked in sex films
198
00:09:33,615 --> 00:09:35,992
in, like, any capacity, it's almost always
199
00:09:36,326 --> 00:09:39,454
that their genre film
work is gonna overshine
200
00:09:39,788 --> 00:09:41,081
their sex film work.
201
00:09:41,414 --> 00:09:44,459
- You took care of me last year in 1868.
202
00:09:44,793 --> 00:09:46,878
Now I'm gonna take care of you in '69.
203
00:09:47,212 --> 00:09:49,422
- They came out of the
Guffanti Film Lab,
204
00:09:49,756 --> 00:09:50,924
and we're still, you know,
205
00:09:51,257 --> 00:09:53,009
going through this collection to this day.
206
00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,348
Also from that collection was
207
00:09:58,681 --> 00:10:00,934
another film called
"Massage Parlor Murders."
208
00:10:01,267 --> 00:10:04,312
Finding all of those and
starting off with those,
209
00:10:04,646 --> 00:10:07,774
it was an added intensity
to get those films right,
210
00:10:08,108 --> 00:10:10,151
showing what we're trying to do
211
00:10:10,485 --> 00:10:12,862
in terms of preservation,
in terms of restoration,
212
00:10:13,196 --> 00:10:16,032
and what we want to do going forward.
213
00:10:16,366 --> 00:10:18,493
- One of the questions that
comes up a lot is the difference
214
00:10:18,827 --> 00:10:21,287
between restoration and preservation.
215
00:10:21,621 --> 00:10:22,622
I would say first and foremost,
216
00:10:22,956 --> 00:10:25,458
Vinegar Syndrome is a
preservation company.
217
00:10:25,792 --> 00:10:27,919
We are one of the few
film companies out there
218
00:10:28,253 --> 00:10:31,131
that actually has an
in-house film archive.
219
00:10:31,464 --> 00:10:33,800
This means that we store the physical film
220
00:10:34,134 --> 00:10:36,052
in the building, temperature controlled,
221
00:10:36,386 --> 00:10:38,555
humidity controlled, that way we're trying
222
00:10:38,888 --> 00:10:40,807
to preserve the actual physical film
223
00:10:41,141 --> 00:10:42,642
for as long as possible, keeping it
224
00:10:42,976 --> 00:10:45,353
from degrading and
deteriorating over time.
225
00:10:46,354 --> 00:10:50,233
Restoration for us is
taking that physical film,
226
00:10:50,567 --> 00:10:52,068
scanning it in digitally,
227
00:10:52,402 --> 00:10:54,529
and then going in and cleaning up,
228
00:10:54,863 --> 00:10:56,531
removing the dirt, the scratches,
229
00:10:56,865 --> 00:10:58,491
physically removing that stuff
230
00:10:58,825 --> 00:11:03,538
in order to make a newer
restored version of the film.
231
00:11:03,872 --> 00:11:06,291
So Vinegar Syndrome is not
the only company out there
232
00:11:06,624 --> 00:11:09,460
that is releasing genre films like this.
233
00:11:09,794 --> 00:11:11,045
There are a number of companies,
234
00:11:11,379 --> 00:11:14,090
Arrow, Blue Underground, Severin.
235
00:11:14,424 --> 00:11:16,926
We all have the same goal
at the end of the day,
236
00:11:17,260 --> 00:11:20,805
is to preserve, restore,
and release these films.
237
00:11:25,059 --> 00:11:26,060
- Our goal was to always do
238
00:11:26,394 --> 00:11:28,062
the most exhaustive releases possible,
239
00:11:28,396 --> 00:11:29,939
the kind of things that we wanted to see,
240
00:11:30,273 --> 00:11:33,193
I wanted to see, studio level transfers
241
00:11:33,526 --> 00:11:35,278
for these only crappy exploitation movies
242
00:11:35,612 --> 00:11:38,448
that people, you know, gave
really bad transfers to,
243
00:11:38,781 --> 00:11:42,076
and go back to the original
elements whatever possible,
244
00:11:42,410 --> 00:11:43,661
you know, restore everything
245
00:11:43,995 --> 00:11:46,956
to the A plus level as much as possible,
246
00:11:47,290 --> 00:11:48,583
given the elements we were working with,
247
00:11:48,917 --> 00:11:52,253
and have it as exhaustive
of extras as possible.
248
00:11:52,587 --> 00:11:54,255
And I guess really at that time,
249
00:11:54,589 --> 00:11:57,884
the only other guys who
were doing it were Don May
250
00:11:58,218 --> 00:12:00,345
and Vinny Bancalari at Elite,
251
00:12:00,678 --> 00:12:02,805
and, you know, I give them a lot of credit
252
00:12:03,139 --> 00:12:05,183
for kind of starting in this arena.
253
00:12:05,516 --> 00:12:09,437
- The law of the
jungle, eat or be eaten.
254
00:12:09,771 --> 00:12:10,772
In these film-
255
00:12:11,105 --> 00:12:12,232
- And then that's why
we started Grindhouse,
256
00:12:12,565 --> 00:12:13,483
because we were frustrated
257
00:12:13,816 --> 00:12:15,735
that movies we loved were only available
258
00:12:16,069 --> 00:12:19,530
as fifth generation bootlegs
from some Japanese LaserDisc
259
00:12:19,864 --> 00:12:21,991
that was, you know,
optically censored anyway
260
00:12:22,325 --> 00:12:23,826
in the case of "Cannibal Holocaust,"
261
00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:27,956
so we ready wanted to give
these movies some respect.
262
00:12:32,543 --> 00:12:35,088
For "The Beyond," we went
to Technicolor in Rome.
263
00:12:35,421 --> 00:12:35,922
Everybody was saying,
264
00:12:36,256 --> 00:12:37,465
"Why do you even care about these movies?"
265
00:12:37,799 --> 00:12:39,717
We went to the lab to
inspect the negative,
266
00:12:40,051 --> 00:12:41,511
and, you know, we were winding through it
267
00:12:41,844 --> 00:12:43,263
and discovering that the negative was,
268
00:12:43,596 --> 00:12:44,722
like, in really poor condition,
269
00:12:45,056 --> 00:12:46,891
even though it had
ended up at Technicolor,
270
00:12:47,225 --> 00:12:49,519
which is one of the
preeminent labs in the world.
271
00:12:49,852 --> 00:12:53,106
You know, it was just, they
just thought of it as junk
272
00:12:53,439 --> 00:12:55,858
and filler, and, you know,
273
00:12:56,192 --> 00:12:57,110
I was winding through the negative
274
00:12:57,443 --> 00:13:01,155
and there was a tear
through one of the frames,
275
00:13:01,489 --> 00:13:06,202
and I called the lab
technician over and he went,
276
00:13:06,536 --> 00:13:08,121
"Oh, no, don't worry about
it, don't worry about it,"
277
00:13:08,454 --> 00:13:11,165
and took a tape splicer
and just slathered a piece
278
00:13:11,499 --> 00:13:14,711
of tape over it and pushed out
the bubbles with his finger,
279
00:13:15,044 --> 00:13:16,421
and it was like, "Bueno,
bueno," it was, like, good,
280
00:13:16,754 --> 00:13:18,631
it's like, for him, that
was good enough, you know,
281
00:13:18,965 --> 00:13:21,467
for a movie that they
thought was just junk.
282
00:13:21,801 --> 00:13:23,928
So, I mean, when people have an opinion
283
00:13:24,262 --> 00:13:25,847
that something is garbage, I mean,
284
00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:27,849
they're not apt to try to preserve it.
285
00:13:29,017 --> 00:13:31,477
- This was actually the
second tape I ever owned,
286
00:13:31,811 --> 00:13:33,646
and the first horror movie I ever owned.
287
00:13:33,980 --> 00:13:38,026
It was a French release, I
got it on holiday, because-
288
00:13:38,359 --> 00:13:38,901
My career in the world
289
00:13:39,235 --> 00:13:41,237
of boutique labels started before Severin.
290
00:13:41,571 --> 00:13:45,408
We had a VHS label in the '90s
in England called Exploited,
291
00:13:45,742 --> 00:13:49,037
and it basically emerged out
of collecting horror movies
292
00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:53,583
in the UK on tape, and
there was a lot more talk
293
00:13:53,916 --> 00:13:57,045
about the fact that not
only were these films
294
00:13:57,378 --> 00:14:00,590
in their commercially released form cut,
295
00:14:00,923 --> 00:14:02,133
but they were also, you know,
296
00:14:02,467 --> 00:14:03,801
not in the correct aspect ratio.
297
00:14:04,135 --> 00:14:05,345
They were old masters,
298
00:14:05,678 --> 00:14:08,806
they were not really the
way the filmmaker intended.
299
00:14:09,140 --> 00:14:11,142
So that became much more
part of the discussion,
300
00:14:11,476 --> 00:14:13,478
that, you know, widescreen was a thing
301
00:14:13,811 --> 00:14:17,231
that we should be aspiring
to to see these films.
302
00:14:17,565 --> 00:14:20,360
Fortunately, I met Bill
Lustig around this time,
303
00:14:20,693 --> 00:14:23,654
and Bill splintered off
to form Blue Underground
304
00:14:23,988 --> 00:14:25,573
and I went with him
for the first, I think,
305
00:14:25,907 --> 00:14:26,991
five years of Blue Underground,
306
00:14:27,325 --> 00:14:29,369
and then we formed Severin after that.
307
00:14:30,995 --> 00:14:35,083
Three of the more satisfying
undertakings we've done
308
00:14:35,416 --> 00:14:37,960
over the last few years
are the director sets
309
00:14:38,294 --> 00:14:40,755
that we've put together for Al Adamson,
310
00:14:41,089 --> 00:14:43,049
Andy Milligan, and Ray Dennis Steckler.
311
00:14:44,634 --> 00:14:47,762
Adamson was first, and
it certainly didn't start
312
00:14:48,096 --> 00:14:50,431
as us doing, you know,
as comprehensive a set
313
00:14:50,765 --> 00:14:53,351
as we possibly could, but because most
314
00:14:53,684 --> 00:14:56,604
of the films came from one source,
315
00:14:56,938 --> 00:15:00,733
the actual licensing part of
it wasn't too complicated.
316
00:15:01,067 --> 00:15:04,904
The complicated part was
finding the films themselves,
317
00:15:05,238 --> 00:15:06,656
and the fact that a lot
of them had been released
318
00:15:06,989 --> 00:15:10,201
in multiple versions was
re-titlings and recut.
319
00:15:10,535 --> 00:15:12,328
So sometimes there would be three reels
320
00:15:12,662 --> 00:15:14,914
of one movie at Iron Mountain,
321
00:15:15,248 --> 00:15:18,042
and then another couple of
reels were at The Academy.
322
00:15:18,376 --> 00:15:20,586
Another reel we might have
to get off a collector
323
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,047
because that one seemed
to have disappeared,
324
00:15:23,381 --> 00:15:25,425
or that version seemed
to have disappeared.
325
00:15:25,758 --> 00:15:26,759
- Filmed on location
326
00:15:27,093 --> 00:15:28,928
where they actually work and play,
327
00:15:29,262 --> 00:15:32,014
see the sensuous ladies
of the Mustang Ranch.
328
00:15:32,348 --> 00:15:35,226
- So the archeology wasn't so
much in finding the elements.
329
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,770
There was some of that, but it was more
330
00:15:38,104 --> 00:15:39,981
about putting all the pieces together
331
00:15:40,314 --> 00:15:41,941
once we got all the elements here.
332
00:15:45,278 --> 00:15:46,487
- In the archive here at AGFA,
333
00:15:46,821 --> 00:15:49,699
we have the, I believe
the only known print
334
00:15:50,032 --> 00:15:52,160
of "Carnival Magic,"
335
00:15:52,493 --> 00:15:55,872
an Al Adamson children's movie classic,
336
00:15:56,205 --> 00:16:00,376
and it unfortunately is
in a very advanced stage
337
00:16:00,710 --> 00:16:01,961
of vinegar syndrome.
338
00:16:05,506 --> 00:16:07,592
Well, I think genre films are likely
339
00:16:07,925 --> 00:16:09,343
to become lost for a couple of reasons.
340
00:16:09,677 --> 00:16:12,847
I mean, one, the kind of
obvious reason is just
341
00:16:13,181 --> 00:16:14,182
because of what they are.
342
00:16:14,515 --> 00:16:15,975
- From every
act of pleasure comes
343
00:16:16,309 --> 00:16:17,768
an equal act of perversion.
344
00:16:20,563 --> 00:16:23,316
- To the general public,
these movies are still trashy,
345
00:16:23,649 --> 00:16:24,942
especially if you're going more
346
00:16:25,276 --> 00:16:29,447
into the exploitation,
sexploitation end of the spectrum.
347
00:16:29,780 --> 00:16:32,283
Like, that kind of stuff just terrifies,
348
00:16:32,617 --> 00:16:34,744
you know, the average person.
349
00:16:35,077 --> 00:16:37,580
But also, just how they were made,
350
00:16:37,914 --> 00:16:39,582
you know, a lot of these
films were financed
351
00:16:39,916 --> 00:16:42,084
by, like, doctors or
dentists who were just like,
352
00:16:42,418 --> 00:16:45,046
"I got a bunch of money, I
want to be a film producer.”
353
00:16:45,379 --> 00:16:49,342
And because of that, there was very little
354
00:16:49,675 --> 00:16:51,886
if any thought given to the life
355
00:16:52,220 --> 00:16:55,890
of the film beyond its
initial theatrical run.
356
00:16:56,224 --> 00:16:58,100
- What about these attributes?
357
00:16:58,434 --> 00:16:59,894
- There's so many lost films
358
00:17:00,228 --> 00:17:01,854
that I'm just kind of dying to see.
359
00:17:03,022 --> 00:17:04,565
It's funny, I think a lot of people
360
00:17:04,899 --> 00:17:06,108
when they think of the idea of lost films,
361
00:17:06,442 --> 00:17:07,902
I think lost films are, you know,
362
00:17:08,236 --> 00:17:12,198
silent era Hollywood
productions or early soundies,
363
00:17:12,532 --> 00:17:14,116
talking about things like
"London After Midnight"
364
00:17:14,450 --> 00:17:15,117
and things like that.
365
00:17:15,451 --> 00:17:16,536
- Shut the fuck up!
366
00:17:16,869 --> 00:17:18,621
I don't have to tell
you if I don't want to.
367
00:17:18,955 --> 00:17:21,082
- Those are the fighting
words used to the almighty
368
00:17:21,415 --> 00:17:21,916
when he cast you out of heaven-
369
00:17:22,250 --> 00:17:23,251
- I think my favorite film
370
00:17:23,584 --> 00:17:26,921
that I've helped find is a
little movie called "Sex Demon,"
371
00:17:27,255 --> 00:17:31,133
which is the gay porno
version of "The Exorcist."
372
00:17:31,467 --> 00:17:33,386
- Did you see what your lover did?
373
00:17:33,719 --> 00:17:34,762
He's gonna rot in Hell, and so are youl!
374
00:17:35,096 --> 00:17:38,057
- Made by a 20-year-old male
stripper turned filmmaker
375
00:17:38,391 --> 00:17:41,602
named JC Crickett, or Jimminy Crickett.
