Cobbling together something resembling the original is a cool idea, but don't the originals still exist somewhere? Surely not all of the original prints have been destroyed? Aren't there movie archivists somewhere carefully preserving every version of every major movie?
Wikipedia has a decent overview on this, here: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_preservation" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_preservation
"By the 1980s, it was becoming apparent that the collections of motion picture heritage were at risk of becoming lost. Not only was the preservation of nitrate film an ongoing problem, but it was then discovered that safety film, used as a replacement for the more volatile nitrate stock, was beginning to be affected by a unique form of decay known as "vinegar syndrome", and color film manufactured, in particular, by Eastman Kodak, was found to be at risk of fading. At that time, the best-known solution was to duplicate the original film onto a more secure medium.[5]
A common estimate is that 90 percent of all American silent films made before 1920 and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 are lost films.[6][7]"
Upvoted because, sadly, most people don't know that most movies (even super-famous ones) are constantly at risk from environmental and legal factors. Film degrades, warehouses go up in flames, digital copies are easily lost, and rights management is so difficult and expensive, that a lot of material just... disappears.
It's not a problem limited to movies, btw - plenty of music suffers the same fate.
mcv · · focus · HN ↗
drdexebtjl · · focus · HN ↗
cursuve · · focus · HN ↗
"By the 1980s, it was becoming apparent that the collections of motion picture heritage were at risk of becoming lost. Not only was the preservation of nitrate film an ongoing problem, but it was then discovered that safety film, used as a replacement for the more volatile nitrate stock, was beginning to be affected by a unique form of decay known as "vinegar syndrome", and color film manufactured, in particular, by Eastman Kodak, was found to be at risk of fading. At that time, the best-known solution was to duplicate the original film onto a more secure medium.[5]
A common estimate is that 90 percent of all American silent films made before 1920 and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 are lost films.[6][7]"
toyg · · focus · HN ↗
It's not a problem limited to movies, btw - plenty of music suffers the same fate.