Our Accomplishments
Jack Hoxie in "Lightning Bryce", Ep. 2 (1919).
We have created a new section 'Hidden Gems'. It contains rare and hard to find films, which are available for viewing after registering and making a tax deductible donation. For more details, please click here.
Dear Silent Hall of Fame users,
Silent Hall of Fame invites all classic film lovers to see our award-winning documentary.
The purpose of the film is to let the public know about Silent Hall of Fame and its efforts to restore the legacy and bring belated recognition to distinguished silent film personalities who have not been rewarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
We envision this film as the initial step that will bring the mission of Silent Hall of Fame to a broader audience and gain more supporters. We intend to create a feature biographical documentary in the near future, as soon as the necessary funds become available.
You can become a part of this effort by making a tax-deductible contribution to help your favorite silent star receive belated recognition and glory.
We are asking our users to help us find some rare films so that we can show them for free on our website. The list of films that we are looking for is posted under the Free Movies top menu item in an article entitled Help Us Find These Films.
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION
We have started a new petition and we need your help to obtain many silent films that have not been seen in a century and show them to you for free.
The UCLA keeps locked in their archives many quality silent films featuring our stars Billy Bitzer, Alice Day, Marceline Day, Snitz Edwards, Helen Gibson, Robert Harron, Helen Holmes, Jack Hoxie, Arthur V. Johnson, Florence La Badie, Florence Lawrence, Shirley Mason, John S. Robertson, Patsy Ruth Miller and Florence Turner. These films have not been seen by the classic movie lovers in almost a century.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO THE UCLA TO RELEASE COPIES OF THE RARE FILMS TO SILENT HALL OF FAME OR MAKE THESE FILMS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC ANY OTHER WAY THEY DEEM APPROPRIATE.
Our earlier petition to the George Eastman House for 33 rare silent films is still active.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO THE GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE TO RELEASE COPIES OF RARE FILMS TO SILENT HALL OF FAME OR MAKE THESE FILMS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC ANY OTHER WAY THEY DEEM APPROPRIATE.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT FILMS KEPT IN ARCHIVES IN THE US AND AROUND THE WORLD
As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the legacy of our stars we seek to recover their rare films from dusty archives in the USA and round the world. We are happy to report that as a result of our extensive research we have found hundreds of films featuring our stars. All these films are waiting to be reconnected with the public after many, many years. Most of the movies have not been seen by any silent movie lovers for three or four generations.
You can help us acquire these films and show them for free on our website with your tax-deductible contribution. This will help your favorite silent movie personalities receive better public recognition, and in the future, improve their chances to get a nomination for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because none of these films are available for viewing anywhere else, this will also help your favorite website, Silent Hall of Fame, become really unique in the quest to bring back from oblivion the names of your favorite silent movie stars.
Here are some of the films that we located in archives that currently are not available for viewing anywhere. We want to show them to you, the classic movie lovers of the world:
His New York Wife (1926) featuring our star Alice Day,
Fools of Fashion (1926) featuring our star Marceline Day,
The Black Horse Bandit (1919) featuring our star Helen Gibson,
Life in the Balance (1915) featuring our star Helen Holmes,
Her Shattered Idol (1915) and A Child of the Paris Streets (1916) featuring our star Robert Harron,
Her Child's Honor (1911) featuring our stars Florence Lawrence and Arthur V. Johnson,
Queen of the Moulin Rouge (1922) featuring our star Martha Mansfield,
Baby Mine (1917) featuring our star John S. Robertson,
The Deerslayer (1913) featuring our star Florence Turner,
Everybody's Sweetheart (1920) featuring our star Olive Thomas,
War and the Woman (1917) featuring our star Florence La Badie,
The Lady of the Photograph (1917) featuring our star Shirley Mason,
Tropical Nights (1928) featuring our star Patsy Ruth Miller.
Update - 12/08/2013.
Important news about the film "College Days" (1926)
The UCLA has promised to make the film available for free until the end of 2014. We thank all those viewers who signed the petition and helped this happen.
In particular, the UCLA writes:
"...understanding that there is a significant demand in the public for this title, we will promise to make the film available for free for streaming on our website within a year."
