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Lost Silent Film Found in Japan, Returns Home
28 Sep
Summary
- A 1919 silent comedy, Van-ar-chy, was found in Japan by a student.
- The film stars comedian Billy B Van and was shot in New Hampshire.
- It preserves early cinema and glimpses of local history from 1919.
A significant piece of early American cinema, the 1919 silent comedy "Van-ar-chy," has been found in Sendai, Japan, by film student Kohei Okita. The film, starring entertainer Billy B Van, was shot in the New Hampshire communities of Newport and Sunapee. Okita discovered the reels while researching "anarchy" and subsequently connected with Van archivist John Tariot.
Billy B Van, active from 1870 to 1950, transitioned from Broadway to filmmaking, founding the Equity Motion Picture Company. He established a studio in Georges Mills, New Hampshire, producing silent comedies in the Lake Sunapee area. The recovered film is valuable both as a preservation of an early, often-lost film company's work and as a historical record.
"Van-ar-chy" provides visual documentation of Newport and Sunapee's streets, landscapes, buildings, and residents from 1919. The film was scheduled for a screening on November 1st at the Newport Opera House. This event was organized by local historical societies and was set to include another rediscovered Van comedy, "Where Are Your Husbands?"
