An extraordinary collection of 75 early American films, including several that had been considered lost to history, have been discovered in New Zealand and are being returned to the U.S.
The cache includes the only copy believed to exist of a late silent movie by John Ford, as well as several works produced between 1910 and 1920 starring the likes of Clara Bow and Mabel Normand.
The collection had been stored at the New Zealand Film Archive, but the films' significance was not fully recognized until last year, when they were dug out by a Los Angeles-based film preservationist. A deal has since been struck with the National Film Preservation Foundation based in San Francisco to preserve the reels and return them to the U.S.
