I always look forward to the latest entries into the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, to tick off the ones I've already seen and look into the ones I haven't, in the latest edition this was the only one I had missed out on, and I couldn't wait to watch it. Basically it explores the history of Dawson City, Canada, deep in the Yukon territory, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It sees the creation of the town during the Klondike Gold Rush, the area was an important hunting and fishing camp for a nomadic First Nation tribe known as Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, then transformed into a gold mining town near the end of the 19th century. The town was settled in 1896 upon the discovery of gold in its creeks, the gold rush brought 100,000 prospectors to the area that year, the same year the world was introduced to commercial cinema with the advent of new large-scale projectors, and the "movie theater". The first transparent and flexible film base material was celluloid, they were then manufactured on a nitrate film base, both materials were highly flammable and difficult to extinguish. Estimates say that 80-90% of silent films have been lost over time, in 1929 Dawson City was forced to hide many original film stocks, when there was a possibility they would be destroyed. In 1978, Dawson City became a talking point once again, when 533 silent film reels, thought to be lost, were discovered buried in a former swimming pool or hockey rink. These films contained silent films and newsreels, archival footage, interviews and historical photographs, and also rare footage of historic events, including the including the 1919 World Series (the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America). Extensive work was carried out to clean and rescue as much of this footage as possible. The story of Dawson City and its history, and the discovery of the lost film, is told through the silent footage found, and established silent classics (including The Gold Rush, starring Charlie Chaplin), accompanied with text and an original music score by Alex Somers. This film is very well edited, the footage used really brings to life what is happening, the music used fits very well, and it makes you feel like you are watching a classic silent movie, a wonderfully atmospheric and most interesting silent documentary. Very good!
Review of Dawson City: Frozen Time
