The gods of cinema and/or the slow news day have smiled on film buffs worldwide with the discovery of The White Shadow, a long-lost silent 1923 melodrama by a young director named Alfred Hitchcock. It's no Vertigo, but hopes are that it'll help us determine how The Master got there.
According to a report from Wellington, New Zealand, archivists discovered the film's first three reels just sitting around in the national collection, where it had been received years ago from the estate of a late film projectionist and collector. Hitchcock, who made the film at age 24, contributed The White Shadow's script, sets and editing. "This is one of the most significant developments in memory for scholars, critics, and admirers of Hitchcock's extraordinary body of work," said Hitchcock biographer and National Society of Film Critics chief David Sterritt.
The movie's three other reels remain AWOL, but at least there's a thought-lost John Ford comedy, 1927's Upstream, in the collection to help make up for it. You take what you can get. Meanwhile, copies of The White Shadow are currently being made and planned for US delivery soon. See you in line.
ยท Lost Alfred Hitchcock film found in New Zealand [Telegraph via @AwardsDaily]