Update - 04/0//2015
The UCLA will not make this, or any other film available to us as we hoped. The UCLA has instituted a policy of charging $5,000 for any feature film that they have in their possession. You can help bring silent films out of archives, where they have been kept for generations away from the classic film lovers, by signing THE PETITION TO THE UCLA.
UPDATE:
We discovered in a French archive the only copies in the world of two extremely rare films starring Olive Thomas - Indiscreet Corinne and The Spite Bride. The French want $6,000 to digitize them and send us a copy. These two films are not available in the US and have not been seen in close to a century. We have the unique opportunity to acquire these rare films and show them to you on our website. You can help us achieve this goal with your tax-deductible contribution.
Our initial search for lost or unavailable films included 30 titles from the last 5 years of the Silent Age (1925-1929). We have considerably narrowed down the unknowns. These are the results that we can report:
- We know that a firm in Paris, France has a nitrate copy of the film The Wall Street Whiz (1925). We don't know if we will be able to buy a copy and show it on our website, because they only mention "serious amounts of money", without quoting a number.
- We know that the British Film Institute has Fools of Fashion (1926), but refuses to make a copy for us. We don't know if we will be able to buy a copy and show it on our website. We have asked the Library of Congress for help to repatriate a copy of this film. We have also asked our users to help us by writing to the Library of Congress.
- We know that The Dutch Film Institute has the film Under The Black Eagle (1928). They have a nitrate film and want 6,000 Euros ($8,000) to make a DVD copy. We don't know if we will be able to obtain a copy and show it on our website. We have asked the Library of Congress for financial help; if we don't receive such assistance, other priorities may prevent us from paying such amount of money for one film.
- We know that Warner Bros. has another critically acclaimed film - Rookies (1927), but they refuse to make a copy for us, although they don't intend to release a DVD to the public. We don't know if we will be able to acquire a copy and show it on our website. We have asked our users to help us by writing to Warner and urging them to either release the film on DVD or license the film to Silent Hall of Fame so that we can show it on our website.
- We know that Warner Bros. has another film - Detectives (1928). Same story as for Rookies (1927).
- We know that the Library of Congress has the film The Jazz Age (1929), and they are ready to make a copy. We don't know when we will be able to buy a copy, because undetermined copyright issues with Warner have blocked the process. The cost to buy a copy and show it on our website will be around $1,200. You can help us achieve this goal with your tax-deductible contribution.
- We know that the Library of Congress has the film Trent's Last Case (1929), and they are ready to make a copy for Silent Hall of Fame. The cost to buy the film and show it on our website will be around $1,200. You can help us achieve this goal with your tax-deductible contribution.
Apart from finding these 9 films, we obtained information about other films, which clarifies what is available and what is not, and corrects wrong information in the FIAF database and other sources about these films.
- Freedom of the Press (1928) - Italy has only the trailer.
- The Road to Romance (1927) - New Zealand has only 16 seconds of opening titles. We also know that Warner does not have any footage available of this film.
- The Big City (1928) - UCLA has only the trailer.
- Stolen Love (1928) - the Library of Congress had it listed as available in their archive; upon our inquiry it turned out that that listing was a mistake.
- London After Midnight (1927) - we know that Warner does not have any footage available of this film.
- A Certain Young Man (1928) - we know that Warner does not have any footage available of this film.
- A Single Man (1929) - we know that Warner does not have any footage available of this film.
Thus, we were able to obtain information about 17 of the 30 films in our initial research - a 57% success rate.
We have a strong and resourceful team, which is constantly finding new ways to find lost films and bring them to you, the user, absolutely free. Just recently our Vice President came up with a brilliant idea, which, when realized, will enable Silent Hall of Fame to show you another forgotten masterpiece free on our website.
We believe that we are on the right track, because our efforts for finding lost films are bringing results. We have asked you, the users, to help us with suggestions which other films not available on DVD you would like us to look for in domestic and international archives. We have also asked you, the users, to help us with your financial support so that we can continue our mission and bring more silent masterpieces from the forgotten vaults to the public, where they belong.