The Treasures from American Film Archives series of DVDs is produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF), a nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress in 1997. The NFPF publishes these DVD sets, with accompanying booklets and extensive commentary, to promote public access to the films preserved by the American archival community.
The NFPF's inaugural DVD set — Treasures from American Film Archives, issued in 2000 — was the first video anthology sampling the range of films preserved by American cultural institutions. Featuring home movies, avant-garde films, documentaries, government films, cartoons, newsreels, political ads, and silent-era narratives saved by 18 archives from Alaska to West Virginia, the set presented 50 historically significant works that had never been available before on video. By providing these examples on video, the set helped popularize the idea of the orphan film. When the first edition went out of print in 2005, it was reissued as the Encore edition.
Since 2000, the NFPF has issued five other box sets, each with a specific theme. More Treasures from American Archives, 1894–1931 showcases the creative range of American motion pictures in their first four decades through examples preserved by the nation's leading silent-film archives. It was the first NFPF set to feature audio commentary. Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900–1934 looks at socially inflected films during the formative years cinema, when virtually no issue was too controversial for the big screen. Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947–1986 is the first multi-artist survey of the avant-garde film movement in the years following World War II. Treasures 5: The West, 1898–1938 explores how the West was imagined and documented in early cinema. Lost and Found: American Treasures From the New Zealand Film Archive presents a sampling of repatriated American films previously existing only in foreign archives.
To date, six sets of DVDs present 227 films on 17 discs for a total runtime of 3,059 minutes (51 hours). All NFPF-produced sets are region-free and playable around the world. These sets are: Treasures from American Film Archives: 50 Preserved Films (2000), 50 films on 4 discs. More Treasures from American Film Archives, 1894–1931 (2004), 50 films on 3 discs. Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900–1934 (2007), 48 films on 4 discs. Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947–1986 (2008), 26 films on 2 discs. Treasures 5: The West, 1898–1938 (2011), 40 films on 3 discs. Lost and Found: American Treasures From the New Zealand Film Archive (2013), 13 films on 1 disc.
Another box set was announced in 2011, intended for release in 2014: Treasures 6: Next Wave Avant-Garde, with the following titles: Report by Bruce Conner, Radio Adios by Henry Hills, Hi-Fi Cadets by Lewis Klahr, A Visit to Indiana by Curt McDowell and Ted Davis, Plumb Line by Carolee Schneemann, and 11 thru 12 by Andrea Callard. It has yet to be released.
The DVD sets
Treasures from American Film Archives: 50 Preserved Films (2000, encore edition 2005) Number of discs: 4 Number of films: 50 Date range: 1893–1985 Total runtime: 642 min. (10.7 hrs.) Narrator: Laurence Fishburne Booklet(s): 150-page book of program notes. Encore edition has 4 booklets accompanying the 4 DVDs.
Select reviews: Farnsworth, E (January 15, 2001). "Saving Orphan Films," NewsHour. Klein, J (May 27, 2005). "'Treasures' returns as sequel and encore," Chicago Tribune.
The films: Disc 1 The Original Movie (1922, 8 min.), moviemaking in the Stone Age, told in silhouette animation; directed by Tony Sarg. Early films from the Edison Company Blacksmith Scene (1893, 1 min.), the first commercially shown U.S. film; directed by W. K. L. Dickson. The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903, 1 min.), directed by Edwin S. Porter. Three American Beauties (1906, 1 min.), directed by Edwin S. Porter and Wallace McCutcheon. Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909, 5 min.), special effects fantasy on the perils of smoking; directed by J. Stuart Blackton. The Confederate Ironclad (1912, 16 min.), Civil War adventure with original music score; directed by Kenean Buel. Hell's Hinges (1916, 64 min.), directed by William S. Hart (uncredited) and Charles Swickard, produced by Thomas H. Ince. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928, 13 min.), an avant-garde retelling of the Poe tale; directed by James Sibley Watson Jr. From Groucho Marx's home movies (ca. 1933, 2 min.). Running Around San Francisco for an Education (1938, 2 min.), election ad for a school bond issue. From Tevya (1939, 17 min.), excerpt from the Yiddish-language classic; directed by Maurice Schwartz. Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939, 14 min.), portrait of small-town America made by a local doctor and his wife. Private Snafu: "Spies" (1943, 4 min.), an irreverent cartoon made for servicemen; directed by Chuck Jones and written by Dr. Seuss. OffOn (1968, 9 min.), psychedelic landmark by Scott Bartlett.
Disc 2 Paper Print Copyright Deposits Demolishing and Building up the Star Theatre (1901, 1 min.), directed by F. S. Armitage. Move On (1903, 1 min.), directed by Alfred C. Abadie. Dog Factory (1904, 4 mins.), directed by Edwin S. Porter. The Lonedale Operator (1911, 17 min.), a race-to-the-rescue melodrama; directed by D. W. Griffith. Her Crowning Glory (1911, 14 min.), domestic comedy with John Bunny and Flora Finch; directed by Laurence Trimble. The Toll of the Sea (1922, 54 min.), an early 2-color Technicolor feature starring Anna May Wong; script by Frances Marion and directed by Chester M. Franklin. From Accuracy First (c. 1928, 5 min.), Western Union employee training film. From West Virginia documentaries West Virginia, the State Beautiful (1929, 8 min.), amateur travelogue by Ottis Rymer Snodgrass. One-Room Schoolhouses (c. 1935, 1 min.), footage of one-room Barbour County schoolhouses by Karl Myers and Elmer Myers. From Early Amateur Sound Film (1936–37, 4 min.), by home movie enthusiast Archie Stewart. Composition 1 (Themis) (1940, 4 min.), stop-motion animation by Dwinell Grant. The Battle of San Pietro (1945, 33 min.), stunning combat documentary; directed by John Huston. Negro Leagues Baseball (1946, 8 min.), footage of "Goose" Tatum and other greats. Battery Film (1985, 9 min.), experimental blend of documentary and animation by Richard Protovin and Franklin Backus.
Disc 3 The Thieving Hand (1908, 5 min.), comic fable told through stop-motion animation and special effects; from Vitagraph Studios. White Fawn's Devotion (1910, 11 min.), a western directed by James Young Deer, the first Native American filmmaker in Hollywood. The Chechahcos (1924, 86 min.), Klondike gold rush adventure, the first feature filmed entirely on location in Alaska; directed by Lewis S. Moomaw. From Japanese American Communities (1927–32, 7 min.), home movies by a Buddhist priest. From Rare Aviation Films The Keystone "Patrician" (1928, 6 min.), promotional film for a new plane. The Zeppelin "Hindenburg" (1936, 7 min.), home movies on board the LZ 129 Hindenburg. We Work Again (1937, 15 min.), WPA documentary; includes 4 minutes of the only film of Orson Welles's legendary 1936 "Voodoo" Macbeth. From La Valse (1951, 6 min.); choreography by George Balanchine, directed by Carol Lynn. The Wall (1962, 10 min.), USIA documentary on the Berlin Wall; directed by Walter de Hoog. George Dumpson's Place (1965, 8 min.), Ed Emshwiller's portrait of a folk artist and his world of found objects.
Disc 4 Peepshow Kinetoscopes Luis Martinetti, Contortionist (1894, 1 min.), directed by W. K. L. Dickson. Caicedo, King of the Slack Wire (1894, 1 min.), directed by W. K. L. Dickson. Interior New York Subway, 14th Street to 42nd Street (1905, 5 min.), trip on the new IRT filmed by G. W. Bitzer. The Land Beyond the Sunset (1912, 14 min.), slum kids dream of a better life; directed by Harold Shaw. I'm Insured (1916, 3 min.), cartoon by Harry Palmer. Snow White (1916, 63 min.), the earliest film version; starring Marguerite Clark and directed by J. Searle Dawley. From Beautiful Japan (1918, 15 min.), travel-lecture film by Benjamin Brodsky. From Rural Life in Maine (ca. 1930, 12 min.), home movies by Elizabeth Woodman Wright. The News Parade of 1934 (1934, 10 min.), Hearst Metrotone News recap of the year. Rose Hobart (1936, 19 min.), found footage; Joseph Cornell's obscure but entrancing surrealist collage classic. The Autobiography of a 'Jeep' (1943, 10 min.), celebration of the indestructible World War II vehicle; directed by Irving Lerner and narrated by Robert Sloan who assumes the role of the Jeep itself. From Marian Anderson: the Lincoln Memorial Concert (1939, 8 min.), newsreel reconstruction of this key event in Civil Rights history.
