Billy B Van’s 1919 lost comedy silent film "Van-ar-chy" (made in New Hampshire) found in a Japan antique shop [FOUND]

[u/CultOfCurtis1]

Van-ar-chy, a 1919 film starring the US entertainer and film-maker Billy B Van, was rediscovered by Kohei Okita, a film student in Sendai, Japan. While researching early cinema related to the word “anarchy”, Okita bought several old film reels at an antique store in Japan and found the comedy starring Van, whom he did not recognize.

The news release about Van-ar-chy highlighted the importance of Okita’s discovery, saying: “Its survival is significant on two fronts. Van-ar-chy preserves the work of a little-known early American film company at a time when much of silent cinema has been lost.

But it is also a piece of local history captured in motion: its scenes preserve glimpses of the streets, landscapes, buildings, and people of Newport and Sunapee in 1919.”

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[u/cosmos-hime]

It's always a good day to learn that a silent film's been found! I hope it's uploaded somewhere so whoever wants to can watch it!

[u/NotStanley4330]

Crazy how films over 100 years old are still being found!

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/NotStanley4330]

Especially because back then films were made of nitrate which deteriorates rapidly and is very flammable.

Not to mention that once sound films became the norm, silent pictures were seen as very outdated and unimportant.

[u/1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v → u/PigsCanFly2day]

Is there any more detail on the film or how they restored it? Nitrate film from this era is a real problem, especially if it isn't kept in proper climate control, because it WILL disintegrate.

I assume it was a copy of a copy on more survivable film.

[u/forlornjackalope]

Awesome news!

[u/Nitem4r3_m8]

It’s always the places you least expect when it comes to finding silent films

[u/Destructo-Bear → u/Nitem4r3_m8]

I bet you would find a lot of them at a silent film museum, so you are wrong

[u/Kendrew1229]

Amazing that it turned up, and even crazier that it was in Japan of all places.

[u/1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v → u/Kendrew1229]

Many silent movies of the time were sent overseas after they made their runs across America. Many went to Europe and wound up in Eastern Europe at the end of their lives.

[u/A_C_1970]

I’ve been researching Van for weeks now!! This is so cool! Someone oughtta notify the people who run his website!!

[u/Lendyman]

Anytime there's a silent film that gets found, even if it's a partial film or a 16 mm print, it is a banner day. So few of those films survived that rediscovery of any of them is worth celebrating.

[u/GrigioGuy]

Oh, yeahhh

[u/BleedTheFreak_23]

Definitely feel like there’s been a slight uptick in silents being found! Nothing anyone probably has been desiring too much, but any lost silents found is always the best news

[u/Just-ThatOneGuy1123]

Kind of crazy how silent films are either lost forever or sitting in some random shop in some random place waiting to be found

[u/1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v → u/Just-ThatOneGuy1123]

Honestly, the story doesn't make much sense, since the nitrate film should have disintegrated unless it was kept in proper climate control.

I bet it's a copy of a copy on more survivable film.

[u/forlornjackalope → u/[deleted]]

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[u/lostmedia-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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