. . . or, How American Films Got to Oz and Back

Annette Melville (NFPF) and Meg Labrum (NFSA Australia) 

Richard Abel (University of Michigan) Mutt & Jeff On Strike (1920)

Buckey Grimm introduces [Unidentified U.S. Navy Documentary] (1915?) 

with music by Marty Marks (MIT)

"Film repatriation" has usually been understood as the return of moving images to their country of origin--but can it be something more? This panel highlights a National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and the National Film Preservation Foundation experiment to redefine the process in terms of access.  Meg Labrum and Annette Melville provide the context for preserving and making available eight long-unseen American films from the NFSA.  Richard Abel will discuss the use of these orphan films in a graduate seminar and showcase the newly preserved Mutt and Jeff: On Strike (1920).  Film detective Buckey Grimm reveals the story behind the intriguing 1916 (?) Navy motion-picture fragment, illustrating how wider access benefits scholars outside the academy as well.  All this and Marty Marks on the piano.

RESOURCES:

Boliek, Brooks. “Aussie-Found Films to be Restored.” Hollywood Reporter, Apr. 23, 2008.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i9f8084d34367f34d0ff9b32dfdbbcafc

Triplett, William. “Australia Brings Silent Classics to U.S.” Variety, Apr. 24, 2008.

www.variety.com/article/VR1117984572.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

On Strike (1920, silent with dialogue balloons in English, ca. 550 ft., b&w, 35mm)

PRODUCTION: Bud Fisher Films Corporation

DISTRIBUTION: Fox Film Corporation

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Charles Bowers

COPYRIGHT: H.C. Fisher

RUNNING TIME: 7 minutes, 18 seconds (at 18 frames per second)

Mutt and Jeff may not have been the first daily newspaper comic strip to feature recurring characters as part of a continuing narrative, but it was without doubt the most successful comic strip of its kind during its heyday. Created in 1907 by Bud Fisher, Mutt and Jeff became widely syndicated, with the duo soon making the move to film. Starting in 1910, Fisher’s creations began appearing in live action one-reelers before moving to animation shorts in 1913. 

On Strike (1920) continues the comic strip’s tradition of commenting on politics by featuring a story line with numerous parallels to the 1919 Actors’ Equity Association strike. In the film, Mutt and Jeff, noticing how rich their creator Bud Fisher (playing himself in a rare onscreen appearance) has become as a result of their work, demand a bigger cut, saying, “We want 75% of the profits, a three-hour day, and a five-day week!!” When Fisher refuses their demands, the duo goes on strike, writing and animating their own version of themselves. 

The film is here presented in a newly restored 35mm print from the Museum of Modern Art.

RESOURCES: (Taken from www.filmpreservation.org/filmplayer_FC/FC_frameset_muttjeff.html.) This link leads to notes about the film.

Nancy McVittie and Erin Hanna (U of Michigan graduate students and project participants) have both written informative essays about On Strike (PDFs of both are attached below.)

On the origins of the animated film, especially in the United States, see Donald Crafton’s fascinating Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898–1928 (MIT Press, 1982).

This film, thought to be made around 1915, appears to be the longest surviving nonfiction film about the U.S. Navy dating from before World War I. More than eleven minutes in length, this fragment gives a look at the Navy during the run-up to World War I. The film features extensive footage of Navy ships at sea, including an appearance by the presidential yacht as well as numerous battleships and submarines. The film also presents a fascinating look at the life of sailors and Marines, with their exercises and training shown in detail.  

RESOURCES: (from filmpreservation.org)

Lawrence Suid’s Sailing on the Silver Screen: Hollywood and the U.S. Navy (Naval Institute Press, 1996) opens with a chapter on naval films during the silent era.

Attached here is a PDF copy of the NFPF's notes for U.S. Navy Documentary (1915?).