As the oft-cited estimate goes, nearly half of all films produced before 1950 are lost.
Film restoration wasn’t taken seriously until the 1980s, when people like Robert A. Harris and director Martin Scorsese made great strides in the field. One of the latter’s greatest achievements was restoring the classic The Red Shoes (1948), which was in shameful condition. Among the tasks involved in mending a battered film reel are cleaning off mold and dust, mending holes, and putting the film in a chemical bath that removes scratches.
In the video essay above, Andrew Saladino of The Royal Ocean Film Society calls out the “unsung heroes” of film preservation, and shows how the process can transform battered old prints.