376
00:17:41,936 --> 00:17:45,523
It's a film that actually
had a fairly high profile
377
00:17:45,856 --> 00:17:47,400
at the time of its release in 1975.
378
00:17:47,733 --> 00:17:49,902
It was featured in national gay magazines
379
00:17:50,236 --> 00:17:53,197
and heavily advertised in,
like, issues of "The Advocate"
380
00:17:53,531 --> 00:17:54,907
and a lot of other gay publications
381
00:17:55,241 --> 00:17:57,618
and got mixed reviews.
382
00:17:57,952 --> 00:18:00,955
But for decades, it's
been unavailable to see.
383
00:18:02,540 --> 00:18:03,708
If you've ever, like, inspected
384
00:18:04,041 --> 00:18:06,419
or handled a 35 or 16 millimeter print
385
00:18:06,752 --> 00:18:08,504
of a low budget genre film,
386
00:18:08,838 --> 00:18:11,424
you will probably just
be disgusted.
387
00:18:11,757 --> 00:18:13,426
They're dirty, they're full of splices.
388
00:18:13,759 --> 00:18:15,428
They're in just really awful condition,
389
00:18:15,761 --> 00:18:18,097
especially adult titles,
390
00:18:18,431 --> 00:18:20,182
which would literally be played on loop
391
00:18:20,516 --> 00:18:23,144
for their entirety of their runs over
392
00:18:23,477 --> 00:18:26,397
and over and over and over again.
393
00:18:26,731 --> 00:18:29,483
I think the reason why
genre films are overlooked
394
00:18:29,817 --> 00:18:31,736
by, you know, more reputable archives
395
00:18:32,069 --> 00:18:35,573
or institutions are because
they don't have the prestige
396
00:18:35,906 --> 00:18:38,242
that Hollywood films have,
but that stuff is important,
397
00:18:38,576 --> 00:18:42,079
and these films are our
history, our heritage.
398
00:18:42,413 --> 00:18:45,082
They should exist and people
should be proud to have them.
399
00:18:46,709 --> 00:18:48,544
- I disagree with this just a little bit
400
00:18:48,878 --> 00:18:51,589
because I feel that the
institutions that do the most
401
00:18:51,922 --> 00:18:54,634
in the way of film preservation
are pretty indiscriminate
402
00:18:54,967 --> 00:18:56,427
in the kinds of films they preserve.
403
00:18:56,761 --> 00:18:58,346
- I think there's a growing awareness
404
00:18:58,679 --> 00:19:03,267
around the significance
of independent film,
405
00:19:03,601 --> 00:19:05,686
and independent film
often means genre film.
406
00:19:06,020 --> 00:19:07,605
- We warn you that this-
407
00:19:07,938 --> 00:19:10,066
- There's a more of a willingness
408
00:19:10,399 --> 00:19:14,528
to look at these materials
as being significant,
409
00:19:14,862 --> 00:19:17,239
as being uniquely endangered in a way
410
00:19:17,573 --> 00:19:19,283
that a lot of studio films aren't,
411
00:19:19,617 --> 00:19:21,577
and even if we aren't able
412
00:19:21,911 --> 00:19:26,707
to give those films necessarily
the love and the attention,
413
00:19:28,459 --> 00:19:31,170
if we're not, like, doing
extensive restoration work
414
00:19:31,504 --> 00:19:33,589
on most of them, we're still intervening
415
00:19:33,923 --> 00:19:37,051
on their behalf, getting
them out of peril,
416
00:19:37,385 --> 00:19:40,054
and putting them in the vaults.
417
00:19:40,388 --> 00:19:43,724
- Of course, it's easier to
get funding for certain films,
418
00:19:44,058 --> 00:19:46,644
and those films tend to be the classics,
419
00:19:47,687 --> 00:19:50,981
things for which there
is commercial potential,
420
00:19:51,315 --> 00:19:53,776
things for which there might
be some critical acclaim
421
00:19:54,110 --> 00:19:57,279
to the archive for
performing the restoration.
422
00:19:57,613 --> 00:20:01,075
UCLA Film Archive has done
a restoration of "Ouanga,"
423
00:20:01,409 --> 00:20:03,536
a Black cast film for
which I am trying to see
424
00:20:03,869 --> 00:20:06,163
if they will allow me to access,
425
00:20:06,497 --> 00:20:09,792
things like the gay films of Pat Rocco,
426
00:20:10,126 --> 00:20:11,752
not just a film or two here and there,
427
00:20:12,086 --> 00:20:15,673
but documentaries, narratives,
shorts, everything.
428
00:20:16,006 --> 00:20:18,759
And, you know, it's important
to preserve everything
429
00:20:19,093 --> 00:20:22,471
because we don't know now
what's gonna be of value
430
00:20:22,805 --> 00:20:24,765
in 20 years, 50 years.
431
00:20:32,982 --> 00:20:36,152
- Yeah, the first time that I became aware
432
00:20:36,485 --> 00:20:38,654
of the film "The Rare Blue
Apes," whereas I tend to refer
433
00:20:38,988 --> 00:20:40,573
to it as "Quack Quack
and the Rare Blue Apes,"
434
00:20:40,906 --> 00:20:42,616
or just simply "Quack Quack," it was part
435
00:20:42,950 --> 00:20:46,036
of this huge collection,
like, several pallets full
436
00:20:46,370 --> 00:20:47,538
that had arrived at the archive.
437
00:20:47,872 --> 00:20:50,499
It was this female film collector who
438
00:20:52,376 --> 00:20:55,254
had stored these materials,
as the legend goes,
439
00:20:55,588 --> 00:20:58,048
like, in her backyard underneath a tarp.
440
00:20:58,382 --> 00:20:59,008
- Fire!
441
00:21:01,635 --> 00:21:04,680
- Polarizing would probably
be the best description.
442
00:21:07,516 --> 00:21:09,477
- Partnerships with home
video companies such
443
00:21:09,810 --> 00:21:13,355
as Vinegar Syndrome and Severin
can be hugely important.
444
00:21:13,689 --> 00:21:18,486
That sort of work puts the
films back out into the public,
445
00:21:19,695 --> 00:21:21,572
and that's important in itself,
446
00:21:21,906 --> 00:21:23,282
but I think even beyond that,
447
00:21:23,616 --> 00:21:24,992
by sort of, like, promoting film culture
448
00:21:25,326 --> 00:21:28,996
by having information in your releases
449
00:21:29,330 --> 00:21:31,957
about the elements that the
transfers were made from,
450
00:21:32,291 --> 00:21:35,795
you're doing a lot of
work to educate cinephiles
451
00:21:36,128 --> 00:21:38,714
about the materiality of film.
452
00:21:39,048 --> 00:21:40,466
People don't always realize that.
453
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,512
They sometimes just think stuff
exists, like, in cyberspace,
454
00:21:44,845 --> 00:21:46,055
that it doesn't have some sort of, like,
455
00:21:46,388 --> 00:21:49,183
real existence here in,
like, a physical place,
456
00:21:49,517 --> 00:21:50,059
in a film vault.
457
00:21:50,392 --> 00:21:51,644
And the fact that these scans
458
00:21:51,977 --> 00:21:53,229
that home video companies are making
459
00:21:53,562 --> 00:21:56,190
from elements can be traced back
460
00:21:56,524 --> 00:21:59,819
to a particular negative, to
a particular interpositive,
461
00:22:00,152 --> 00:22:03,030
and, you know, now they're out there.
462
00:22:03,364 --> 00:22:05,282
- All this sterilization stuff,
463
00:22:05,616 --> 00:22:06,534
the papers keep talking about.
464
00:22:06,867 --> 00:22:10,079
- Some people say it's a
good thing, but what is it?
465
00:22:10,412 --> 00:22:11,455
That's what I want to know.
466
00:22:11,789 --> 00:22:12,915
- See that-
467
00:22:13,249 --> 00:22:15,835
- I first became interested
in exploitation films
468
00:22:16,168 --> 00:22:17,294
I think in college.
469
00:22:17,628 --> 00:22:18,712
Well, I wanted to be a filmmaker,
470
00:22:19,046 --> 00:22:20,089
I wanted to work in film, but really,
471
00:22:20,422 --> 00:22:23,092
there was no pathway for me, no avenue,
472
00:22:23,425 --> 00:22:25,344
and I wanted to write about film history,
473
00:22:25,678 --> 00:22:27,054
but I wanted to write about something
474
00:22:27,388 --> 00:22:28,722
that hadn't yet been covered
475
00:22:29,056 --> 00:22:31,308
in books and essays and journals,
476
00:22:31,642 --> 00:22:34,937
and really, no one was talking
about the exploitation film.
477
00:22:35,271 --> 00:22:37,690
You know, there were a couple
of mail order video companies
478
00:22:38,023 --> 00:22:41,026
that would have exploitation categories,
479
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:45,030
like Something Weird and Scarecrow Video,
480
00:22:45,364 --> 00:22:46,949
and I realize, well, this is a genre
481
00:22:47,283 --> 00:22:49,410
that's not really been charted.
482
00:22:49,743 --> 00:22:51,203
And so I would order
as many of these tapes
483
00:22:51,537 --> 00:22:54,665
as I could get, and
try to find other films
484
00:22:54,999 --> 00:22:58,294
in video rental places to, first,
485
00:22:58,627 --> 00:23:01,213
amass the films and to begin to understand
486
00:23:01,547 --> 00:23:03,048
what defined them as a genre.
487
00:23:03,382 --> 00:23:05,217
- I think every high school
girl and boy's entitled
488
00:23:05,551 --> 00:23:06,635
to know the facts of life.
489
00:23:08,637 --> 00:23:11,265
Many a girl has spoiled her whole life
490
00:23:11,599 --> 00:23:13,392
by making just one mistake.
491
00:23:13,726 --> 00:23:15,102
- And years later, I'm still doing that
492
00:23:15,436 --> 00:23:18,147
because the films continue to emerge.
493
00:23:19,106 --> 00:23:22,276
We continue to discover materials
494
00:23:22,610 --> 00:23:24,028
that we didn't know existed before,
495
00:23:24,361 --> 00:23:26,113
and the more films that we release,
496
00:23:26,447 --> 00:23:27,865
the more films that we restore,
497
00:23:28,198 --> 00:23:31,118
the better we continue
to understand this genre.
498
00:23:31,452 --> 00:23:32,453
- The Natives cover themselves
499
00:23:32,786 --> 00:23:35,205
with the skin of the beast,
500
00:23:35,539 --> 00:23:39,752
and so imbibe as they think
the courage of the lions.
501
00:23:40,085 --> 00:23:42,796
- The last film which
was almost a lost film
502
00:23:43,130 --> 00:23:46,258
that I did in this regard is "Ingagi,"
503
00:23:46,592 --> 00:23:51,305
which is a morally
reprehensible exploitation film,
504
00:23:51,639 --> 00:23:54,224
pseudo documentary that pretended
505
00:23:54,558 --> 00:23:57,561
to journey into darkest Africa
506
00:23:57,895 --> 00:24:02,358
and expose a cult of monkey worshipers,
507
00:24:02,691 --> 00:24:03,943
their terminology, not mine,
508
00:24:04,276 --> 00:24:09,031
but it gets into some
really messy racial issues,
509
00:24:09,365 --> 00:24:13,160
but for that reason, it
needed to be preserved
510
00:24:13,494 --> 00:24:14,870
and made available for study
511
00:24:15,204 --> 00:24:17,414
because like "Birth of a Nation,"
512
00:24:17,748 --> 00:24:20,209
you know, none of us
agrees with the philosophy
513
00:24:20,542 --> 00:24:21,502
because "Birth of a Nation,"
514
00:24:21,835 --> 00:24:24,630
but we regard it as
one of the cornerstones
515
00:24:24,964 --> 00:24:26,382
of America narrative cinema.
516
00:24:27,341 --> 00:24:29,426
"Ingagi" is not a cornerstone
of American narrative cinema,
517
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,721
but it is a cornerstone
in the exploitation genre,
518
00:24:33,055 --> 00:24:34,932
and it was a film that was
incredibly controversial.
519
00:24:35,265 --> 00:24:36,392
It was actually banned.
520
00:24:36,725 --> 00:24:40,604
Not many films in America are
banned, this film was banned.
521
00:24:40,938 --> 00:24:43,273
But "Ingagi" just never
made it out on video,
522
00:24:43,607 --> 00:24:46,318
and to my knowledge,
never showed in archives.
523
00:24:46,652 --> 00:24:49,238
And it's funny, if a film
does not come out on video,
524
00:24:49,571 --> 00:24:52,157
it sort of gets erased from
the public consciousness.
525
00:24:52,491 --> 00:24:55,786
It's no longer something that
people were even looking for.
526
00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:00,916
So it's important that
we continue to unearth
527
00:25:01,333 --> 00:25:05,754
and release the films that
were influential at one time
528
00:25:06,088 --> 00:25:08,132
but have become basically forgotten
529
00:25:08,465 --> 00:25:09,633
in the intervening years.
530
00:25:10,884 --> 00:25:12,094
Working with the Library of Congress,
531
00:25:12,428 --> 00:25:16,056
we were able to access two
different prints of the film
532
00:25:16,390 --> 00:25:17,391
which were slightly varying.
533
00:25:17,725 --> 00:25:20,811
So I was able to cut
together a definitive,
534
00:25:21,145 --> 00:25:23,188
god help me, version of "Ingagi,"
535
00:25:23,522 --> 00:25:25,566
so that that film is now on the record,
536
00:25:25,899 --> 00:25:27,359
and for better or worse, we can see it
537
00:25:27,693 --> 00:25:29,111
and understand it and learn a little bit
538
00:25:29,445 --> 00:25:32,031
about what was considered
539
00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:37,161
acceptable popular
entertainment circa 1930.
540
00:25:39,705 --> 00:25:42,499
- Did we ever talk about
Jimmy Maslon and Eric Caiden,
541
00:25:42,833 --> 00:25:45,419
who loved Herschell Gordon Lewis
542
00:25:45,753 --> 00:25:47,463
and found the Herschell
Gordon Lewis movies.
543
00:25:47,796 --> 00:25:49,840
They tracked down the
negatives for "Blood Feast,"
544
00:25:50,174 --> 00:25:52,551
"2,000 Maniacs," "Color
Me Blood Red," because
545
00:25:52,885 --> 00:25:55,220
when those guys saved the
Herschell Gordon Lewis movies,
546
00:25:55,554 --> 00:25:56,055
that was kind of the start
547
00:25:56,388 --> 00:25:58,432
of anybody saving exploitation films.
548
00:25:59,433 --> 00:26:03,562
- When I was about, I guess
about 15, I saw "Blood Feast."
549
00:26:05,522 --> 00:26:09,526
The "Blood" trilogy was playing
citywide in Los Angeles,
550
00:26:09,860 --> 00:26:10,360
all over the Valley.
551
00:26:10,694 --> 00:26:12,404
It was probably in 25, 30 theaters,
552
00:26:12,738 --> 00:26:14,656
and of course there was no
video or cable back then,
553
00:26:14,990 --> 00:26:18,911
so I went to see it, and
with a couple of my friends
554
00:26:19,244 --> 00:26:20,996
in junior high, and it just blew me away.