More Treasures from American Film Archives, 1894–1931 (2004) Number of discs: 3 Number of films: 50 Date range: 1894–1931 Total runtime: 573 min. (9.5 hrs.) Booklet: 200-page illustrated book with film notes and credits
Four feature films (over an hour in length) are included in this set; also: 46 short advertisements, documentaries, promotional and educational films, and some early experiments with color and sound.
Select reviews: Schwartz, L (January 4, 2005). "More Treasures from American Film Archives," Fresh Air.
The films:
Disc 1 The Dickson Experimental Sound Film (ca. 1894, 1 min.), two men dancing and a man playing a violin in front of a huge metal cone (the microphone for the wax cylinder the sound was recorded on); directed by W. K. L. Dickson. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Annie Oakley (1894, 1 min.), directed by W. K. L. Dickson. Buffalo Dance (1894, 1 min.), directed by W. K. L. Dickson. Bucking Broncho (1894, 1 min.), directed by W. K. L. Dickson. The Suburbanite (1904, 9 min.), a polite comedy about the exploits of a middle-class family moving to the "burbs" of New Jersey; directed by Wallace McCutcheon. The Country Doctor (1909, 14 min.), a tale of a physician torn between his duty to family and profession; directed by D. W. Griffith with an early performance by Mary Pickford. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910, 13 min.), earliest known film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novel; directed by Otis Turner. Early Advertising Films Admiral Cigarette (1897, 1 min.), directed by William Heise. Flash Cleaner (ca. 1920, 1 min.) Buy An Electric Refrigerator (1926, 1 min.), from Electric League of Pittsburgh. The Stenographer's Friend (1910, 8 min.), from Edison Manufacturing Company. The Invaders (1912, 41 min.), Sioux and Cheyenne conflicts in this early epic western, featuring real Lakota Sioux; directed by Thomas H. Ince and Francis Ford. The Hazards of Helen: Episode 26, "The Wild Engine" (1915, 14 min.), an action-packed episode from the movie serial; directed by J. P. McGowan. Gretchen the Greenhorn (1916, 58 min.), Dutch migrants who fall victim to a gang of counterfeiters; featuring Dorothy Gish, Elmo Lincoln and Eugene Pallette, directed by Chester M. Franklin and Sidney A. Franklin. The Breath of a Nation (1919, 6 min.), Gregory La Cava cartoon on the first day of prohibition. De-Light: Making an Electric Light Bulb (1920, 12 min.), from the Ford Motor Company, distributed by Goldwyn Pictures Corporation. Skyscraper Symphony (1929, 9 min.), Robert Florey's avant-garde portrait of Manhattan. Greeting by George Bernard Shaw (1928, 5 min.), first talkie of the playwright.
Disc 2 The Streets of New York What Happened on Twenty-Third Street (1901, 1 min.), directed by Edwin S. Porter. At the Foot of the Flatiron (1903, 2 min.), directed by A. E. Weed. New York City "Ghetto" Fish Market (1903, 2 min.), directed by James Blair Smith. From Leadville to Aspen: A Hold-Up in the Rockies (1906, 8 min.), train hold-up film made for railroad-car theaters; photographed by G. W. Btizer. The Teddy Bears (1907, 13 min.), an Edison short with impressive puppet animation; directed by Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter.