'BERLIN (Reuters) - Film historians had doubted they would ever find the missing portions of "Metropolis" -- until three reels of the science fiction film made in Germany a long time ago, were discovered in a country far, far away.'

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"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire.
"All your bias are belong to us" Ara Pacis.

That's great news!

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"Call me old-fashioned, but I think fire is magic. And it scares me a lot."

--The State

One of my favorite films, and probably the most ambitious of its era. The newest restoration was pretty good; it had title cards that explained what happened during the missing segments. Those scenes sounded exciting, so I can't wait for a restoration of the full version.

W00t!

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04
Tuckers! Automotive Oddities! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast Save the planet, by leaving it! "To be second in space is to be second in everything," LBJ.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Fred

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"For shame, gentlemen, pack your evidence a little better against another time."
-- John Dryden, "The Vindication of The Duke of Guise" 1684

Great! Now all we need is the missing half hour from The Magnificent Ambersons and the 108 missing Dr Who episodes, and I will die happy

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There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

There seems to be some Horse Feathers missing too (Number one on this ESPN list of top football scenes).

There are whole films which are missing, the victims of improper care of the reels. There are many, many films we only know from stills and fan magazines.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Improper care or just plain neglect. Many have been lost because after the first runs, they were just thrown away.

Fred

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"For shame, gentlemen, pack your evidence a little better against another time."
-- John Dryden, "The Vindication of The Duke of Guise" 1684

As a youngster I remember watching "That Was the Week That Was". David Frost, Shirley Bassey singing. All tapes wiped. BBC did it for Fred Hoyle's "A for Andromeda", which was Julie Christie's more or less screen intro, I believe.

But NM is correct. Not everything can be saved, and nothing lasts forever.

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

I believe the extreme fire hazard of early film stock led to much of it being disposed. Also I recall hearing (Maybe Warner Bros) threw out their collection of silent films to save space once talkies were established as more than a passing fad

Metropolis is a masterpiece and has many scenes that haunt my memory.

Do by all means see Fritz Lang's later sound classics "M" and especially the weird and wonderful suspense drama The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.

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"Insignificant molehill sometimes more important than conspicuous mountain." - Charlie Chan

I dunno about WB tossing out the old silents, but I do know that the old celluloid film stock was incredibly fragile and would rapidly decay.

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04
Tuckers! Automotive Oddities! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast Save the planet, by leaving it! "To be second in space is to be second in everything," LBJ.