UCLA FILM AND TELEVISION ARCHIVE
TO SHARE IN NFPF'S SAVING THE SILENTS PROJECT

The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) has received a $1 million federal grant to preserve rare silent films, many of which have not been seen in complete form for more than 70 years. The UCLA Film and Television Archive will share this funding with the George Eastman House and the Museum of Modern Art. The award, announced at the White House by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, is part of the Save America's Treasures program, a national initiative to preserve culturally significant collections and historic sites.

Fewer than 20% of American silent films survive: victims of chemical decomposition and human neglect. A quarter to a half of the remaining films held by the archives require preservation work in order to be seen by modern audiences. Since making these silent films available to the public is a key part of restoring them to their place in history, both a conservation print and an exhibition print will be created for each title in the project.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive has identified a number of important silent films in its collection to preserve as part of the Saving the Silents project. William Ince, a pioneer of the American film industry is represented by five films, including "War on the Plains" (1912), the first Western made on the 101 Ranch and featuring a cast of Native Americans. Three one-reelers by comedian Harold Lloyd, which survive at UCLA as rare original camera negatives, will be saved.

The grant will also allow UCLA to preserve in their entirety two full serials that thrilled early filmgoers with their exciting escapades--"Plunder" (1922-23) and "Who Pays?" (1915)--as well as the surviving chapters of "Ruth of the Rockies" (1920).

The silent era boasted its own favorite stars, many now almost forgotten. Mabel Normand is represented by "Tillie's Punctured Romance" (1914) and "Molly O" (1921). UCLA will also preserve four feature films starring the "It Girl," Clara Bow: "Capital Punishment" (1925), "My Lady of Whims" (1925), "My Ladies' Lips" (1924) and "Poisoned Paradise" (1924). Two additional feature titles, "The Roaring Road" (1919) and "Lorna Doone" (1922), round out the project.

Saving the Silents is one of 62 projects nationwide awarded a Save America's treasures grant. Other American treasures receiving preservation support through this program include the Star Spangled Banner, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the Washington Monument. $30 million in federal funds were distributed by Save America's Treasures in 1999.

The National Film Preservation Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving America's film heritage. Created by the U.S. Congress, the NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. The NFPF is working with participant archives to raise matching funds for the project. The grant requires a one-to-one match.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive is the largest university-based collection of motion pictures and television programs in the world. Its holdings comprise more than 200,000 feature-length, short-subject and animated films, television shows, news programs and the entire 27 million foot collection of Hearst Metrotone Newsreels. The Archive is internationally acclaimed for its painstaking work in film preservation, and has led the archival field in such areas as color, tinting and sound restoration. It is equally known for its commitment to making the collection accessible to students and scholars, and for its ambitious year-round public screenings of the best in American and international cinema.

To the National Film Preservation Foundation's "Saving the Silents" page.