A lost work of famous filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock has been found in a New Zealand film vault.
Hitchcock’s “The White Shadow,” was just uncovered, leaving Hitchcock fans in total surprise and excitement. The film was made back when Hitchcock was in his early 20s and only a few years into the film business in 1923.
Of the six-reel film, only three of the reels were found. The three reels of the film were part of a collection of New Zealander, Jack Murtagh. His grandson, Tony Osborne, inherited his collection of films upon his death and ultimately gave the collection to the New Zealand Film Archive in the late 1980’s.
Hitchcock is credited with writing, being the assistant director and art director in the film, reported CNN.
According to the National Film Preservation Foundation, the film may be the earliest Hitchcock work. According to The New Zealand Film Archive, the melodrama starred Betty Compson in a duel role as twin sisters, one angelic and the other “without a soul.”
According to The New Zealand Film Archive, the three reels are reportedly being preserved at Park Road Post Production in Wellington over the next three years with the US National Film Preservation Foundation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art and UCLA Film & Television Archive and made available in the United States.
Copies of the film will be made available, online viewing is a planned option and plans are in the works for re-premiere screening.
