This book offers a unique window on the world of film archiving. The author brings a historical, economic, and social framework to bear upon this unique community, looking at the people, institutions, and corporations that play key roles in the preservation endeavor.

This study looks at the preservation process: newsreel, television, and color preservation; the often controversial issue of colorization; and commercial film archives. It provides detailed histories of the major players in the preservation battle including the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, the American Film Institute, the Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the Library of Congress. This first historical overview of film preservation in the United States is also highly controversial in its exposure and criticism of the politicization of film preservation in recent years, and the rising bureaucracy which has often lost sight of preservation and restoration as the ultimate purpose of film archives.

This is the first monograph-length work intended to enable readers with a humanities background and the general public to understand what the processes and techniques of film restoration do and do not involve, attempting to integrate systematically a discussion about related technological and cultural issues.

The importance of media preservation has in recent years achieved much broader public recognition. From the vaults of Hollywood and the halls of Congress to the cash-strapped museums of developing nations, people are working to safeguard film from physical harm. But the forces at work aren't just physical. The endeavor is also inherently political. What gets saved and why? What remains ignored? Who makes these decisions, and what criteria do they use? Saving Cinema narrates the development of the preservation movement and lays bare the factors that have influenced its direction. Archivists do more than preserve movie history; they actively produce and codify cinematic heritage. At the same time, digital technologies have produced an entirely new reality, one that resists the material, artifact-driven approach that is the gold standard of preservation in the Western world. As it has become increasingly easy to capture and access moving images, increasing evidence of something many archivists have known for years has emerged: industrial and training films, amateur travel diaries, and even family videos are critical public resources. It has also raised question about the role of the profession. Is access equivalent to preservation, and, if it is, how should archivists alter their activities? The time is ripe for a reconsideration of the politics and practices of preservation. Saving Cinema is the book to guide that conversation.

The complete, definitive biography of Hollywood's first superstar Douglas Fairbanks was the greatest leading man of his generation—the first and the best of the swashbucklers. He made some of the greatest films of the silent era, including The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro. With Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and his wife, film star Mary Pickford, he founded United Artists. Pickford and Fairbanks ruled Hollywood as its first king and queen for a decade. Now a cache of newly discovered love letters from Fairbanks to Pickford form the centerpiece of the first truly definitive biography of Hollywood's first king, the original Robin Hood, the true Zorro, the man who did his own stunts, built his own studio, and formed a company that allowed artists to distribute their own wealth outside the studio system. Fairbanks was fun, witty, engaging, creative, athletic, and a force to be reckoned with. He shaped our idea of the Hollywood hero, and it has never been the same since. His story, like his movies, is full of passion, bravado, and romance.

An effort to review and assess the thousands of industrial and institutional films sponsored by American businesses, charities, educational institutions, and advocacy groups over the last century.