One of the most important short films made in the past 25 years that has managed to highlight an issue that still keeps being ignorned. But even with time Trevor remains of fo the fundamental films to change societies understanding of teenage sexuality.

The BFI is launching two national projects as part of its LONG LIVE FILM campaign to celebrate the BFI Archive’s 75th birthday. LONG LIVE FILM will give members of the public a unique opportunity to adopt a Hitchcock film with a fund-raising appeal to restore his early films: RESCUE THE HITCHCOCK 9.

And there is a national hunt for the BFI’s 75 MOST WANTED FILMS, a search for important but elusive films, including the only missing Hitchcock film, The Mountain Eagle.

RESCUE THE HITCHCOCK 9

Alfred Hitchcock’s early silent films need urgent attention to restore them to their former glory. The BFI needs YOUR help to bring these cinematic masterpieces back to life and secure them for future generations as the BFI celebrates 75 years of the BFI National Archive.

A dedicated cinema trailer, voiced by Kenneth Branagh, and a new website are part of the campaign. www.bfi.org.uk/saveafilm

Every penny counts and even small amounts can add up to help us reach our target of £1 million. From July onwards, members of the public who would like to save an important and historic film can contribute by visiting www.bfi.org/saveafilm. Donors with upwards of £5,000 ADOPT a specific film from the shortlist and receive an on-screen credit, whilst a donation of £100,000 will secure the full restoration of an individual film with their name in the credits. All donations are welcome but £25 and upwards will help RESCUE one of the films, from 50cm of film to restoring a whole scene, and make the contributor a BFI Supporter, receiving regular updates about the status of the restoration while having the satisfaction of knowing that they have helped to save a crucial part of British cultural history. With enough support, we also hope to be able to commission a new score for each film from a major composer of international standing.

Hitchcock is internationally recognised as one of Britain’s greatest ever film-makers. 30 years since his death he remains one of the world’s most influential and important directors. Funds permitting, we hope to start restoration work on The Farmer’s Wife (1928), a delightfully unexpected comedy of a farmer in search of rural matrimony.

Hitchcock’s early films are among the finest achievements of British silent cinema. On its first release The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926) was acclaimed as a masterpiece and his subsequent films refined his techniques of stunning visual composition, richly cinematic storytelling linked to dramatic invention, which are uniquely Hitchcock.

New digital techniques mean that we are now in a position to transform scratched and damaged negatives into beautiful viewing copies. The original nitrate materials for all these films are in a very poor state as decades of wear and tear have taken their toll.

THE HITCHCOCK 9:

THE PLEASURE GARDEN (1925)
THE LODGER (1926)
DOWNHILL (1927)
EASY VIRTUE (1927)
THE RING (1927)
THE FARMER’S WIFE (1927)
CHAMPAGNE (1928)
THE MANXMAN (1929)
BLACKMAIL (1929)

BFI MOST WANTED

The BFI is launching a nation-wide hunt for 75 of its Most Wanted ‘lost’ films and offers audiences a rare opportunity to see a selection of the BFI National Archive’s recent discoveries.

Missing films have an aura about them, a mystery they accrue due to being unavailable and sought after. Lost titles such as Alfred Hitchcock’s The Mountain Eagle (1926) have become holy grails for film enthusiasts the world over. In 1992, the BFI compiled a list of titles called Missing Believed Lost, in a bid to track down elusive British films. Since then, 16 of them have found their way to the BFI National Archive; while not every discovery is a candidate for ‘masterpiece’ status, they nevertheless enable greater understanding of our film history and fill important gaps in the filmographies of some of our best directors.

We are very keen to find these films for the national collection. Some may exist in private collections, others might turn up in foreign archives, but the aim is to find as many as possible so it can continue to preserve and make available the nation’s film heritage.

The new project will take the form of an online resource at the BFI website, which describes the lost films using reviews, stills and original publicity materials. www.bfi.org.uk/mostwanted

In July and August, all the titles that have been unearthed since 1992 will be screened at BFI Southbank, plus some other rare films not seen in the UK for many years including Michael Powell’s His Lordship (1932) and Bella Donna (1934) directed by Robert Milton. In August, part two of the season will include new prints of The Constant Nymph (1928) and Emil and the Detectives (1935).

The Ten Most Wanted

The Mountain Eagle (Alfred Hitchcock, 1926)
Hitchcock’s second film as director: the Most Wanted’s most wanted

Two Crowded Hours (Michael Powell, 1931)
Michael Powell’s first film: a “very good little murder drama”

Squadron Leader X (d. Lance Comfort, 1943)
Thrilling war escape drama directed by the recently re-evaluated Lance Comfort

Sleep is Lovely (d. David Hart, 1968)
Intriguing late-60s London-set kidnap-and-ransom drama from a director hailed as an ‘English Godard’

Symptoms (d. Joseph Larraz, 1968)
Stylish cult 1970s horror about a disturbed female killer

Somewhere in Politics (d. John E Blakeley, 1948)
Knockabout comedy with madcap music hall star Frank Randle

The Last Post (d. Dinah Shurey, 1929)
The directorial debut of Britain’s only 1920s female filmmaker

Linda (d. Don Sharp, 1960)
Teen drama from cult director Don Sharp, with Cathy Come Home’s Carol White

A Study in Scarlet (d. George Pearson, 1914)
The immortal Sherlock Holmes takes his first bow in a British feature

Maria Marten or the Mystery of the Red Barn (d. Maurice Elvey, 1913)
True crime thriller – an early staging-post in British horror

Having a little look back at some films last night we watched ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut’ for the first time in a long time. Watching this again has made it easy to see just how good South Park is and why it is still around today – and the Simpson’s team should have paid close attention to this film as it would have improved their game!

One of the finest films released in 2007 The Assassination also had the distinction of having one of the longest movie titles that year too. A movie that shed new light on both the legends of Jesse James & Robert Ford The Assassination has fast become a modern classic.