555
00:26:21,330 --> 00:26:23,957
And the next night, I came
back with my cassette recorder
556
00:26:24,291 --> 00:26:27,294
and just recorded all the
dialogue from "Blood Feast,"
557
00:26:27,628 --> 00:26:28,462
and went to school the next day
558
00:26:28,796 --> 00:26:29,713
and played it for all my friends.
559
00:26:30,047 --> 00:26:33,926
- Well, Frank, this looks like
one of those long, hard ones.
560
00:26:35,052 --> 00:26:37,930
- A couple of years later, I
used to go see films at UCLA,
561
00:26:38,263 --> 00:26:40,682
and I saw people kind of
laughing that something
562
00:26:41,016 --> 00:26:42,935
that was inept, and I'm thinking,
563
00:26:43,268 --> 00:26:43,977
it kind of clicked in my mind, I go,
564
00:26:44,311 --> 00:26:45,729
"They think that's crazy, over the top?
565
00:26:46,063 --> 00:26:47,356
They haven't seen ‘Blood Feast."
566
00:26:47,689 --> 00:26:49,399
So I went to the projectionist and I go,
567
00:26:49,733 --> 00:26:51,151
"What do you guys pay for a rental?"
568
00:26:51,485 --> 00:26:53,028
And he goes, "We pay 150 bucks."
569
00:26:53,362 --> 00:26:56,615
And so I started thinking,
wow, where's "Blood Feast"?
570
00:26:56,949 --> 00:26:58,242
I mean, what if I could get that movie
571
00:26:58,575 --> 00:27:01,370
and get it in 10 campuses
every Saturday night?
572
00:27:01,703 --> 00:27:02,412
That could be 1,500 bucks.
573
00:27:02,746 --> 00:27:05,249
But I had no idea who had the rights.
574
00:27:05,582 --> 00:27:06,875
So I just started to trying to figure out
575
00:27:07,209 --> 00:27:08,252
where was "Blood Feast."
576
00:27:08,585 --> 00:27:11,380
And somebody gave me a lead
once, Stan Kohlberg has it.
577
00:27:11,713 --> 00:27:13,465
So I called up Kohlberg,
578
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:16,093
he came back and said it was
10 grand, "You want to rights?"
579
00:27:16,426 --> 00:27:18,554
And this was late, this
Is probably, by now,
580
00:27:18,887 --> 00:27:20,430
this is, like, 1979,
581
00:27:22,307 --> 00:27:24,351
maybe 1979 or 1980.
582
00:27:24,685 --> 00:27:26,687
There's still no video cable.
583
00:27:27,020 --> 00:27:28,814
There's only still only
four channels on TV,
584
00:27:29,148 --> 00:27:31,191
so Kohlberg probably was thinking,
585
00:27:31,525 --> 00:27:32,985
"Nobody's gonna play this on TV."
586
00:27:33,318 --> 00:27:35,362
And I told Eric about, and
he, and Eric knew who it was.
587
00:27:35,696 --> 00:27:36,989
Eric goes, "Yeah, that's
Herschell Gordon Lewis.
588
00:27:37,322 --> 00:27:39,825
I'll kick in some money
if you want to get that."
589
00:27:40,159 --> 00:27:41,994
So Eric, he just, he
knew what was going on
590
00:27:42,327 --> 00:27:43,162
‘cause he had the poster store,
591
00:27:43,495 --> 00:27:45,247
and I met Mike Vraney through Eric.
592
00:27:46,874 --> 00:27:49,084
- When Mike started
Something Weird in 1990,
593
00:27:49,418 --> 00:27:51,295
he came across some 35 millimeter prints
594
00:27:51,628 --> 00:27:53,547
of "A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine,"
595
00:27:53,881 --> 00:27:58,635
"The Sin Syndicate," and a
few tex-exploitation films.
596
00:27:58,969 --> 00:28:00,470
Back in those days, he worked
597
00:28:00,804 --> 00:28:03,307
at a porno theater called the
Apple, and it was in Seattle,
598
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,018
and he didn't know anything
about film restoration.
599
00:28:06,351 --> 00:28:07,936
He didn't know anything
about how films were scanned
600
00:28:08,270 --> 00:28:10,856
or anything, so he would just
bring his 35 millimeter prints
601
00:28:11,190 --> 00:28:13,942
to the theater and project them,
602
00:28:14,276 --> 00:28:17,696
and then sit in the audience
with a camcorder and film it,
603
00:28:18,030 --> 00:28:20,616
and then sell them to
collector markets and stuff.
604
00:28:20,949 --> 00:28:22,492
So those were some of the first films
605
00:28:22,826 --> 00:28:24,328
that he had found, and it made him think
606
00:28:24,661 --> 00:28:27,414
that there has to be hundreds
and hundreds more out there.
607
00:28:28,540 --> 00:28:31,460
He got so excited about these films,
608
00:28:31,793 --> 00:28:32,586
and especially when he, you know,
609
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,796
did his first catalog, and he was like,
610
00:28:35,130 --> 00:28:36,548
"All right, how can I find more?"
611
00:28:36,882 --> 00:28:38,133
There was a magazine called "Big Reel,"
612
00:28:38,467 --> 00:28:40,052
and that was one of the places
613
00:28:40,385 --> 00:28:44,264
where if people were either
buying or selling film,
614
00:28:44,598 --> 00:28:46,099
like, you could find something there.
615
00:28:46,433 --> 00:28:49,102
So he put in an ad saying, you know,
616
00:28:49,436 --> 00:28:52,773
"I'm looking for 60s sexploitation films,"
617
00:28:53,815 --> 00:28:55,567
but he also put in an ad saying,
618
00:28:55,901 --> 00:29:00,155
"I'm selling 60s sexploitation
films on home video."
619
00:29:00,489 --> 00:29:02,074
I can only speak from my own experience,
620
00:29:02,407 --> 00:29:04,576
but, like, in the early 1990s,
621
00:29:04,910 --> 00:29:07,412
there really wasn't as much interest
622
00:29:07,746 --> 00:29:10,082
in exploitation films and genre film.
623
00:29:10,415 --> 00:29:11,541
There was always been an interest in,
624
00:29:11,875 --> 00:29:13,961
like, underground movies, or things
625
00:29:14,294 --> 00:29:15,671
that were just a little fringe-y.
626
00:29:16,004 --> 00:29:19,091
But I think it was a
matter of educating people
627
00:29:19,424 --> 00:29:21,218
that these kind of films even exist.
628
00:29:22,719 --> 00:29:24,805
- Many films that people thought were lost
629
00:29:25,138 --> 00:29:28,267
or hadn't been accessible
since the 1960s were
630
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,228
actually recirculated by
Something Weird Video.
631
00:29:31,561 --> 00:29:33,021
- "Scare Their Pants Off"
632
00:29:33,355 --> 00:29:35,565
is a new kind of story.
633
00:29:35,899 --> 00:29:38,318
- Something Weird was
kind of the gateway drug,
634
00:29:38,652 --> 00:29:41,446
and it definitely got me
going down the rabbit hole,
635
00:29:41,780 --> 00:29:43,156
just looking for weirder and weirder
636
00:29:43,490 --> 00:29:46,243
and more interesting low-budget films.
637
00:29:46,576 --> 00:29:51,039
There's always a ton of really
interesting stories attached
638
00:29:51,373 --> 00:29:55,460
to these movies, whether it
be the actors and actresses,
639
00:29:55,794 --> 00:29:58,422
or the people involved in making the film
640
00:29:58,755 --> 00:30:00,424
or its distribution.
641
00:30:00,757 --> 00:30:04,303
It seems like every movie
is its own little microcosm.
642
00:30:05,387 --> 00:30:08,098
- I saw the Chesty Morgan
movies in the drive-in
643
00:30:08,432 --> 00:30:11,977
when they came out, and Doris
wrote Stan a letter saying,
644
00:30:12,311 --> 00:30:12,811
"I'll sell my movies.
645
00:30:13,145 --> 00:30:15,397
I don't know why anybody
would even want these movies."
646
00:30:17,733 --> 00:30:18,942
So I'm going, "Yeah, I want them, Doris.
647
00:30:19,276 --> 00:30:20,152
What do you want for them?"
648
00:30:20,485 --> 00:30:22,696
And she gave me a price,
I didn't do anything,
649
00:30:23,030 --> 00:30:24,197
I just said, "Okay, fine."
650
00:30:26,241 --> 00:30:27,826
I think, I don't know what it was.
651
00:30:28,952 --> 00:30:30,287
There were, like, 18 movies.
652
00:30:31,580 --> 00:30:34,333
I think it was, like, 40K
or something like that.
653
00:30:34,666 --> 00:30:37,753
And, anyway, I bought the
rights to Doris's films.
654
00:30:38,086 --> 00:30:42,591
- Do you know
that "Bad Girls go to Hell"?
655
00:30:42,924 --> 00:30:44,426
- Then her films
started getting more popular.
656
00:30:45,594 --> 00:30:46,094
- Hey, let me ask you.
657
00:30:46,428 --> 00:30:48,138
How did you come to meet Chesty Morgan?
658
00:30:49,306 --> 00:30:50,682
- Well, somebody told me
about her, and I thought-
659
00:30:51,016 --> 00:30:53,268
- And then she got mad
that she sold them to me.
660
00:30:53,602 --> 00:30:54,811
John Waters also helped a lot,
661
00:30:55,145 --> 00:30:57,522
and in 1981, he wrote "Shock Value,"
662
00:30:57,856 --> 00:30:58,398
and that's around the time
663
00:30:58,732 --> 00:31:00,233
that I bought the rights to the films.
664
00:31:00,567 --> 00:31:03,653
John Waters really propelled
these films into pop culture.
665
00:31:03,987 --> 00:31:05,655
- Barry, did you meet Doris Wishman?
666
00:31:05,989 --> 00:31:07,783
She's so great, you have to
see her movies, they're great.
667
00:31:08,116 --> 00:31:08,700
- Really?
- I saw-
668
00:31:09,034 --> 00:31:11,078
- Probably the most important exploiter
669
00:31:11,411 --> 00:31:12,412
that Something Weird got involved
670
00:31:12,746 --> 00:31:14,289
with was David F. Friedman,
671
00:31:14,623 --> 00:31:17,417
known as the mighty monarch
of exploitation film.
672
00:31:17,751 --> 00:31:21,046
The way that Mike met him was not ideal.
673
00:31:21,380 --> 00:31:23,131
He got a phone call one day saying,
674
00:31:23,465 --> 00:31:27,427
"Hey, I hear you're selling my
'Ribald Tales of Robin Hood"
675
00:31:27,761 --> 00:31:30,722
on video, and, you know, stop it."
676
00:31:31,056 --> 00:31:34,059
And Mike gets on the phone,
"Yeah, and people love it.
677
00:31:34,393 --> 00:31:38,355
What can we do, like, to maybe
make a deal or something?"
678
00:31:40,357 --> 00:31:42,317
Dave Friedman had his films stored
679
00:31:42,651 --> 00:31:45,195
in Los Angeles on Cordova Street.
680
00:31:45,529 --> 00:31:47,531
He wasn't living in Los
Angeles at the time.
681
00:31:47,864 --> 00:31:50,909
He was already back in Anniston,
Alabama, where he's from.
682
00:31:51,243 --> 00:31:54,079
So Mike sets up a meeting
with him down there
683
00:31:54,413 --> 00:31:58,250
and goes in this, like, you
know, stuffy old film vault
684
00:31:58,583 --> 00:32:00,293
and starts looking around, and he's like,
685
00:32:00,627 --> 00:32:02,421
"Oh, what is this?"
686
00:32:02,754 --> 00:32:05,632
And he sees a movie called
"Space Thing," and Dave's like,
687
00:32:05,966 --> 00:32:08,593
"That's the worst science
fiction movie ever made.
688
00:32:08,927 --> 00:32:12,889
You don't want it," and
that made Mike want it more.
689
00:32:13,223 --> 00:32:14,975
And, you know, Dave made
some recommendations,
690
00:32:15,308 --> 00:32:16,852
like, you know, he had
his very first film,
691
00:32:17,185 --> 00:32:19,354
"The Defilers," he was very,
very proud of that movie,
692
00:32:19,688 --> 00:32:20,480
as well as the fact that he knew
693
00:32:20,814 --> 00:32:24,151
that it would probably do well,
and Mike was all about it.
694
00:32:24,484 --> 00:32:26,778
So he took about, I don't
know, half a dozen films,
695
00:32:27,112 --> 00:32:28,488
and he said, "Well,
let's just transfer these
696
00:32:28,822 --> 00:32:32,159
and see what happens," and
things sold like gangbusters.
697
00:32:32,492 --> 00:32:35,036
Dave gets his first
royalty check and he says,
698
00:32:35,370 --> 00:32:36,621
"You can have them all,
699
00:32:36,955 --> 00:32:38,582
and I'm gonna introduce
you to my friends."
700
00:32:42,794 --> 00:32:44,129
- All you kids make me sick.
701
00:32:45,714 --> 00:32:47,549
- The cool thing about Something Weird is
702
00:32:47,883 --> 00:32:49,676
that they were finally
putting out a lot of movies
703
00:32:50,010 --> 00:32:51,553
that I'd read about for years.
704
00:32:51,887 --> 00:32:53,638
So, yeah, Something Weird, you know,
705
00:32:53,972 --> 00:32:54,973
they were sort of doing it first,
706
00:32:55,307 --> 00:32:57,392
and the funny thing about
Mike Vraney, though,
707
00:32:57,726 --> 00:32:59,269
is he was more into just
releasing the movies.
708
00:32:59,603 --> 00:33:01,480
I don't think he was really
that into preservation.
709
00:33:01,813 --> 00:33:06,443
- Mike was not worried about
the longevity of these films.
710
00:33:06,776 --> 00:33:10,405
It was more important for
him to just get it scanned
711
00:33:10,739 --> 00:33:14,326
and put it on home video and
then just put it someplace,
712
00:33:14,659 --> 00:33:17,287
and his someplace was not always the best.
713
00:33:17,621 --> 00:33:19,372
And the way that Mike would store films,
714
00:33:19,706 --> 00:33:22,334
it was willy nilly, like,
they weren't by genre
715
00:33:22,667 --> 00:33:24,920
or, like, put all the Dave
Friedman movies together,
716
00:33:25,253 --> 00:33:26,838
all the Joe Sarno movies
together, all this.
717
00:33:27,172 --> 00:33:28,882
It was just random.
718
00:33:29,216 --> 00:33:31,760
- Mike has many different genres here.
719
00:33:32,093 --> 00:33:32,802
I got something in mind-
720
00:33:33,136 --> 00:33:37,641
- I think releasing films to
home media was always something
721
00:33:37,974 --> 00:33:39,351
about finding rights first
722
00:33:39,684 --> 00:33:41,353
and then finding elements afterwards,
723
00:33:41,686 --> 00:33:45,315
but I think Something Weird
really started this idea
724
00:33:45,649 --> 00:33:48,735
of having elements and saying, "Fuck it,
725
00:33:49,069 --> 00:33:50,612
I just have to put this out."
