" HOLLYWOOD VANDALISM "
Sig,—In your issue of May 31st Mr. John Prickett asks whether there exists a library to preserve all films worth keeping. This is precisely the function of the National Film Library which was set up under the auspices of the British Film Institute in 1936, and which has since that date been acquiring prints of outstanding feature films, short films and news-reels both current and antique. It now has a collection of well over three thousand films dating back to 5895. The suppression of Le lour se Live is by no means the first case of its kind. Gaslight was an outstanding British film which suffered a similar fate—the film technicians' protest on that occasion found little public echo—and as far as we are aware the only copy now existing is that in the National Film Library. I regret to say that we experience difficulty in obtaining copies of outstanding Continental films, since normally only one print is imported (in order to secure a four-fifths reduction of customs duty) and this print is retained for distribution until it is worn out. (The present copy of Le lour se Live, I am informed, is very near that condition.) Unfortunately the National Film Library is so inadequately financed that we cannot afford to have a copy specially made in each case for preservation. On the other hand, I believe there is no definite evidence that the negative is being destroyed, and we hope that our French equivalent, the Cinematheque Francaise, will not allow the film to disappear completely.—Yours faithfully, Curator, National Film Library.
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