~ Pulled from Open Thread West ~

1922 Film “Beyond the Rocks”
Found in the city of Haarlem, The Netherlands

Valentino & Gloria Swanson Debut in Cannes — 2005

Beyond the Rocks
Director: Sam Wood
USA. 1922. 85 min. Tinted.

Cast: Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Gertrude Astor, Edythe Chapman, Alec B. Francis, Robert Bolder, Mabel Van Buren, Helen Dunbar, Raymond Blathwayt, F.R. Butler and June Elvidge

Milestone is proud to be releasing around the world, Beyond the Rocks, the recently rediscovered silent romance starring film legends Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. Long considered one of the great “lost” films from the Hollywood golden age, only a one-minute fragment was known to exist in the Nederlands Filmmuseum.

Beyond the Rocks, just for its star power alone, has been one of the most sought-after films of the silent era.

Lost for over eighty years, film cataloguers at the Nederlands Filmmuseum were amazed to find the first two nitrate reels of Beyond the Rocks when inventorying a vast collection of nitrate bequeathed to them by a film collector from Haarlem, they were amazed. The Filmmuseum staff then searched for many tense months until they found and identified all the missing reels of the film.

The daughter of Gloria Swanson did an exclusive interview for Dutch TV, seeing her mother act for the first time on the screen. She was both delighted and amazed, with critique only a daughter would have about her own mother.
“You look a bit chubby there mommy.”  and … “Oh, now keep your shoulders low, as you always told me to do.” But looking at one scene, she mentions an anecdote from her mother. Gloria Swanson wanted to make this film with her friend Rudolph Valentino, but there was a scene where she would fall overboard in the water, to be rescued. Not to miss out on the part, she kept silent to director Sam Wood that she couldn’t swim! She was so glad Rudolph dove into the water, and in fact did keep her from drowning.

  • Cannes Filmfestival – May 20, 2005

    Gloria Swanson & Valentino in Cannes Today!
    .
    Filmmuseum in Haarlem —

    THE DISCOVERY AND RESTORATION OF BEYOND THE ROCKS

    More than four years ago, in the archives of the Filmmuseum, the first fragments of the long-lost a classic Beyond the Rocks (Sam Wood, 1922) turned up in the estate of a Dutch film lover. Hundreds of rusty film cans had to be opened and it was several years before the six remaining rolls of film were found. At the end of 2003 the last missing pieces appeared and the Filmmuseum could start on the restoration. Henny Vrienten composed a new score.

    The Haarlem film collector had six buildings packed with mementos. And even then there was a lack of space. Until his death in 2000, the man slept between columns of film cans filled with extremely flammable nitrate film. The collector, described by his acquaintances as “a little suspicious of character,” had a habit of dividing the reels of the longer films in his possession between different storage depots. As a result, those who inherited his estate found themselves with a collection of incomplete films.

    Music Score – BEYOND THE ROCKS – Cannes

    ROTTERDAM — Waterway from Rhine river to North Sea: near world’s greatest harbor.
    Presentation half-hour Talk Show TV3 – May 19, 2005 – with 4 min. views of restored film, where music is composed and added.

    HENNY VRIENTEN EN RUBEN BRINKMAN
    VIDEO:  Real: bb sb wmv: bb sb  
    Film shots: between 14:00 and 17:45 min.

    In TV3 zijn muzikant en componist Henny Vrienten en de jonge acteur Ruben Brinkman te gast.

    Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité