Escape (1948)is NOT a lost film--it has played recently at special screenings in London and New York:
In Dec. 2007 at BFI in London:
www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/node/876
In Mar. 2008 at MOMA in New York:
www.moma.org/calendar/films.php?id=7914
If anyone knows where to purchase a copy of this movie please post the information here.
Thanks
ESCAPE was a 20th Century Fox production, and in terms of the vaults of 20th Century Fox, there was only a very ragged 16mm print which was available for many years.
In the last five years, a new print was struck from elements recovered in England.
But before that, it might as well have been a "lost" film.
Of course, there are films which are truly lost and remain so (the 1928 film THE CASE OF LENA SMITH directed by Josef von Sternberg). In the case of ESCAPE, it was finding elements which could be restored (since the 20th Century Fox archives could not find a negative).
In many cases, a theatrical print of a film was deposited at the British Film Institute, especially if that film had British talent involved (as does ESCAPE); for example, the only extant print of Joseph Losey's 1950 THE LAWLESS remains at the BFI, and that print is severely damaged.
So just because a movie has one print which will be screened, does not mean it is suddenly "available". In the case of ESCAPE: there are no plans for a broadcast of the film, and the likelihood of this movie ever being available on DVD are quite negligible.
So there is no way to purchase a copy, since no one will be making copies, so unless you made it to the BFI or MoMA, it might as well be a lost film, because (effectively) it IS "lost" to general viewership.
I was mistaken: the print remains the ragged 16mm print which was part of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's own collection. The film has not been restored, there are no plans for such a restoration, and the negative no longer exists, so this is it.
I had hoped that the BFI would have discovered a print (this did happen with Thorold Dickinson's GASLIGHT, even though MGM had tried to destroy all prints of that film because of the 1944 remake) because a print should have been deposited when the movie finished its run in England, but this does not seem to be the case.
So, sadly, aside from a damaged 16mm print, ESCAPE does not exist. And it does not appear that anyone will pay for a restoration.
A 35mm. print of the film was shown back in 1992 at a Mankiewicz tribute at FilmForum in New York City. Also, I know someone who knows Peggy Cummins who lives outside London and she says the film is often shown on TV there, so there are other prints besides the Mankiewicz archive one. A woman named Cheryl Bray Lower who is writing a Mankiewicz biography is urging Fox to put the film out on DVD and restore it, so I'm sure something will happen.
shareSorry to disappoint you, but i know the people who run Film Forum, and the print that came from the Mankiewicz archive was a 16mm print, which is what Film Forum showed in 1992.
Television prints were often 16mm.
So, as far as anyone knows (including people at The Museum of Modern Art and New York City's Film Forum) no 35mm print is in existence, and the Fox archives has no negative.
What was shown at BFI in December?
shareIts now available on DVD, search on YouTube for the clip and read the notes from the uploader.
shareI just watched it and the quality was certainly in no worse condition than loads of 40's films on dvd.
Here's a few screenshots:
http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv3/rainer1957/vlcsnap-00006-43.jpg
http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv3/rainer1957/vlcsnap-00003-44.jpg
http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv3/rainer1957/vlcsnap-00002-46.jpg
My 105 favorite films - http://www.imdb.com/list/5pdE8_ZEh0Y/?publish=save
Just watched it on Youtube, quality not bad, and some nostalgic Dartmoor scenery before grockles (holiday-makers) became numerous. I'm wasn't convinced by the instant (perhaps inevitable) romance.
share[deleted]