726
00:33:50,946 --> 00:33:54,616
- Bat Pussy, please,
it's a misunderstanding.
727
00:33:54,950 --> 00:33:56,201
- What's a misunderstanding?
728
00:33:56,535 --> 00:33:58,662
- Probably our proudest accomplishment
729
00:33:58,995 --> 00:34:00,830
Is a movie called "Bat Pussy."
730
00:34:01,164 --> 00:34:02,999
- Meanwhile, at Bat Pussy's
731
00:34:03,333 --> 00:34:06,711
secret warehouse hideout, Dora Dildo,
732
00:34:07,045 --> 00:34:09,047
alias the mighty Bat Pussy,
733
00:34:09,381 --> 00:34:11,258
is patiently waiting for her super senses
734
00:34:11,591 --> 00:34:14,928
to tell her that a crime
is about to be committed.
735
00:34:15,262 --> 00:34:17,722
- Mike ended up getting a large collection
736
00:34:18,056 --> 00:34:19,766
of 16 millimeter adult films
737
00:34:20,100 --> 00:34:22,435
from a defunct theater in Memphis, Texas
738
00:34:22,769 --> 00:34:26,690
from his friend Mike McCarthy,
and people just loved it,
739
00:34:27,023 --> 00:34:29,317
and it became, like, its own cult classic,
740
00:34:29,651 --> 00:34:32,153
and we had no idea, I mean,
that wasn't on any lists,
741
00:34:32,487 --> 00:34:33,613
you know, that we would come up with,
742
00:34:33,947 --> 00:34:35,115
‘cause over the years, I mean,
743
00:34:35,448 --> 00:34:37,742
Mike would have me go through
our press book materials
744
00:34:38,076 --> 00:34:40,579
or our stills and be like,
"Okay, what other films haven't
745
00:34:40,912 --> 00:34:42,497
we found that look interesting and stuff?"
746
00:34:42,831 --> 00:34:45,250
Well, "Bat Pussy" was
not amongst any of them,
747
00:34:45,584 --> 00:34:47,711
and, you know, in retrospect now,
748
00:34:48,044 --> 00:34:49,212
it was probably our greatest find.
749
00:34:49,546 --> 00:34:50,463
- I've got so much to offer,
750
00:34:50,797 --> 00:34:53,842
Bat Pussy, this is
tougher for me, turn over.
751
00:34:55,093 --> 00:34:59,889
- Around 1991, '92 was
when Mike first heard
752
00:35:00,223 --> 00:35:01,224
about the Movielab.
753
00:35:01,558 --> 00:35:04,644
- Movielab was a very large
754
00:35:04,978 --> 00:35:08,106
independent film processing facility,
755
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,692
and it was the lab of choice
756
00:35:11,026 --> 00:35:14,988
for a large amount of
independent filmmakers.
757
00:35:15,322 --> 00:35:19,075
At some point, Movielab, in
the late '80s, early "90s,
758
00:35:19,409 --> 00:35:20,577
they had to close their doors.
759
00:35:20,910 --> 00:35:25,582
- So Mike goes out to the East
Coast and organizes, like,
760
00:35:26,916 --> 00:35:28,877
three cargo containers full of films
761
00:35:29,210 --> 00:35:32,297
to be sent to a warehouse in Los Angeles
762
00:35:32,631 --> 00:35:35,342
where he would go to a
couple of times a month
763
00:35:35,675 --> 00:35:37,886
and just process film.
764
00:35:38,219 --> 00:35:42,891
And we started finding some
of the most amazing films,
765
00:35:43,224 --> 00:35:46,227
like the Michael and Roberta
Findlay "Flesh" trilogy,
766
00:35:46,561 --> 00:35:49,356
"Touch of Her Flesh,"
"Curse of Her Flesh,"
767
00:35:49,689 --> 00:35:50,398
and "Kiss of Her Flesh."
768
00:35:50,732 --> 00:35:52,192
- Get down there, you slut.
769
00:35:53,818 --> 00:35:57,072
That's the only job women are good for.
770
00:35:57,405 --> 00:35:59,658
- But then, there was an announcement
771
00:35:59,991 --> 00:36:02,661
that there was gonna be
an auction of the films.
772
00:36:02,994 --> 00:36:06,247
Arthur Morowitz, who was
the owner of Distribpix,
773
00:36:06,581 --> 00:36:08,416
he contacted Mike and said, you know,
774
00:36:08,750 --> 00:36:11,753
"If I buy these films,
would you be the custodian,
775
00:36:12,087 --> 00:36:13,672
and we can go in as partners?"
776
00:36:14,005 --> 00:36:16,925
- My father, he had gotten
in touch with a gentleman,
777
00:36:17,258 --> 00:36:22,055
he, I believe, bought the
building that Movielab was in,
778
00:36:22,639 --> 00:36:26,309
and he was, I believe he
was the owner of Panavision,
779
00:36:27,394 --> 00:36:29,854
which they then
moved into that location,
780
00:36:30,188 --> 00:36:33,650
and my father ended up having
a nice conversation with him,
781
00:36:33,983 --> 00:36:35,694
and my father was pretty
well known in the city
782
00:36:36,027 --> 00:36:38,446
at that point, so they had a nice rapport,
783
00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:43,076
and I think the main thing
that ties us to Movielab,
784
00:36:43,410 --> 00:36:45,912
or that sort of brings
this all together is
785
00:36:46,246 --> 00:36:51,042
that this guy was not looking
to throw this film away.
786
00:36:52,168 --> 00:36:54,170
This guy, there was
something nice about that,
787
00:36:54,504 --> 00:36:56,297
when you hear the story told,
788
00:36:56,631 --> 00:36:57,966
but he couldn't do anything with it,
789
00:36:58,299 --> 00:37:00,260
and it was an enormous amount of film.
790
00:37:00,593 --> 00:37:02,637
- It was a Herculean
effort on Mike's part,
791
00:37:02,971 --> 00:37:03,888
you know, processing the film,
792
00:37:04,222 --> 00:37:06,307
and he never actually
got through everything.
793
00:37:06,641 --> 00:37:07,684
He would have, like, you know,
794
00:37:08,017 --> 00:37:10,103
piles of different film elements,
795
00:37:10,437 --> 00:37:13,022
like, you know, part of
the negative to something,
796
00:37:13,356 --> 00:37:15,400
but, like, it was still missing
some of the audio track,
797
00:37:15,734 --> 00:37:16,985
and then, "Okay, well,
we know that's over here.
798
00:37:17,318 --> 00:37:18,319
Label it with the title."
799
00:37:18,653 --> 00:37:20,029
And it would be, like, a happy day
800
00:37:20,363 --> 00:37:22,782
when we'd find all of the reels.
801
00:37:23,116 --> 00:37:26,703
In 2012, Mike was diagnosed
with stage four lung cancer,
802
00:37:27,036 --> 00:37:29,122
so he knew that his days were numbered,
803
00:37:29,456 --> 00:37:31,249
and he really needed to figure out, like,
804
00:37:31,583 --> 00:37:34,169
what was gonna happen with everything
805
00:37:34,502 --> 00:37:35,462
in the Something Weird archive,
806
00:37:35,795 --> 00:37:37,046
including the Movielab collection,
807
00:37:37,380 --> 00:37:40,467
because that was pretty much,
like, the biggest part of it.
808
00:37:41,926 --> 00:37:44,888
After his death, you know,
we actually passed it back on
809
00:37:45,221 --> 00:37:47,766
to Distribpix under the custodianship
810
00:37:48,099 --> 00:37:49,309
of Steven Morowitz now.
811
00:37:49,642 --> 00:37:50,769
So it's just funny to think,
812
00:37:51,102 --> 00:37:53,313
all those films came
out from the East Coast
813
00:37:53,646 --> 00:37:55,315
and they lived here for a while,
814
00:37:55,648 --> 00:37:57,650
and then they all went
back to the East Coast,
815
00:37:57,984 --> 00:38:00,570
and I believe they live in
Bridgeport, Connecticut now.
816
00:38:00,904 --> 00:38:03,531
- I think the big thing for me is
817
00:38:03,865 --> 00:38:06,785
when we started merging with Distribpix,
818
00:38:07,118 --> 00:38:08,369
and now it's just making
819
00:38:08,703 --> 00:38:10,914
I think the film archive
much more complete.
820
00:38:13,041 --> 00:38:16,127
- Distribpix Incorporated is pretty much
821
00:38:16,461 --> 00:38:18,797
a second generation home video company
822
00:38:19,130 --> 00:38:20,548
founded on the production
823
00:38:20,882 --> 00:38:23,593
of black and white sexual
melodrama type films,
824
00:38:23,927 --> 00:38:26,930
started in 1965 by my father
and his partner, Howard Farber,
825
00:38:27,263 --> 00:38:29,849
and they grew it into their
own small little empire.
826
00:38:30,850 --> 00:38:34,270
They invested in theaters,
they bought properties,
827
00:38:34,604 --> 00:38:37,065
and then blossomed that into home video.
828
00:38:37,398 --> 00:38:38,691
I think many people,
they're probably familiar
829
00:38:39,025 --> 00:38:42,195
with Video Shack, which was
the first real large chain
830
00:38:42,529 --> 00:38:44,155
of video stores in the tri-state area,
831
00:38:44,489 --> 00:38:46,991
and the flagship store being
at 49th Street and Broadway.
832
00:38:47,325 --> 00:38:48,701
So I sort of grew up around all this stuff
833
00:38:49,035 --> 00:38:51,162
and just had the greatest memories.
834
00:38:51,496 --> 00:38:54,165
Hundreds of those films
were from Movielab,
835
00:38:54,499 --> 00:38:55,416
and my dad was very happy.
836
00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:58,169
He really loved Mike because every month,
837
00:38:58,503 --> 00:38:59,712
they would get revenue checks.
838
00:39:00,046 --> 00:39:02,131
My dad was just happy,
he was happy with that,
839
00:39:03,633 --> 00:39:04,801
and Something Weird Video became,
840
00:39:05,134 --> 00:39:06,594
you know, the video label,
you know what I'm saying?
841
00:39:06,928 --> 00:39:09,764
A lot of people came up
with Something Weird Video.
842
00:39:10,098 --> 00:39:12,892
- I think in terms of
just taking a collection
843
00:39:13,226 --> 00:39:13,768
as wide and varied
844
00:39:14,102 --> 00:39:18,648
as what film material
Something Weird came across,
845
00:39:18,982 --> 00:39:21,734
the actual branding was also one
846
00:39:22,068 --> 00:39:23,653
of those really important facets of it,
847
00:39:23,987 --> 00:39:27,282
where at a certain point,
if you were able to enter
848
00:39:27,615 --> 00:39:30,076
into the back halls of a video store,
849
00:39:30,410 --> 00:39:32,412
you were automatically able to recognize
850
00:39:32,745 --> 00:39:34,289
that at the very least, what you see,
851
00:39:34,622 --> 00:39:37,166
if it has Something Weird
on it, is gonna be cool.
852
00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:39,627
It's gonna be something weird
that you haven't seen before,
853
00:39:39,961 --> 00:39:41,212
literally, something weird.
854
00:39:42,630 --> 00:39:47,510
But I think that's what makes
the actual current landscape
855
00:39:47,844 --> 00:39:52,515
of the boutique label or
the releasing companies,
856
00:39:52,849 --> 00:39:55,852
independent releasing companies
of today really fascinating
857
00:39:56,185 --> 00:40:00,189
as, like, an actual, really
diverse programming world
858
00:40:00,523 --> 00:40:02,609
where literally anybody can do anything
859
00:40:02,942 --> 00:40:06,529
if you love the material and
are able to brand it correctly.
860
00:40:07,697 --> 00:40:09,532
- I think that the work that Mike did
861
00:40:09,866 --> 00:40:14,662
from, like, 1990 to 2013,
it's an indelible mark
862
00:40:15,705 --> 00:40:17,665
on film preservation.
863
00:40:17,999 --> 00:40:20,418
To me, keeping his legacy alive is,
864
00:40:20,752 --> 00:40:21,586
like, the most important part
865
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:23,463
‘cause, I mean, seriously,
if it wasn't for him,
866
00:40:23,796 --> 00:40:25,423
I wouldn't be doing what
I'm doing right now,
867
00:40:25,757 --> 00:40:28,176
and I think a lot of other
people wouldn't be, either.
868
00:40:28,509 --> 00:40:30,470
I mean, he was a real inspiration to,
869
00:40:30,803 --> 00:40:33,348
you know, many film fans and people
870
00:40:33,681 --> 00:40:37,018
who, like, wanted to do this for a career.
871
00:40:37,352 --> 00:40:40,813
And then to be able to,
like, take those films
872
00:40:41,147 --> 00:40:42,440
and just put them, like, you know,
873
00:40:42,774 --> 00:40:44,150
insert them all these other places
874
00:40:44,484 --> 00:40:46,277
where they're gonna just
continue to be discovered
875
00:40:46,611 --> 00:40:48,321
by other people, Severin Films,
876
00:40:48,655 --> 00:40:52,367
Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow
Video, Kino Lorber.
877
00:40:52,700 --> 00:40:55,912
There really wasn't any one company when,
878
00:40:56,245 --> 00:40:57,372
after his death that could just be like,
879
00:40:57,705 --> 00:40:59,415
"Okay, I'll do all that."
880
00:40:59,749 --> 00:41:02,168
So they picked and choose,
and I help them along the way,
881
00:41:02,502 --> 00:41:04,170
and, you know, it's been
really wonderful being able
882
00:41:04,504 --> 00:41:06,089
to work with other people who get it
883
00:41:06,422 --> 00:41:09,842
and, you know, they're
bringing their own voice
884
00:41:10,176 --> 00:41:11,761
to this material now.
885
00:41:13,471 --> 00:41:14,681
- Huh, maybe I missed it.
886
00:41:16,349 --> 00:41:17,100
- It's right on the cart.
887
00:41:17,433 --> 00:41:17,934
- What is it?
888
00:41:18,267 --> 00:41:19,394
- I don't know.
889
00:41:19,727 --> 00:41:22,271
- There's this definite misconception
890
00:41:22,605 --> 00:41:25,900
on the parts of people
who like these films
891
00:41:26,234 --> 00:41:27,986
and buy the physical copies that,
892
00:41:28,319 --> 00:41:31,406
it's come out on disc,
therefore it's preserved,
893
00:41:31,739 --> 00:41:34,826
or therefore the original
materials are preserved.
894
00:41:36,869 --> 00:41:38,413
Not every film that we release
895
00:41:38,746 --> 00:41:41,416
and that we restore lives in our archive.
896
00:41:41,749 --> 00:41:44,627
Sometimes we acquire materials temporarily
897
00:41:44,961 --> 00:41:47,380
and then have to return
them to whoever owns them.
898
00:41:53,177 --> 00:41:53,928
- Oops.
899
00:41:56,055 --> 00:42:00,852
My father was Larry Joachim,
who was a movie producer
900
00:42:01,185 --> 00:42:03,021
and distributor of independent films.
901
00:42:06,691 --> 00:42:10,319
One of my father's friends
had a big collection
902
00:42:11,863 --> 00:42:13,573
in storage and in Movielab.
903
00:42:14,991 --> 00:42:17,243
It was up for auction
or something like that.
