罕見的默劇影片被送往當局修復

Rare silent movie haul to be restored

BBCnews 8 June 2010  

A film featuring silent star Clara Bow was among the finds 

這波出土的影片中發現一個以明星克拉拉 鮑為主角的默片

* 克拉拉·鮑（Clara Bow）（1905年7月29日— 1965年9月27日）是1920年代最當紅的好萊塢女星、性感偶像，她因電影《它》（It）的賣座而被稱為“它女郎（It girl）”，是爵士時代（Jazz Age）中摩登女的代表。 30年代她退出了影壇。

A cache of 75 rare silent films uncovered in New Zealand is being sent back to the US for restoration.

在紐西蘭發現了75個被儲藏的默片被送回美國恢復。

The movies, including the only known copy of a 1927 drama by Oscar-winning director John Ford, will be returned at a cost of $500,000 (£345,000).

* 約翰·福特（John Ford，1894年2月1日－1973年8月31日)，是美國著名電影導演

曾導演多部西部片。經典作品《要塞風雲》、《黃巾騎兵隊》、《邊疆鐵騎軍》被合稱為「騎兵隊三部曲」。

電影，包括在1927年由奧斯卡獲獎導演約翰福特的唯一已知的拷貝副本，將花費50萬美元（345000英鎊）返還。

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hopes to show the rejuvenated Upstream in September, with a screening also likely in New Zealand. Rejuvenate.

美國電影藝術和科學學院希望能在九月時恢復原貌展示，也有可能在紐西蘭放映。

It had previously been considered too costly to return the films to the US.

在此之前曾被考慮過該批電影返回到美國的成本被認為過於昂貴。

Badly shrunken

嚴重萎縮

The films would be returned by air to the US in steel barrels under strict conditions, said Annette Melville, director of the US National Film Preservation Foundation.

這些影片將用鋼製的滾桶在嚴密的封裝下以空運被送回美國，美國國家電影保護基金會梅爾維爾主任說。

"About a quarter of the films are in advanced nitrate decay and the rest have good image quality, though they are badly shrunken," she added.

“大約有四分之一的電影影片先前已遭硝酸鹽腐蝕，其餘具有良好的影像質量，雖然他們受到嚴重萎縮，”她補充說。

Steve Russell, manager of New Zealand's film archive, where the find was made, said: "Finding Upstream was a fabulous discovery for our American colleagues, but also for ourselves.

發現該批典藏紐西蘭電影資料館經理史蒂夫拉塞爾說：“發現源頭對我們美國籍同事來說是一個驚人探索為我們的美國同事，對我們自己來說亦是。

"It's one of the rare cases where the tyranny of distance has worked in our and the films' favour."

對我們和影片的支持者來說“年代久遠的侵蝕已經發生，這是一個罕見的個案。”

The movies were acquired by the New Zealand Film Archive through private donations and collectors, who have all agreed to return them to the US to be restored.

該批電影由紐西蘭電影資料館通過私人捐助和收藏家贊助已被收購，也都同意他們到返回美國修復。

New Zealand's culture minister Christopher Finlayson agreed that they must be returned as no copies of the films exist in the US.

紐西蘭的文化部長克里斯托弗芬利森同意他們必須返回，因為在美國沒有拷貝的電影存在。

Other rare gems in the haul include a drama starring silent movie icon Clara Bow and the earliest surviving film made by Mabel Normand.

*1892年出生，13歲開始模特生涯，16歲進入電影圈，在導演塞納特指導下成為默片時代最富有才華的喜劇演員，1930年死於加利福尼亞

在送修之列的其他稀有珍品包括主演默劇電影偶像克拉拉鮑和由梅布爾諾曼德製作現存最早的電影。

Only 15% of movies by Ford, who won four Oscars during his career, have survived to the present day.

只有15％的電影是由福特，這位在他的職業生涯中獲得了四項奧斯卡獎​​，保存至今。

Copies of the preserved films will be made available to both US and New Zealand audiences through the countries' archives.

備份保存電影將通過國家檔案資料館提供給美國和紐西蘭的觀眾。

Far-flung countries including New Zealand are often a last outpost for rediscovering vintage films which had otherwise been considered lost.

包括紐西蘭等非原始國家，往往是重新發現經典電影的最後崗哨站，否則這將被認為已丟失。

參考資料 :

默劇演變史

國家電影資料館
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