Reel Politique: News, Lost Murnau Film Resurrected?
Cinebuffs with a long memory may recall that a rare film, a silent adaptation of Richard III came to light in the Great Northwest about 10 years ago, not the first lost film to rise to the surface in this region. The print was eventually donated to the American Film Institute. Now, according to an ongoing, unfolding tale in a forum at the website for Criterion DVDs, another lost film may have turned up, this time in Tacoma.
The movie in question if F. W. Murnau’s 4 Devils (also sometimes listed as Four Devils). Released in 1928 or 1929 on the cusp of the transition to sound, the Fox production was a tragedy starring Janet Gaynor and set in the world of the circus (which kills interest in the film for me right there). I’m not sure yet how it came to be lost, but Murnau is considered not only one of the great silent directors, primarily for Nosferatu, the first vampire film, the Nabokovian The Last Laugh and Sunrise, but also one of the great directors of all time. A German émigré, he died young relatively young in an auto accident under circumstances that Kenneth Anger finds worthy of inclusion in the first edition of his book Hollywood Babylon.
In any case, someone started a forum thread at the Criterion site about “discovering” a lost film. The poster, using the handle 125100, announces that he has been going over the contents of a private collection in Tacoma and turned up what he thinks is a lost film, which results in his soliciting advice from the forum about how to handle the situation, which among other things requires convincing the collection’s owner to release it. Eventually, other posters were able to tease out more of the story and 125100 finally admitted that the film was Murnau’s 4 Devils. Bilge Ebiri of New York quickly covered this event.
But if you are a Murnau specialist, don’t get your hopes up. The news has not been greeted uncritically. Posters at the Yahoo forum “A Film By…” have expressed skepticism, and suggested that the announcement is some kind of elaborate prank or hoax, based on the poster’s unusual history at the Criterion site and elsewhere.
Just as I was reading up on this matter, be it “discovery” or hoax, I received in the mail the new Jon Lewis anthology Looking Past the Screen, from Duke University Press. Professor Lewis is the editor of numerous excellent film anthologies, among the, The End of Cinema As We Know It. Lo and behold, the next-to-last essay in the book is by Janet Bergstrom on Murnau’s films 4 Devils and City Girl as lost films. This is probably an excerpt from her forthcoming book about Murnau in America, but nevertheless offers a good introduction to the film’s place in history and the complex disputes lurking behind its production.
The story is still unfolding. Check back later today for quotes from Carl Bennett, editor of the website Silent Era.
In any case, the situation has caused much excitement in the world of film buffery. Nevertheless, Carl Bennett of the website Silent Era, and who is based in Seattle, Washington, not far from Tacoma, finds the idea that 4 Devils is resurrected dubious. Reached yesterday, Mr. Bennett said that, “There is still some question whether this story is valid. It appears that the fellow from the UK is earnest in his assertation that he has correctly identified the print. If so, and if the print is complete, this recovery of a Murnau film is more important than the recovery of Beyond the Rocks. Much of the archival community is aware of this story, and I am certain that qualified archivists are investigating the validity of this news. News that we all hope is true.”