Hitchcock’s oldest film discovered

This video is called Hitchcock‘s Best Work.

From TV New Zealand:

Lost Hitchcock feature recovered in New Zealand

Published: 3:44PM Wednesday August 03, 2011

Part of what is believed to be the earliest surviving feature by Alfred Hitchcock has been found in New Zealand.

A large part of The White Shadow (1923) by the celebrated master of suspense has been found among a cache of unidentified American nitrate prints safeguarded for the last 23 years by the New Zealand Film Archive.

The wild, atmospheric melodrama stars Betty Compson in a dual role as twin sisters, one angelic and the other “without a soul”. So far, only the first three reels of the six-reel feature have been found; no other copy is known to exist.

The White Shadow was among the many silent-era movies salvaged by New Zealand projectionist and collector Jack Murtagh. After his death in 1989, the highly flammable nitrate prints were sent to the Film Archive for safekeeping by Tony Osborne, the collector’s grandson.

The Hitchcock film is just one of the treasures uncovered, including John Ford’s Upstream, which owe their survival to Murtagh’s passion for early cinema.

Osborne said his grandfather was an avid collector and some considered him rather eccentric.

“He would be quietly amused by all the attention now generated by these important film discoveries.”

Douglas Sirk: here.