Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Cellulose nitrate (c. 1889 – c. 1950) is the first of film supports.It can be found as roll film, motion picture film, and sheet film. It is difficult to determine the dates when all nitrate film was discontinued, however, Eastman Kodak last manufactured nitrate film in 1951. [1]
Nitrate film stock was used in every major film production before about 1951. Many silent films only survived because they were printed to 16 mm film , which did not use a nitrate base. A report published by the United States Library of Congress in September 2013 states that 70 percent of all American silent feature films are lost.
Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation claimed in 2017 that "half of all American films made before 1950 and over 90% of films made before 1929 are lost forever". [4] Deutsche Kinemathek estimates that 80–90% of silent films are gone; [5] the film archive's own list contains over 3,500 lost films.
Cellulose triacetate superseded nitrate as the film industry's mainstay base very quickly. While Kodak had discontinued some nitrate film stocks earlier, it stopped producing various nitrate roll films in 1950 and ceased production of nitrate 35 mm motion picture film in 1951. [49]
A large portion of silent films made in the United States are now considered lost. [6] A 2013 report made by the United States Library of Congress estimates that 70 percent of silent films made in the United States have been completely lost.
By 1911, the major American film studios had reverted to nitrate stock. [12] "Safety film" was relegated to sub-35 mm formats such as 16 mm and 8 mm until improvements were made in the late 1940s. Nitrate film is also chemically unstable and over time can decay into a sticky mass or a powder akin to gunpowder. This process can be very ...
The Dawson Film Find was the 1978 accidental discovery of 372 film titles preserved in 533 reels of silent-era nitrate films in the Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson City. List of lost films; List of incomplete or partially lost films; List of films cut over the director's opposition
Kodak discontinued the manufacture of nitrate base in 1951, and the industry transitioned entirely to safety film in 1951 in the United States and by 1955 internationally. Since the late 1990s, almost all release prints have used polyester film stock.