904
00:42:18,828 --> 00:42:19,996
I guess my father went there
905
00:42:20,329 --> 00:42:21,414
and there was nobody at the auction
906
00:42:21,748 --> 00:42:24,584
and he got all these
things for very little,
907
00:42:24,917 --> 00:42:26,377
and he just picked it up,
and I said, "What'd you do?"
908
00:42:26,711 --> 00:42:27,545
He says, "Oh, I just got another,
909
00:42:27,879 --> 00:42:29,589
like, 50 films and negatives."
910
00:42:30,882 --> 00:42:35,762
So many of the films that are
in these storage and things
911
00:42:36,095 --> 00:42:38,139
we found out were missing,
912
00:42:38,473 --> 00:42:40,391
they were lost films for many years,
913
00:42:40,725 --> 00:42:42,226
things like "Red Roses of Passion"
914
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,145
and "Beware the Black Widow."
915
00:42:54,655 --> 00:42:56,574
- The one that I have the closest affinity
916
00:42:56,908 --> 00:42:59,160
for is "Beware the Black Widow."
917
00:42:59,494 --> 00:43:01,704
This particular one
seemed really interesting
918
00:43:02,038 --> 00:43:04,874
in that it had, like, it
actually had a killing narrative
919
00:43:05,208 --> 00:43:07,251
and wasn't just straight up nudity.
920
00:43:09,837 --> 00:43:13,132
We had, I believe it was
seven out of eight reels
921
00:43:13,466 --> 00:43:15,301
of the actual sound,
922
00:43:16,302 --> 00:43:20,431
and one part of the actual picture.
923
00:43:21,724 --> 00:43:23,684
So I reach out to the collector
924
00:43:24,018 --> 00:43:25,937
and see whether or not
he had anything else
925
00:43:26,270 --> 00:43:28,898
for this title, and luckily, he did.
926
00:43:30,066 --> 00:43:33,319
- We do know that there was some fires
927
00:43:33,653 --> 00:43:36,614
where the original warehouse
is and other places like that,
928
00:43:36,948 --> 00:43:38,783
and many things were ruined
929
00:43:39,117 --> 00:43:42,411
to the point where
there's very little left.
930
00:43:42,745 --> 00:43:44,914
Luckily, we have found a lot of it.
931
00:43:46,582 --> 00:43:50,753
- "Deep Inside" is an example
of a frustrating project,
932
00:43:51,087 --> 00:43:53,297
in that the only element
that we were able to locate
933
00:43:53,631 --> 00:43:55,299
for the film is a comp dupe negative,
934
00:43:55,633 --> 00:43:58,761
and that means that it's
a picture negative element
935
00:43:59,095 --> 00:44:00,388
that also has a soundtrack on it,
936
00:44:00,721 --> 00:44:05,309
and because it came from another country
937
00:44:05,643 --> 00:44:06,644
and it was the element that had been sent
938
00:44:06,978 --> 00:44:10,189
to that country for their
own theatrical distribution,
939
00:44:10,523 --> 00:44:12,650
the distributor there
decided to reedit the film.
940
00:44:12,984 --> 00:44:16,362
So in order to put the film back together,
941
00:44:16,696 --> 00:44:19,490
we had the main feature,
and then we had three reels
942
00:44:19,824 --> 00:44:23,619
of chunks that had been cut
out, sometimes mid-shots,
943
00:44:23,953 --> 00:44:27,540
from the version that was
released internationally.
944
00:44:27,874 --> 00:44:31,002
So all of these different
elements were scanned,
945
00:44:31,335 --> 00:44:32,378
and then I had to kind
946
00:44:32,712 --> 00:44:34,505
of haphazardly put them all back together
947
00:44:34,839 --> 00:44:39,635
and figure out where all of
these random chunks belonged.
948
00:44:40,011 --> 00:44:42,346
- Do you have to eat that peach like that?
949
00:44:43,764 --> 00:44:45,349
- I love peaches.
950
00:44:45,683 --> 00:44:48,644
- By and large, the most
complicated restorations
951
00:44:48,978 --> 00:44:53,232
in terms of elements are either
where the element was edited
952
00:44:53,566 --> 00:44:57,028
or completed in a way that
requires multiple sets
953
00:44:57,361 --> 00:44:59,030
of elements to be used or pulled from
954
00:44:59,363 --> 00:45:02,408
to create a single version of the film,
955
00:45:02,742 --> 00:45:05,328
or the film was reedited so much
956
00:45:05,661 --> 00:45:07,163
that there isn't a single element,
957
00:45:07,496 --> 00:45:09,081
a complete element that
represents the film
958
00:45:09,415 --> 00:45:10,750
as it was originally intended to be seen,
959
00:45:11,083 --> 00:45:12,752
so other elements have to be used
960
00:45:13,085 --> 00:45:16,214
to either supplement, because
maybe the negative was recut
961
00:45:16,547 --> 00:45:18,716
and things were taken
out of it or reordered
962
00:45:19,050 --> 00:45:20,801
and those pre-print elements
don't exist anymore.
963
00:45:21,135 --> 00:45:24,222
So the only element that
does exist is a print,
964
00:45:24,555 --> 00:45:26,933
or even worse, only a video master.
965
00:45:31,187 --> 00:45:32,688
And we've unfortunately had to do that
966
00:45:33,022 --> 00:45:36,025
on a number of occasions
where the only film materials
967
00:45:36,359 --> 00:45:36,943
we've been able to locate
968
00:45:37,276 --> 00:45:39,820
for a title are either a recut version
969
00:45:40,154 --> 00:45:43,282
or a censored version
that's missing material
970
00:45:43,616 --> 00:45:45,826
that the filmmakers
certainly wanted in there,
971
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,497
and we've had to pull from
a far inferior source.
972
00:45:52,333 --> 00:45:54,377
- The most extreme situation that
973
00:45:54,710 --> 00:45:58,631
I've encountered was "House
on Straw Hill ."
974
00:45:59,465 --> 00:46:01,842
- Perhaps this is the first
time in a long while
975
00:46:02,176 --> 00:46:03,427
that I really feel content.
976
00:46:04,720 --> 00:46:06,514
I actually feel happy this evening.
977
00:46:06,847 --> 00:46:08,849
- It had all kinds of damage
978
00:46:09,183 --> 00:46:11,602
that I hadn't really experienced before.
979
00:46:11,936 --> 00:46:13,020
When you look at the image,
980
00:46:13,354 --> 00:46:16,440
it looked like watermarks all
over it and different colors,
981
00:46:16,774 --> 00:46:17,817
and the colors were fading
982
00:46:18,150 --> 00:46:20,236
in different spots in every frame.
983
00:46:20,569 --> 00:46:22,071
So it wasn't something where unless
984
00:46:22,405 --> 00:46:26,242
you actually went into
every frame and repainted it
985
00:46:26,575 --> 00:46:30,830
that you would actually be able
to restore it unilaterally.
986
00:46:31,163 --> 00:46:33,207
But we found a release print
987
00:46:33,541 --> 00:46:35,042
from a collector here in the US,
988
00:46:35,376 --> 00:46:36,377
and that was actually what we used
989
00:46:36,711 --> 00:46:38,087
for a majority of the master
990
00:46:38,421 --> 00:46:41,382
because it was actually better
condition than the negative.
991
00:46:42,633 --> 00:46:44,051
So I actually went to
992
00:46:44,385 --> 00:46:47,179
where the James Kenelm
Clarke films were stored,
993
00:46:47,513 --> 00:46:52,184
which was at his farmhouse
in Norfolk, in England,
994
00:46:52,518 --> 00:46:55,730
and it was a barn, but
when I went in there,
995
00:46:56,063 --> 00:46:58,357
there was a hole in the roof of the barn,
996
00:46:58,691 --> 00:47:01,485
and all the film cans were just encrusted
997
00:47:01,819 --> 00:47:03,112
into the wall, basically, like,
998
00:47:03,446 --> 00:47:05,114
the brick work was kind of falling apart,
999
00:47:05,448 --> 00:47:07,992
and it was almost as if the
cans themselves were kind
1000
00:47:08,326 --> 00:47:10,494
of part of that old ruin.
1001
00:47:11,704 --> 00:47:14,749
But it was covered in pigeon
shit, years and years of dirt,
1002
00:47:15,082 --> 00:47:17,585
and the elements in Norfolk could get in,
1003
00:47:17,918 --> 00:47:20,463
like, hot in the summer,
freezing in the winter,
1004
00:47:20,796 --> 00:47:22,965
snow, whatever must have
been on those things,
1005
00:47:23,299 --> 00:47:26,093
and all the film cans
were completely rusty,
1006
00:47:26,427 --> 00:47:30,639
and this is how the negative
of "House on Straw Hill"
1007
00:47:30,973 --> 00:47:34,352
and all his other films had
been stored for decades.
1008
00:47:35,811 --> 00:47:40,441
I did manage to pull enough
reels of each of the films,
1009
00:47:40,775 --> 00:47:43,819
which I then loaded into my rental car.
1010
00:47:44,153 --> 00:47:46,572
When they arrived here, you
know, you could smell them,
1011
00:47:46,906 --> 00:47:49,658
you could smell that film, and we had
1012
00:47:49,992 --> 00:47:52,912
to then have them all sonically cleaned,
1013
00:47:53,245 --> 00:47:55,998
take them down to what we
call the bath house here in LA
1014
00:47:56,332 --> 00:47:58,667
and have them sonically
cleaned, and they complained
1015
00:47:59,001 --> 00:48:00,419
about the condition of these things,
1016
00:48:00,753 --> 00:48:02,630
like, "What the hell are you bringing us?"
1017
00:48:03,798 --> 00:48:05,007
But at least then they come back
1018
00:48:05,341 --> 00:48:08,427
in the best possible condition
to put on the scanner,
1019
00:48:08,761 --> 00:48:11,680
and then we have to figure out how well
1020
00:48:12,014 --> 00:48:14,308
they can be restored, which
Is never gonna be perfect,
1021
00:48:14,642 --> 00:48:18,813
but at least we've then
scanned them until, you know,
1022
00:48:19,146 --> 00:48:21,273
until 8K scanning comes
along, we've got them
1023
00:48:22,566 --> 00:48:24,485
and we've got them, you
know, in better conditions
1024
00:48:24,819 --> 00:48:27,154
than they were being kept
for the last few decades.
1025
00:48:28,489 --> 00:48:30,991
- One of the very earliest collections
1026
00:48:31,325 --> 00:48:33,244
that I became involved
with was the material
1027
00:48:33,577 --> 00:48:35,621
from a guy named Elvin Feliner,
1028
00:48:35,955 --> 00:48:39,917
who for decades was just
buying film libraries.
1029
00:48:40,251 --> 00:48:42,545
- I knew Elvin Feltner
for many, many years.
1030
00:48:42,878 --> 00:48:46,132
He figured out early on that
he could buy a film library
1031
00:48:46,465 --> 00:48:49,760
for X and then have it valued at,
1032
00:48:50,094 --> 00:48:53,389
like, 10 or 20, even 100 X.
1033
00:48:53,722 --> 00:48:56,392
What he did is he amassed a film library
1034
00:48:56,725 --> 00:49:00,855
and he got an appraisal
of the film library
1035
00:49:01,188 --> 00:49:04,316
for $400 million,
1036
00:49:04,650 --> 00:49:08,863
and so he basically lost
interest in the library
1037
00:49:09,196 --> 00:49:10,239
and he was really only interested
1038
00:49:10,573 --> 00:49:13,325
in borrowing money against
the value of the library.
1039
00:49:13,659 --> 00:49:14,577
- He didn't really care what it was.
1040
00:49:14,910 --> 00:49:16,579
Like, he would buy, like, TV shows,
1041
00:49:16,912 --> 00:49:18,998
he would buy films, he
would just buy anything,
1042
00:49:19,331 --> 00:49:22,543
and one of the libraries
that he bought were all
1043
00:49:22,877 --> 00:49:25,463
of the independently produced
films by Albert Zugsmith,
1044
00:49:25,796 --> 00:49:28,966
who is best remembered for his flirtation
1045
00:49:29,300 --> 00:49:33,095
with Hollywood respectability,
but like many people
1046
00:49:33,429 --> 00:49:35,556
who got their starts in
Hollywood, he ended up working
1047
00:49:35,890 --> 00:49:37,683
in exploitation films
in the '60s and "70s.
1048
00:49:38,017 --> 00:49:40,311
- The film you're about
to see is a new art form,
1049
00:49:40,644 --> 00:49:42,688
"The Incredible Sex Revolution,"
1050
00:49:43,022 --> 00:49:44,690
written and directed by Albert Zugsmith,
1051
00:49:45,024 --> 00:49:46,442
who's brought you such
great motion pictures
1052
00:49:46,775 --> 00:49:50,654
as "Written on the Wind," "Touch
of Evil," and "Panty Hill."
1053
00:49:50,988 --> 00:49:54,450
- The materials were stored
well for several decades
1054
00:49:54,783 --> 00:49:59,121
until the early 2000s when
they were reportedly moved
1055
00:49:59,455 --> 00:50:03,083
to a carpeted former Bally Total Fitness.
1056
00:50:03,417 --> 00:50:05,211
- He was dying of leukemia.
1057
00:50:05,544 --> 00:50:07,713
I was in the hospital visiting him,
1058
00:50:08,047 --> 00:50:10,132
and I happened to notice on the table next
1059
00:50:10,466 --> 00:50:13,385
to the bed a pile of mail,
and there was a piece of mail
1060
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:16,305
that was registered mail from Florida.
1061
00:50:16,639 --> 00:50:18,974
So I kind of quietly grabbed
1062
00:50:19,308 --> 00:50:20,768
that piece of mail and
I went into the hallway,
1063
00:50:21,101 --> 00:50:23,771
opened it up, and of course
it was from the landlord
1064
00:50:24,104 --> 00:50:25,231
of where his film library was stored.
1065
00:50:25,564 --> 00:50:27,816
I copied down the name
and the phone number.
1066
00:50:28,859 --> 00:50:30,611
Later that day, I reached out to him,
1067
00:50:30,945 --> 00:50:34,698
and the guy said basically
that he's foreclosed on it,
1068
00:50:35,032 --> 00:50:38,160
he has a dumpster, and in two
weeks, the entire contents
1069
00:50:38,494 --> 00:50:40,621
of the storage space
IS going in a dumpster,
1070
00:50:40,955 --> 00:50:45,292
and I went down to Florida
to rescue the library.
1071
00:50:45,626 --> 00:50:47,211
There was no air conditioning
1072
00:50:47,545 --> 00:50:49,213
and there had been a roof leak.
1073
00:50:49,547 --> 00:50:51,340
Like, the worst possible conditions
1074
00:50:51,674 --> 00:50:53,300
you could ever imagine for storing a film.
1075
00:50:53,634 --> 00:50:56,178
- A number of the films
that were salvageable,
1076
00:50:56,512 --> 00:50:59,848
although decaying, were "The
Incredible Sex Revolution,"
1077
00:51:00,182 --> 00:51:03,352
which was a lost film, and "Violated,"
1078
00:51:04,687 --> 00:51:07,731
which sadly still only survives
1079
00:51:08,065 --> 00:51:11,026
in terms of a couple of faded prints.
