Dateline: Hollywood, Saturday, September 3, 2005.
From the moment Cinecon festival host Bob Birchard walked out in front of the audience at the Egyptian Theater to announce that Jenny Paxson of The Library of Congress was here to talk about THE DANGER SIGNAL before the screening, the mood was eager anticipation. Meanwhile Jenny, from the back row of the balcony shouted, "WHAT!?" (It seems the staff had forgotten to ask her
) As she dashed downstairs, Bob continued, "Jenny said she would love to introduce the film," and a voice from the stairwell responded, "NO I DIDN'T!" which broke up the crowd. As Jenny tried to catch her breath, she explained how this newly struck print of a formerly lost film came about. The Library of Congress recently acquired an old nitrate print of the title in a recently purchased collection. Unfortunately, the print was put together out of sequence and some footage was missing. By making notes on index cards of each scene, she was able to resequence the new safety print into a cohesive story. Even though some scenes and title cards were missing and a few shots showed brief decomposition, the performances and the story were so involving as to make up for the brief jumps in the film. Out of breath but relieved, Jenny said she hoped the audience would enjoy this premiere screening of the new print. As the film unrolled and the now prepared audience watched, they let their guard down and let the film in. Accompanist Gabriel Thibodeau's score set the tone from the melodramatic opening all the way through to the exciting runaway train climax and the crowd responded with enthusiastic applause. When spectators expressed appreciation of the film to Jenny after the screening, she praised the work of Library of Congress quality control technicians Bruce Horrell and James Cozart for the restoration of a once lost silent gem. Now with this fresh find, film buff's batteries will be recharged to find and restore more titles! See it if you can at The Library Of Congress, Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia this September 18th, 2010 at 7:30pm and it's FREE!
