Celebrating the History of Motion Pictures from 1890 to 1960

Understanding Film Restoration

Film Negatives in Storage

During the silent era, a film company would usually produce two camera negatives, placing two cameras next to each other to shoot a scene. One negative was usually used for domestic prints, and the second, often inferior negative (since the camera position was not perfect), used for foreign prints. When this was done, an internegative, a “printing negative”, was not used.

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Rebecca (1940)

Rebecca 1940

“Rebecca” was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and won two including the Oscar for “Outstanding Production” (Best Picture). This would be the only movie for which Hitchcock would win an Academy Award for “Best Picture”.

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Anna May Wong – The First Chinese-American Film Star

Anna May Wong - First Chinese-American Film Star

Anna May Wong appeared in films in Hollywood, England, and Germany, becoming the first international Chinese-American film star. Although her career faded during the 1940s, she continued to work on stage, television, radio, and in an occasional movie until 1960.

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When and Why did 35mm Film Become the Standard?

William Kennedy Laurie Dickson

Most commercial movies were, and some still are, shot using film that is 35 millimeters wide. When Thomas Edison and his team of inventors, headed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, finally introduced the Kinetoscope in April 1894, it used a film that was almost identical with the 35mm film used today – the same width … Read more

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