1080
00:51:13,237 --> 00:51:16,115
We have the rotting Zugsmith films
1081
00:51:16,448 --> 00:51:17,658
in this building for a while,
1082
00:51:17,992 --> 00:51:20,869
and we'd basically purge
every couple of years
1083
00:51:21,203 --> 00:51:23,622
because it was in such a bad state
1084
00:51:23,956 --> 00:51:27,710
that even in two years' time,
1085
00:51:28,043 --> 00:51:31,338
film that was semi-salvageable
would have decayed
1086
00:51:31,672 --> 00:51:34,216
so much more that it
became un-salvageable.
1087
00:51:35,884 --> 00:51:39,013
- We're sitting on raw
scans, raw film scans,
1088
00:51:39,346 --> 00:51:40,431
digital film scans
1089
00:51:41,807 --> 00:51:45,978
of titles that have, since
the film was scanned,
1090
00:51:46,312 --> 00:51:49,815
have decayed because film decays.
1091
00:51:50,149 --> 00:51:51,734
I mean, you can only slow it down.
1092
00:51:52,067 --> 00:51:54,653
You can't stop it, you can't reverse it.
1093
00:51:54,987 --> 00:51:57,948
Film is like people, we
just continue to get older
1094
00:51:58,282 --> 00:51:59,783
and, you know, there's more problems
1095
00:52:00,117 --> 00:52:01,243
and more aches and pains.
1096
00:52:02,161 --> 00:52:04,830
But I wish there was a way
to just hit the pause button,
1097
00:52:05,164 --> 00:52:06,206
but you can't.
1098
00:52:11,629 --> 00:52:13,297
- There was a certain
amount of crosspollination
1099
00:52:13,631 --> 00:52:14,923
between exploitation films
1100
00:52:15,257 --> 00:52:18,135
and other low budget
filmmaking of the time.
1101
00:52:18,469 --> 00:52:21,680
I first learned about the
driver's education films
1102
00:52:22,014 --> 00:52:23,265
of the '50s and '60s,
1103
00:52:23,599 --> 00:52:26,894
the explicit "Death on the Highway" films,
1104
00:52:27,227 --> 00:52:29,605
and to me, those films were mythic,
1105
00:52:29,938 --> 00:52:33,776
and I didn't necessarily
believe that they existed,
1106
00:52:34,109 --> 00:52:36,320
at least as described to me.
1107
00:52:36,654 --> 00:52:37,613
- They have been called the most
1108
00:52:37,946 --> 00:52:41,742
effective traffic safety
motion pictures ever produced.
1109
00:52:42,076 --> 00:52:43,410
Without a doubt, you have witnessed
1110
00:52:43,744 --> 00:52:47,373
the most shocking scenes ever
put on motion picture film.
1111
00:52:47,706 --> 00:52:49,124
The object of the whole thing,
1112
00:52:49,458 --> 00:52:51,502
our traffic safety film program,
1113
00:52:51,835 --> 00:52:54,380
is simply to make you a better driver.
1114
00:52:54,713 --> 00:52:56,840
During these years of filmmaking,
1115
00:52:57,174 --> 00:52:58,550
we have shown you the results
1116
00:52:58,884 --> 00:53:01,845
of almost every driving
mistake in the book.
1117
00:53:02,179 --> 00:53:03,597
- And the intention of the filmmakers
1118
00:53:03,931 --> 00:53:05,224
with these films is to show them
1119
00:53:05,557 --> 00:53:08,519
to high school drivers in
driver education classes
1120
00:53:08,852 --> 00:53:12,106
to scare them into habits of safe driving.
1121
00:53:12,439 --> 00:53:15,442
And eventually, I tracked down the makers
1122
00:53:15,776 --> 00:53:19,238
of some of these films and
some of the more elusive films
1123
00:53:19,571 --> 00:53:23,450
that weren't available
from mail order companies.
1124
00:53:23,784 --> 00:53:25,536
I was able to find films on eBay
1125
00:53:25,869 --> 00:53:28,330
because no one saw the
value in certain films.
1126
00:53:28,664 --> 00:53:30,499
- This car
loaded with teenagers slid
1127
00:53:30,833 --> 00:53:32,418
into the end of a guardrail.
1128
00:53:32,751 --> 00:53:34,420
The rail knifed through the car,
1129
00:53:34,753 --> 00:53:38,006
pinning all of the young men
in the rear portion of the car.
1130
00:53:38,340 --> 00:53:41,301
Believe it or not, no one
was seriously injured.
1131
00:53:41,635 --> 00:53:43,929
- With industrial and educational films,
1132
00:53:44,263 --> 00:53:45,973
typically the pre-print material,
1133
00:53:46,306 --> 00:53:48,600
that is the negatives, don't survive,
1134
00:53:48,934 --> 00:53:51,645
and I have an especially
tragic story to share.
1135
00:53:51,979 --> 00:53:53,272
When I was working on my documentary
1136
00:53:53,605 --> 00:53:55,983
on driver education films,
1137
00:53:56,316 --> 00:53:57,526
I was seeking out the negatives
1138
00:53:57,860 --> 00:54:00,904
for those really landmark films,
1139
00:54:01,238 --> 00:54:03,699
like "Signal 30" and "Mechanized Death,"
1140
00:54:04,032 --> 00:54:07,035
and the producer who owned the rights,
1141
00:54:07,369 --> 00:54:09,955
Earle Deems, had donated the negatives
1142
00:54:10,289 --> 00:54:12,416
to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
1143
00:54:12,750 --> 00:54:16,462
He put me in touch, I got
through to the correct person,
1144
00:54:16,795 --> 00:54:19,047
and eventually found that they said,
1145
00:54:19,381 --> 00:54:23,719
"Oh, yeah, we had that,
but we got rid of it."
1146
00:54:24,052 --> 00:54:26,096
And it was like, "Why
did you get rid of it?"
1147
00:54:26,430 --> 00:54:29,600
"Well, he also provided
us with video tapes,
1148
00:54:29,933 --> 00:54:32,102
and the video tapes were
really all anyone needed
1149
00:54:32,436 --> 00:54:35,189
or wanted, so there was no
reason to hold onto the,
1150
00:54:35,522 --> 00:54:37,608
no one was ever gonna do
anything with the films."
1151
00:54:37,941 --> 00:54:39,860
Of course, I would have done
something with the films,
1152
00:54:40,194 --> 00:54:41,862
but I got there too late.
1153
00:54:42,196 --> 00:54:44,323
Those negatives had been junked,
1154
00:54:44,656 --> 00:54:45,741
and he had an inventory of, like,
1155
00:54:46,074 --> 00:54:49,912
A, B-roll, 16 millimeter
camera negatives, it was,
1156
00:54:51,789 --> 00:54:53,749
you know, it was sad, to say the least.
1157
00:54:54,082 --> 00:54:58,212
And a lot of people during the rise
1158
00:54:58,545 --> 00:55:00,297
of the video era felt like,
1159
00:55:00,631 --> 00:55:02,424
"We don't need 16 millimeter anymore,
1160
00:55:02,758 --> 00:55:06,261
it's all video and once we
have a VHS copy, we're good,"
1161
00:55:06,595 --> 00:55:08,305
not looking ahead to realize
1162
00:55:08,639 --> 00:55:11,558
that beyond VHS was
gonna be DVD and Blu-ray
1163
00:55:11,892 --> 00:55:14,144
and 4K UHD and who knows what else.
1164
00:55:14,478 --> 00:55:19,149
So it's crucial that filmmakers,
producers, distributors
1165
00:55:19,483 --> 00:55:24,029
always preserve the earliest
surviving materials,
1166
00:55:24,363 --> 00:55:26,323
and preferably in more than one form
1167
00:55:26,657 --> 00:55:28,826
because there's all sorts of ways
1168
00:55:29,159 --> 00:55:30,994
in which films can fade and decompose
1169
00:55:31,328 --> 00:55:32,204
and no longer be usable
1170
00:55:32,538 --> 00:55:35,415
for the creation of
high definition masters.
1171
00:55:38,335 --> 00:55:40,879
- So Chicago Film Society
grew pretty organically
1172
00:55:41,213 --> 00:55:43,215
from when we started in 2011.
1173
00:55:43,549 --> 00:55:47,177
We initially were just
doing repertory programming,
1174
00:55:47,511 --> 00:55:50,597
So we were showing a
movie or two every week,
1175
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:53,308
and we weren't doing any other activities.
1176
00:55:53,642 --> 00:55:56,061
We were purely a programming organization.
1177
00:55:56,395 --> 00:55:57,896
That's how we conceived of it.
1178
00:55:58,230 --> 00:56:00,065
But very quickly, we discovered
1179
00:56:00,399 --> 00:56:02,150
that that wasn't really sufficient, right,
1180
00:56:02,484 --> 00:56:05,863
because after a certain
point, you run into a wall,
1181
00:56:06,196 --> 00:56:09,741
and you're dealing with a lot of archives
1182
00:56:10,075 --> 00:56:13,161
and private collectors
and realize the advantages
1183
00:56:13,495 --> 00:56:14,788
of having your own collection.
1184
00:56:15,747 --> 00:56:18,417
- Film preservation
was not necessarily one
1185
00:56:18,750 --> 00:56:22,004
of our goals starting up, but we started
1186
00:56:22,337 --> 00:56:24,298
with one film preservation project,
1187
00:56:24,631 --> 00:56:27,634
and we also started with
a small film collection,
1188
00:56:27,968 --> 00:56:31,805
and just over the course of operating,
1189
00:56:32,139 --> 00:56:33,807
those projects kept coming.
1190
00:56:34,141 --> 00:56:36,518
We kept seeking them out and finding them,
1191
00:56:36,852 --> 00:56:39,771
and the collection continued to grow.
1192
00:56:40,105 --> 00:56:44,860
- We had a lot of prints
that were not rare or unique,
1193
00:56:45,193 --> 00:56:46,612
but we did have things that were.
1194
00:56:46,945 --> 00:56:49,197
So we certainly also
felt there was a level
1195
00:56:49,531 --> 00:56:53,076
of responsibility there, that
when we have the only copy
1196
00:56:53,410 --> 00:56:58,040
of something, we can either
show it until it crumbles,
1197
00:56:58,373 --> 00:57:02,002
or we can, you know, show it once or twice
1198
00:57:02,336 --> 00:57:04,463
and then realize, "My God, this film
1199
00:57:04,796 --> 00:57:06,673
that we have is the only copy,
1200
00:57:07,007 --> 00:57:09,301
and the really responsible thing is
1201
00:57:09,635 --> 00:57:11,970
to make a new negative, make new prints
1202
00:57:12,304 --> 00:57:13,555
so that we can share it."
1203
00:57:14,723 --> 00:57:16,308
- You know, of course we had daydreamed
1204
00:57:16,642 --> 00:57:18,769
and joked about doing
preservation projects,
1205
00:57:19,102 --> 00:57:23,857
and I think at a certain
point, it became more serious.
1206
00:57:24,733 --> 00:57:26,318
I think that was really how we arrived
1207
00:57:26,652 --> 00:57:29,404
at doing the "Corn's-A-Poppin™ project.
1208
00:57:29,738 --> 00:57:31,698
- "Corn's-A-Poppin™ is
really a great example
1209
00:57:32,032 --> 00:57:36,244
of how showing something,
even if it's, you know,
1210
00:57:36,578 --> 00:57:39,623
maybe a little risky to show
the only surviving print,
1211
00:57:39,957 --> 00:57:41,917
how essential that can be
1212
00:57:42,250 --> 00:57:44,836
to the restoration and
preservation process.
1213
00:57:45,170 --> 00:57:48,465
- There's a film from 1955
called "Corn's-A-Poppin'."
1214
00:57:50,050 --> 00:57:53,470
It happens to be written by Robert Altman.
1215
00:57:53,804 --> 00:57:55,097
Altman himself didn't talk about it.
1216
00:57:55,430 --> 00:57:57,307
He basically disowned the film.
1217
00:57:57,641 --> 00:58:00,018
It wasn't ever available
commercially on video.
1218
00:58:00,352 --> 00:58:02,896
It didn't screen in revival houses,
1219
00:58:03,230 --> 00:58:05,607
it was just basically a
title on a filmography.
1220
00:58:05,941 --> 00:58:08,402
- What a show, wow.
1221
00:58:08,735 --> 00:58:09,861
- Wow is right.
1222
00:58:10,195 --> 00:58:14,992
- And you learn that it's not
just an Altman adjacent curio,
1223
00:58:15,367 --> 00:58:18,203
but a regional film, it's a document
1224
00:58:18,537 --> 00:58:21,206
of a musical scene that's vanished,
1225
00:58:21,540 --> 00:58:24,292
the country and western
swing scene in Kansas City
1226
00:58:24,626 --> 00:58:26,044
in the mid '50s.
1227
00:58:26,378 --> 00:58:28,088
It is, in its way, a sponsored film
1228
00:58:28,422 --> 00:58:33,093
because it was unofficially
funded by the Popcorn Institute,
1229
00:58:33,427 --> 00:58:36,388
which was a trade group promoting popcorn.
1230
00:58:36,722 --> 00:58:40,434
- Remember, Pinwhistle
is the pop-ular corn.
1231
00:58:40,767 --> 00:58:42,561
- You peel back the layers of the onion,
1232
00:58:42,894 --> 00:58:44,146
and unlike a real onion,
1233
00:58:44,479 --> 00:58:46,898
every layer smells
better and better, right?
1234
00:58:47,983 --> 00:58:49,901
And with this specific film,
1235
00:58:50,235 --> 00:58:52,904
the more we researched
it, the more we found
1236
00:58:53,238 --> 00:58:54,948
that there was this very
compelling story behind it,
1237
00:58:55,282 --> 00:58:57,826
and it wasn't just a
silly little musical film
1238
00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:00,746
about popcorn, but an
actual artifact of culture.
1239
00:59:11,798 --> 00:59:14,760
- I think when most people
think of what a lost film is,
1240
00:59:15,093 --> 00:59:19,723
they mean like a lost Hollywood feature,
1241
00:59:20,057 --> 00:59:21,808
or maybe a lost independent feature,
1242
00:59:22,142 --> 00:59:24,061
but probably a movie
that has some connection
1243
00:59:24,394 --> 00:59:25,395
to someone that you've heard of,
1244
00:59:25,729 --> 00:59:28,857
but we haven't gotten to see, you know,
1245
00:59:29,191 --> 00:59:31,526
this lost corner of their work.
1246
00:59:31,860 --> 00:59:35,030
So in that, by that definition,
1247
00:59:35,363 --> 00:59:36,740
"Corn's-A-Poppin™ is really juicy
1248
00:59:37,074 --> 00:59:39,284
because of the Robert Altman connection,
1249
00:59:40,410 --> 00:59:42,245
but actually, I would say a lot
1250
00:59:42,579 --> 00:59:46,124
of the smaller cases are just as exciting.
1251
00:59:46,458 --> 00:59:48,251
Any home movie footage that
1252
00:59:48,585 --> 00:59:53,381
accidentally captures something
is really interesting to me.
