Filmmuseum rediscovers lost film starring Valentino

Recently Nederlands Filmmuseum rediscovered a film made in 1922 that was presumed lost: Beyond the Rocks directed by Sam Wood. For almost 75 years, film historians have been searching for this film. Beyond the Rocks is the only film that stars the two Hollywood icons Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. The film is currently being restored and will be screened during the Filmmuseum Biennial in April 2005.

It looked as if Beyond the Rocks had disappeared without trace. All that remained of the film was a one-minute fragment. This piece of film has been in the Filmmuseum's collection since 1976. So, while cataloguing over two thousand film cans donated by a film collector, it was a great surprise to the museum staff when they chanced upon a reel of Beyond the Rocks. In the months that followed, the Filmmuseum found and identified all the missing reels of the film. As a result, this famous silent film can finally be restored to its full splendour.

For almost 75 years, film historians and archivists have been searching for a print of Beyond the Rocks, a classic melodrama about an impossible love. It is the only film from the silent-film period (1895 - 1928) that stars the two Hollywood icons Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. This is why Beyond the Rocks represents a truly unique moment in film history.

The restored print of Sam Wood's classic will be screened during the second edition of the Filmmuseum Biennial which will take place from 6 to 10 April 2005 in Amsterdam. A new score will be composed for this world première of the restored version of Beyond the Rocks or Gouden Boeien (Golden Shackles, the title under which the film was once released in The Netherlands).