1253
00:59:54,674 --> 00:59:58,303
- If you're focused
purely on narrative cinema
1254
00:59:58,637 --> 01:00:00,597
or, you know, mainstream film,
1255
01:00:02,599 --> 01:00:07,395
there's a kind of very simple
cut and dried narrative
1256
01:00:07,729 --> 01:00:09,773
of what a movie is, right?
1257
01:00:11,108 --> 01:00:13,276
You make a movie, it opens in theaters.
1258
01:00:13,610 --> 01:00:14,903
It's made to entertain people
1259
01:00:15,237 --> 01:00:17,155
and make money back for its investors.
1260
01:00:17,489 --> 01:00:20,450
But when you get beyond that
1261
01:00:20,784 --> 01:00:24,621
and look at avant-garde
films or industrial films
1262
01:00:24,955 --> 01:00:28,416
or home movies or artist films or cartoons
1263
01:00:28,750 --> 01:00:30,001
or all these other things,
1264
01:00:31,837 --> 01:00:34,339
the tools of a film critic looking
1265
01:00:34,673 --> 01:00:37,425
at mass media and saying,
"This movie's good,
1266
01:00:37,759 --> 01:00:41,888
this movie is bad," those don't
apply I think quite as much.
1267
01:00:42,222 --> 01:00:44,182
Instead, you're really looking at it more
1268
01:00:44,516 --> 01:00:46,434
as an anthropologist at that point.
1269
01:00:46,768 --> 01:00:50,272
You're saying, "What is
this object, who made it?
1270
01:00:50,605 --> 01:00:54,317
What was its use, what community
was it part of?" right,
1271
01:00:54,651 --> 01:00:57,195
because there can be occasional films
1272
01:00:57,529 --> 01:00:59,698
in the same way that there
are occasional poems.
1273
01:01:00,031 --> 01:01:03,618
There are films made for
a specific event, right?
1274
01:01:03,952 --> 01:01:05,871
And outside of the context of that,
1275
01:01:06,204 --> 01:01:07,205
it might look very modest.
1276
01:01:07,539 --> 01:01:09,708
It might just look like
a tiny film in a can.
1277
01:01:10,041 --> 01:01:14,629
So our job as preservationists
is to research the film
1278
01:01:14,963 --> 01:01:17,257
and to figure out the backstory of it,
1279
01:01:17,591 --> 01:01:20,719
to figure out the meaning it
had to its original community,
1280
01:01:21,052 --> 01:01:22,971
even if that's obscure now,
1281
01:01:24,097 --> 01:01:28,059
to be able to draw in a narrative
that can attract anybody.
1282
01:01:32,105 --> 01:01:33,982
- I think the most interesting part
1283
01:01:34,316 --> 01:01:37,652
about living in the era
that we're currently in is
1284
01:01:37,986 --> 01:01:41,740
that we're not really beholden
to five studios anymore.
1285
01:01:42,073 --> 01:01:44,117
I think there are a
bunch of different voices
1286
01:01:44,451 --> 01:01:48,038
who can actually release
films, curate their own extras,
1287
01:01:48,371 --> 01:01:50,415
and actually bring histories forward
1288
01:01:50,749 --> 01:01:53,293
that were never really a recognized part
1289
01:01:53,627 --> 01:01:54,961
of the canon before.
1290
01:01:55,295 --> 01:01:59,174
Genre film is something
fiercely counter cultural,
1291
01:01:59,507 --> 01:02:03,011
very against the grain,
if we're using film terms,
1292
01:02:05,013 --> 01:02:06,973
and I think Milestone Films is a
1293
01:02:07,307 --> 01:02:08,516
really good example of that.
1294
01:02:09,559 --> 01:02:12,646
- Yeah, I mean, the canon
IS an interesting question,
1295
01:02:12,979 --> 01:02:14,522
and how it works, and how it works,
1296
01:02:14,856 --> 01:02:18,068
and inside each of us, not
just as a cultural artifact.
1297
01:02:19,277 --> 01:02:21,279
I think we were all influenced
1298
01:02:21,613 --> 01:02:24,741
by the films we saw growing
up, by our education,
1299
01:02:25,075 --> 01:02:26,785
by a lot of assumptions we have,
1300
01:02:27,118 --> 01:02:27,953
and by things that we were taught
1301
01:02:28,286 --> 01:02:30,163
when we first started
working in the film industry,
1302
01:02:30,497 --> 01:02:33,124
and I started working in 1985.
1303
01:02:33,458 --> 01:02:36,670
Some of the things that
were kind of, you know,
1304
01:02:37,879 --> 01:02:41,299
you know, just accepted
facts were that certain kinds
1305
01:02:41,633 --> 01:02:43,969
of films were sellable
and others were not.
1306
01:02:44,302 --> 01:02:49,099
So, for us, that seemed to
be films by mostly white men,
1307
01:02:49,641 --> 01:02:53,061
and that other films, unless
they were made by Africans,
1308
01:02:53,395 --> 01:02:54,271
I mean, I worked for New Yorker Films,
1309
01:02:54,604 --> 01:02:56,815
so films made by African
filmmakers might be sellable,
1310
01:02:57,148 --> 01:03:00,944
but films made by African
American filmmakers, not so much.
1311
01:03:01,278 --> 01:03:05,073
And I think coming to
terms with how that works
1312
01:03:05,407 --> 01:03:08,660
in our own psyches also takes time.
1313
01:03:08,994 --> 01:03:12,372
I mean, we say that our goal
is to fuck with the canon.
1314
01:03:12,706 --> 01:03:15,667
We want to push it, expand it,
1315
01:03:16,001 --> 01:03:18,461
and challenge it whenever we can.
1316
01:03:18,795 --> 01:03:21,548
- For the last 14 years,
we have been working
1317
01:03:21,881 --> 01:03:25,844
on Project Shirley, a expansive research
1318
01:03:26,177 --> 01:03:28,346
into Shirley Clarke's life, her careers,
1319
01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:31,558
and distribution of everything from four
1320
01:03:31,891 --> 01:03:33,685
of her feature films, her documentaries,
1321
01:03:34,019 --> 01:03:36,730
her unfinished work, her short films.
1322
01:03:37,981 --> 01:03:39,941
But our touchstone, really,
1323
01:03:40,275 --> 01:03:42,402
is Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep."
1324
01:03:42,736 --> 01:03:44,863
We signed the rights in 2001.
1325
01:03:45,196 --> 01:03:47,073
It took us six years to
clear the music rights,
1326
01:03:47,407 --> 01:03:49,784
which the degree of
difficulty alone makes it one
1327
01:03:50,118 --> 01:03:54,372
of my favorites because I love
going after the impossible.
1328
01:03:54,706 --> 01:03:57,250
- Working with Charles
Burnett really help us kind
1329
01:03:57,584 --> 01:04:00,587
of reset our expectations of what film can
1330
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:03,965
and doesn't want to do, that
a film can be low budget,
1331
01:04:04,299 --> 01:04:05,467
and that can be a great virtue.
1332
01:04:05,800 --> 01:04:07,302
I now look at many Hollywood films
1333
01:04:07,635 --> 01:04:08,803
and think, "This is crap,"
1334
01:04:09,137 --> 01:04:13,933
because it's so trite or so
manufactured or so glossy.
1335
01:04:14,893 --> 01:04:16,686
- As to why Milestone has focused
1336
01:04:17,020 --> 01:04:19,272
on these films is a complicated question
1337
01:04:19,606 --> 01:04:22,359
because at some point, we
did do "The Bat Whispers,"
1338
01:04:22,692 --> 01:04:24,652
and one day, I got a phone call
1339
01:04:24,986 --> 01:04:27,197
from this man named Curtis Harrington,
1340
01:04:27,530 --> 01:04:29,115
and we spent two years
working with Curtis,
1341
01:04:29,449 --> 01:04:31,368
trying to free up the
rights to all of his films.
1342
01:04:31,701 --> 01:04:35,622
So at that point, we were willing
to try and do genre films,
1343
01:04:35,955 --> 01:04:39,376
but it didn't come about, and once you hit
1344
01:04:39,709 --> 01:04:42,921
on a successful release schedule,
1345
01:04:43,254 --> 01:04:46,091
other filmmakers of that
kind come to you, too.
1346
01:04:46,424 --> 01:04:48,968
So if you do horror films,
horror directors come to you.
1347
01:04:49,302 --> 01:04:51,638
If you do Jewish films,
Jewish directors come to you.
1348
01:04:51,971 --> 01:04:54,140
So we never really had that momentum
1349
01:04:54,474 --> 01:04:57,894
to do anything after Curtis,
after "Night Tide," really.
1350
01:04:58,228 --> 01:04:59,562
So that's part of it.
1351
01:04:59,896 --> 01:05:00,855
Another part, I have to say,
1352
01:05:01,189 --> 01:05:05,985
is a lot of these genre films
are directed by white men,
1353
01:05:06,820 --> 01:05:11,074
and that is something that we have decided
1354
01:05:11,408 --> 01:05:13,034
to let other people focus on.
1355
01:05:14,577 --> 01:05:18,581
Genre films are the undercurrent
of American society,
1356
01:05:18,915 --> 01:05:21,918
even though they can seem
to be about one subject,
1357
01:05:22,252 --> 01:05:23,336
zombie films, for example.
1358
01:05:23,670 --> 01:05:24,379
"Night of the Living Dead" was one
1359
01:05:24,712 --> 01:05:25,922
of the great political films.
1360
01:05:26,256 --> 01:05:27,549
So by investigating these
1361
01:05:27,882 --> 01:05:29,843
and seeing another side of society,
1362
01:05:30,176 --> 01:05:32,762
it brings out more
depth, more understanding
1363
01:05:33,096 --> 01:05:34,931
of what this world is about.
1364
01:05:38,810 --> 01:05:43,106
- What counts as film treasures
changes over time, and that,
1365
01:05:43,440 --> 01:05:45,775
in fact, until the French new wave
1366
01:05:46,109 --> 01:05:50,613
really celebrated American
westerns, the films of John Ford
1367
01:05:50,947 --> 01:05:52,782
and Anthony Mann were just genre films.
1368
01:05:53,116 --> 01:05:56,494
And so I'm thinking that
although perhaps the
1369
01:05:56,828 --> 01:05:59,456
big studio films would have
been preserved no matter what,
1370
01:05:59,789 --> 01:06:01,332
I'm guessing that a lot of, you know,
1371
01:06:01,666 --> 01:06:04,252
Poverty Row westerns owe their survival
1372
01:06:04,586 --> 01:06:08,631
to Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut
1373
01:06:08,965 --> 01:06:10,675
and "Cahiers du Cinéma."
1374
01:06:13,136 --> 01:06:14,262
- Going through film,
1375
01:06:14,596 --> 01:06:16,181
which has sort of become
the very regular part
1376
01:06:16,514 --> 01:06:18,349
of my life over the last couple of years,
1377
01:06:19,684 --> 01:06:22,687
discovering lost elements,
it's invigorating.
1378
01:06:24,355 --> 01:06:25,773
But I did find-
1379
01:06:26,107 --> 01:06:27,108
You know, there's not
a lot of people around.
1380
01:06:27,442 --> 01:06:29,027
Sometimes it's odd hours.
1381
01:06:29,360 --> 01:06:30,111
It's late at night, you know,
1382
01:06:30,445 --> 01:06:31,696
sometimes early in the morning,
1383
01:06:32,030 --> 01:06:33,823
and you're going through elements.
1384
01:06:34,908 --> 01:06:37,368
You know, we see a lot of labels on boxes,
1385
01:06:37,702 --> 01:06:39,412
and a lot of times, what's on the outside
1386
01:06:39,746 --> 01:06:41,789
of the box isn't necessarily
what's inside the box.
1387
01:06:42,123 --> 01:06:46,920
But a few weeks ago, we found
a film called "Red Midnight,"
1388
01:06:47,712 --> 01:06:50,215
and we of course looked at the leader,
1389
01:06:50,548 --> 01:06:54,802
and I believe the element
is a blow up internegative,
1390
01:06:55,136 --> 01:06:57,722
So the film was shot in 16 millimeter.
1391
01:06:58,056 --> 01:07:00,308
One of the clues we had was on the leader,
1392
01:07:00,642 --> 01:07:01,601
there was a name.
1393
01:07:02,644 --> 01:07:03,269
- So "Red Midnight" was
1394
01:07:03,603 --> 01:07:05,897
from the Distribpix Movielab collection.
1395
01:07:06,231 --> 01:07:10,360
An optometrist, Dr. James A. Newslow,
1396
01:07:10,693 --> 01:07:12,987
he made this one film, "Red Midnight."
1397
01:07:13,321 --> 01:07:15,073
Apparently he made it
‘cause he was worried
1398
01:07:15,406 --> 01:07:18,201
about urban environments
just being too close together
1399
01:07:18,535 --> 01:07:20,203
and fires spreading.
1400
01:07:21,663 --> 01:07:25,041
Somehow the film ends up with
a nuke going off in Cape Cod.
1401
01:07:25,375 --> 01:07:27,168
That's a whole other story, too.
1402
01:07:27,502 --> 01:07:28,461
Samm Deighan said it best to me,
1403
01:07:28,795 --> 01:07:29,629
"The best way to describe it is
1404
01:07:29,963 --> 01:07:31,798
if Herschell Gordon
Lewis made a spy film."
1405
01:07:32,131 --> 01:07:35,426
- Where's the hidden room
to assemble the explosives?
1406
01:07:36,511 --> 01:07:38,846
- Look about you and
see if you can find it.
1407
01:07:39,806 --> 01:07:41,140
- It was found
at the last minute,
1408
01:07:41,474 --> 01:07:43,810
but again, you never know
what else is gonna come.
1409
01:07:46,187 --> 01:07:48,064
- Something that's actually
been very eye opening
1410
01:07:48,398 --> 01:07:50,441
with this Movielab
collection in general was it
1411
01:07:50,775 --> 01:07:52,860
really gave me an idea
of what Movielab did.
1412
01:07:53,903 --> 01:07:55,321
It's an impressive collection,
1413
01:07:56,322 --> 01:07:57,782
and that's sort of where we are,
1414
01:07:58,116 --> 01:07:59,450
and as you can see behind me,
1415
01:07:59,784 --> 01:08:02,662
we're still about I estimate
another six months to a year
1416
01:08:02,996 --> 01:08:05,540
of going through this stuff,
1417
01:08:05,873 --> 01:08:06,916
taking the films out of the cans,
1418
01:08:07,250 --> 01:08:10,086
letting them breathe, putting
them into archival cans,
1419
01:08:10,420 --> 01:08:11,588
and that's what we're doing.
1420
01:08:12,880 --> 01:08:14,090
- You know, back when we started,
1421
01:08:14,424 --> 01:08:17,927
we were one of the first
if not the first smaller,
1422
01:08:18,261 --> 01:08:21,431
you know, at that time really
small home video company
1423
01:08:21,764 --> 01:08:22,890
that was attempting to do
1424
01:08:23,224 --> 01:08:25,727
what only the major studios
had done up to that point.
1425
01:08:26,060 --> 01:08:29,147
- The first time that I
heard about film restoration,
1426
01:08:29,480 --> 01:08:31,190
it was probably in the
context of "Citizen Cane"
1427
01:08:31,524 --> 01:08:32,900
or "Vertigo" or something like that,
1428
01:08:33,234 --> 01:08:35,862
where the studios have spent
an inordinate amount of money
1429
01:08:36,195 --> 01:08:39,490
in doing a restoration of
these films that's been kept
1430
01:08:39,824 --> 01:08:42,660
in immaculate conditions,
you know, it's not
1431
01:08:42,994 --> 01:08:46,664
exactly a major undertaking
of restoration.
1432
01:08:46,998 --> 01:08:49,125
- Film scanners have come down in cost.
1433
01:08:49,459 --> 01:08:52,378
Digital restoration tools
are more readily available
1434
01:08:52,712 --> 01:08:54,714
to ordinary folks.
1435
01:08:55,048 --> 01:08:56,924
There's a higher interest, I think,
1436
01:08:57,258 --> 01:08:58,509
in preserving these films
1437
01:08:58,843 --> 01:09:01,262
and finding these films
before it's too late.
1438
01:09:01,596 --> 01:09:04,599
But I really think in terms of, like,
1439
01:09:04,932 --> 01:09:07,101
the home video side of
things, the smaller studios,
1440
01:09:07,435 --> 01:09:09,020
like, we were at the forefront,
1441
01:09:09,354 --> 01:09:11,481
and I'm pretty proud of that.
1442
01:09:11,814 --> 01:09:12,315
- This is the-
1443
01:09:12,649 --> 01:09:14,275
- And then you get the rest.
1444
01:09:14,609 --> 01:09:18,613
- So as of today, this is
not gonna be an exact count,
1445
01:09:18,946 --> 01:09:23,493
we have around 4,000 unique
titles in the database.
1446
01:09:23,826 --> 01:09:27,914
That equals around 7,000
elements in general,
1447
01:09:28,247 --> 01:09:32,543
which goes onto equal
about 23,000 cans of film,
1448
01:09:32,877 --> 01:09:33,711
which is a lot.
1449
01:09:34,671 --> 01:09:37,173
- It's a real goldmine for what it is.
1450
01:09:37,507 --> 01:09:39,175
There's nothing else like it in the world.
1451
01:09:39,509 --> 01:09:42,345
It's an archive just full of films
1452
01:09:42,679 --> 01:09:45,139
that would otherwise be lost to time.
1453
01:09:45,473 --> 01:09:47,100
- Yeah, when I first
visited Vinegar Syndrome,
1454
01:09:47,433 --> 01:09:48,851
I was actually just shocked
1455
01:09:49,185 --> 01:09:51,979
by how many people work
here under one roof.
1456
01:09:52,313 --> 01:09:56,359
Normally, an archive will
outsource all of that work,
1457
01:09:56,693 --> 01:09:58,695
and it can end up being really expensive,
1458
01:09:59,028 --> 01:10:01,197
if not entirely cost prohibitive.
1459
01:10:03,157 --> 01:10:04,075
And then on top of that,
1460
01:10:04,409 --> 01:10:07,161
there's the entire distribution
side of the company.
1461
01:10:07,495 --> 01:10:09,080
You see where some of this stuff is going,
1462
01:10:09,414 --> 01:10:10,915
it's going to Finland,
it's going to Germany,
1463
01:10:11,249 --> 01:10:14,043
it's going to Thailand, it's
going all over the world,
1464
01:10:14,377 --> 01:10:18,339
and it all happens one roof, it's insane.
1465
01:10:18,673 --> 01:10:20,383
And at the end of the day,
1466
01:10:20,717 --> 01:10:23,720
we're making these movies accessible
1467
01:10:24,053 --> 01:10:26,889
to people that wouldn't have the means
1468
01:10:27,223 --> 01:10:30,435
to necessarily see them at all.
1469
01:10:30,768 --> 01:10:33,062
- We do not have an unlimited budget.
1470
01:10:33,396 --> 01:10:34,856
You know, we're not getting
money from the government.
1471
01:10:35,189 --> 01:10:37,358
We're not getting money from taxpayers.
1472
01:10:37,692 --> 01:10:39,610
The money that we're getting
to maintain our archive comes
1473
01:10:39,944 --> 01:10:42,280
from selling Blu-rays, selling 4Ks,
1474
01:10:42,613 --> 01:10:43,614
selling shirts, selling hoodies.
1475
01:10:43,948 --> 01:10:46,367
You know, that's where
the money comes from.
1476
01:10:46,701 --> 01:10:49,620
- I really don't
feel that we have a right
1477
01:10:50,621 --> 01:10:55,543
to say what people should
see, what people should do.
1478
01:10:56,919 --> 01:10:59,088
- I'm waiting for the day
where somebody asks me,
1479
01:10:59,422 --> 01:11:01,424
like, "Why do you do this?"
1480
01:11:01,758 --> 01:11:05,219
The history is never
gonna be fully written.
1481
01:11:05,553 --> 01:11:07,597
There are always new stories to explore
1482
01:11:07,930 --> 01:11:09,140
and new stories to tell,
1483
01:11:10,433 --> 01:11:12,268
and the only way that
we're gonna do that is
1484
01:11:12,602 --> 01:11:15,980
if people come to the archive
and get their hands dirty
1485
01:11:16,314 --> 01:11:18,149
and figure out that history.
1486
01:11:19,400 --> 01:11:23,070
- One thing that I really
enjoy, in general, is logistics,
1487
01:11:23,404 --> 01:11:26,115
and one of the most interesting
things, as far as film goes,
1488
01:11:26,449 --> 01:11:29,285
is to be a part of an
excavation, if you will.
1489
01:11:31,454 --> 01:11:32,663
One of the most exciting
1490
01:11:32,997 --> 01:11:36,501
and most overwhelming
was this past February,
1491
01:11:36,834 --> 01:11:40,254
I was asked to help out
with the remnants of WRS,
1492
01:11:40,588 --> 01:11:41,839
which was a lab in Pittsburgh.
1493
01:11:42,173 --> 01:11:46,928
- WRS is an enormously
famous Pennsylvania lab,
1494
01:11:48,846 --> 01:11:51,265
which at different times,
1495
01:11:51,599 --> 01:11:53,351
it'd passed through different hands,
1496
01:11:53,684 --> 01:11:54,977
but it was very famous
1497
01:11:55,311 --> 01:11:58,105
for being the favorite
lab of George Romero.
1498
01:12:00,066 --> 01:12:01,818
- We showed up and it was like nothing
1499
01:12:02,151 --> 01:12:03,361
I've ever seen before.
1500
01:12:03,694 --> 01:12:04,570
There were holes in the roof,
1501
01:12:04,904 --> 01:12:08,115
all the insulation was down
on top of these piles of film.
1502
01:12:08,449 --> 01:12:09,742
We were staring at pallets
1503
01:12:10,076 --> 01:12:13,871
that had literal piles of feces.
1504
01:12:14,205 --> 01:12:16,916
- It's had 30 years of mold caked
1505
01:12:17,250 --> 01:12:20,545
into the actual outside of each reel
1506
01:12:20,878 --> 01:12:22,547
unless it was in a plastic container,
1507
01:12:22,880 --> 01:12:24,131
and if it was in a plastic container,
1508
01:12:24,465 --> 01:12:28,135
it's gonna be suffering
from higher rates of decay.
1509
01:12:29,220 --> 01:12:30,471
- You know, one thing that I'll say
1510
01:12:30,805 --> 01:12:32,348
about myself is I don't fall
1511
01:12:32,682 --> 01:12:34,559
when it comes to logistical
stuff, we always make it happen,
1512
01:12:34,892 --> 01:12:37,186
but this was the first
time I think I said,
1513
01:12:38,145 --> 01:12:40,022
"I don't think this is possible."
1514
01:12:41,274 --> 01:12:45,570
- It was just me, Joe
Rubin, Steven Morowitz,
1515
01:12:45,903 --> 01:12:49,115
who's manning a forklift,
the Ralph Stevens,
1516
01:12:49,448 --> 01:12:53,202
who is running around winding
and unwinding pallet wrap
1517
01:12:53,536 --> 01:12:54,954
because he didn't want
to spend too much money
1518
01:12:55,288 --> 01:12:57,540
on the pallet wrap, but at the same time,
1519
01:12:57,874 --> 01:13:01,961
it was all of us together
and some hired folks.
1520
01:13:02,295 --> 01:13:04,255
I was doing my archivist
thing where I was like,
1521
01:13:04,589 --> 01:13:05,882
"Yeah, this is a cool film.
1522
01:13:07,049 --> 01:13:08,593
This is what this is,
this is what that is,"
1523
01:13:08,926 --> 01:13:10,469
and kind of trying to get
them excited about it,
1524
01:13:10,803 --> 01:13:12,763
‘cause it was such an enormous ordeal,
1525
01:13:13,097 --> 01:13:16,726
and we ended up saving
five truckloads of film.
1526
01:13:17,810 --> 01:13:18,519
- There's no doubt in my mind
1527
01:13:18,853 --> 01:13:21,480
that there'll be some
amazing things discovered.
1528
01:13:21,814 --> 01:13:25,109
- Original materials, IPs, CRIs.
1529
01:13:26,235 --> 01:13:28,029
The issue with that is that it's
1530
01:13:28,362 --> 01:13:30,948
just gonna take a really long
time to go through it all.
1531
01:13:32,241 --> 01:13:34,702
- The heyday of exploitation
movie making will
1532
01:13:35,036 --> 01:13:36,078
probably never come again.
1533
01:13:36,412 --> 01:13:37,455
The circumstances that led
1534
01:13:37,788 --> 01:13:40,791
to those kinds of movies
can never be repeated.
1535
01:13:41,125 --> 01:13:43,336
It was a crucible of circumstances
1536
01:13:43,669 --> 01:13:45,129
in the '60s and '70s and '80s
1537
01:13:45,463 --> 01:13:47,173
that led to a certain kind of very free,
1538
01:13:47,506 --> 01:13:49,425
very extravagant, very eccentric,
1539
01:13:49,759 --> 01:13:51,677
very idiosyncratic filmmaking,
1540
01:13:52,011 --> 01:13:54,680
sometimes utterly off the wall and crazy,
1541
01:13:55,014 --> 01:13:56,390
but fascinating, and, you know,
1542
01:13:56,724 --> 01:13:59,352
the more of that material is
preserved, the better, really.
1543
01:13:59,685 --> 01:14:00,853
- I wonder where the
new member's calling up.
1544
01:14:01,187 --> 01:14:02,563
- He's probably calling his tailor
1545
01:14:02,897 --> 01:14:05,858
to cancel his orders for a
couple of suits.
1546
01:14:06,192 --> 01:14:07,568
- I don't really know that much
1547
01:14:07,902 --> 01:14:09,528
about how the general public
1548
01:14:09,862 --> 01:14:12,323
and even cinephiles necessarily look
1549
01:14:12,657 --> 01:14:16,535
upon a lot of the
restoration work that I do.
1550
01:14:16,869 --> 01:14:18,037
I know most people would be happy
1551
01:14:18,371 --> 01:14:21,123
to just buy a new edition of "Metropolis"
1552
01:14:21,457 --> 01:14:23,417
and "Nosferatu" every five years,
1553
01:14:23,751 --> 01:14:26,545
and don't worry, we will continue
to provide them with that.
1554
01:14:27,505 --> 01:14:32,426
But it's essential to me to
continue discovering new films.
1555
01:14:32,843 --> 01:14:35,388
I think we're over corporate
culture at this point.
1556
01:14:35,721 --> 01:14:39,183
There's still a lot of
fascinating history to be told,
1557
01:14:39,517 --> 01:14:43,104
and really, do my bit to
sort of let the world know
1558
01:14:43,437 --> 01:14:46,732
that we are a long way from having,
1559
01:14:47,066 --> 01:14:50,027
you know, fully written the
history of American cinema.
1560
01:14:50,361 --> 01:14:52,655
In fact, the material we're just digging
1561
01:14:52,989 --> 01:14:54,824
into is often some of the most exciting
1562
01:14:55,157 --> 01:14:56,242
and interesting material
1563
01:14:56,575 --> 01:14:58,619
because it's not about the studio system.
1564
01:15:00,079 --> 01:15:01,998
- I don't know, I think, you know,
1565
01:15:02,331 --> 01:15:04,792
Joe will probably have a
completely different answer
1566
01:15:05,126 --> 01:15:06,377
and maybe just plead
the fifth on this one,
1567
01:15:06,711 --> 01:15:09,672
I don't know, but we have, I
mean, anyone that knows us,
1568
01:15:10,006 --> 01:15:12,091
they know that we're very different people
1569
01:15:12,425 --> 01:15:13,551
and we come from different backgrounds
1570
01:15:13,884 --> 01:15:16,137
and we're bringing different
things to the table.
1571
01:15:17,304 --> 01:15:19,807
And not to be, like, cliche,
1572
01:15:20,141 --> 01:15:21,559
but I think that it
kind of helps, you know?
1573
01:15:21,892 --> 01:15:23,978
We have different
perspectives and, you know,
1574
01:15:24,311 --> 01:15:26,272
Vinegar Syndrome is,
like, right in the middle.
1575
01:15:26,605 --> 01:15:27,273
- No, these are all mysteries.
1576
01:15:27,606 --> 01:15:29,066
That's why I'm calling you,
‘cause I don't know what the-
1577
01:15:29,400 --> 01:15:30,818
- We argue constantly.
1578
01:15:31,152 --> 01:15:32,945
To an extent, that is a good thing
1579
01:15:33,279 --> 01:15:36,115
because it doesn't mean
that either of us are going
1580
01:15:36,449 --> 01:15:39,577
to always have the final say.
1581
01:15:39,910 --> 01:15:42,163
We have, whether either of us want to,
1582
01:15:42,496 --> 01:15:44,540
we have a tremendous burden
1583
01:15:44,874 --> 01:15:47,084
that we are the responsible custodians
1584
01:15:47,418 --> 01:15:50,254
for hundreds, well, thousands, actually,
1585
01:15:50,588 --> 01:15:54,759
of best surviving or only
surviving film materials
1586
01:15:55,092 --> 01:15:59,889
for movies that if they were
lost, would truly be lost.
1587
01:16:01,932 --> 01:16:03,642
We have tons of lost films.
1588
01:16:03,976 --> 01:16:04,602
Are they really lost
1589
01:16:04,935 --> 01:16:06,520
if they're sitting 20 feet away from us?
1590
01:16:06,854 --> 01:16:09,648
Maybe not, but they're lost in the sense
1591
01:16:09,982 --> 01:16:12,651
of no one else can see them
1592
01:16:12,985 --> 01:16:14,945
because we haven't restored them yet,
1593
01:16:15,279 --> 01:16:16,530
we haven't released them yet.
1594
01:16:16,864 --> 01:16:19,700
So we have such a responsibility
1595
01:16:20,034 --> 01:16:23,454
to make sure that what
we're doing is always geared
1596
01:16:23,788 --> 01:16:27,917
towards ensuring that the
materials that we have here,
1597
01:16:28,250 --> 01:16:31,087
the work that we're doing
here, doesn't become lost,
1598
01:16:31,420 --> 01:16:34,006
that we're not part of the problem.
130186
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