Completed Films

Fanchon the Cricket (Digital Cover)

Fanchon the Cricket (1915)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the Cinematheque Francaise’ in cooperation with the British Film Institute.

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Fanchon the Cricket (1915) was restored through a unique partnership between the Pickford Foundation and the Cinematheque Francaise who held a nitrate dupe of the film. An incomplete nitrate print was preserved at the British Film Institute and, with their cooperation, L’ Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory in Italy photochemically and digitally restored the film, using the highest quality available elements, scanning the film onto 4K high definition. The missing English intertitles were reconstructed by translating from the French on the dupe negative. The Mary Pickford Foundation commissioned a new score by Julian Ducatenzeiler and Andy Gladbach. Digital mastering was completed at Roundabout Entertainment in Los Angeles. The restored film elements are housed at the Library of Congress and in the MPF collection at UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Packard Center in Santa Clarita. The French version is housed at the Cinematheque Francaise’.

Johanna Enlists (Digital Cover)

Johanna Enlists (1918)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the Library of Congress Film Archive.

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The Restoration of Johanna Enlists by The Library of Congress

By 1948, when the Department of Agriculture Film Lab copied the nitrate elements on Johanna Enlists for The Library of Congress, the original negative had already decomposed and the first half of reel three was already missing from the sole surviving nitrate print. There was not much of a concept of “film preservation” at that time; the lab used 16mm film for the copies. In our research, we found that all the existing material on Johanna Enlists comes from that 1948 copy: even the 35mm material, which is a blow-up of the 16mm. And while the film has been available to view for many years, parts of it were copied in “tinting order,” meaning all the shots to be tinted blue, for night scenes, and all the shots tinted amber, for interiors, were spliced together and were placed in proper order later when the prints were made in a process called “positive assembly.” This rendered certain parts of the story unintelligible. The Library’s reconstruction team not only placed all the scenes in their correct order, but also was able to ascertain the tinting for the entire film and has restored that as well.

Next, it was noticed that most, if not all the intertitles had been poorly copied. The titles all feature a very decorative border and, in most cases, that border had been cut off in the copying process. Several members of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center took the best copy of each of the borders and
created new, clean versions with no text. Then, every title card was digitally cleaned up, recomposed with the new border and a slight bit of movement added to match the rest of the film.

The biggest issue facing the team was the missing portion of reel three. A complete continuity script, which showed exactly how the film was edited together, existed and a storyline for the missing section was constructed. Assistance from the Margaret Herrick Library was invaluable in this process. A large group of stills from the missing section was located, thanks to collector Todd Terpening, and a script was worked out. It was felt that reconstructed section needed to continue the light- hearted feeling of the film and keep things moving, so motion was added to some of the stills and vignetting of the characters when they spoke.

It was a great thrill to see the final project for the first time and we are proud to have been able to bring William Desmond Taylor and Mary Pickford’s film back to life.

Stella Maris (1918) Digital Keyart

Stella Maris (1918)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with the Paramount Film Archive.

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The Mary Pickford Foundation and the Paramount Film Archive partnered to access all elements available in the Pickford collections both at the UCLA Film & Television Archive and at the Library of Congress. Even though the archives were shut down during the pandemic, all parties cooperated to send the film elements to Paramount so they could be scanned in 4K resolution and commence work on the restoration.

The two primary elements used in this restoration were a 1967 35mm B&W Dupe Negative and an incomplete 1925 35mm Tinted Print. Scans from the Dupe Negative were used for the majority of the feature, and all surviving material from the print was inserted where possible. New inter-titles were digitally recreated for the Dupe Negative to match the feel and length of the Print, as the cards in the Negative were static and much longer than originally intended. The tinting scheme of the Print was used for all evening sequences: amber for night interiors and blue for night exteriors, with the rest of the feature B&W for all daytime sequences. Lastly, all the most egregious damage was digitally repaired, the film’s printed-in jitter was stabilized, and the film’s frame-rate was digitally varisped to 19fps, mirroring a more natural, hand-cranked projection speed suitable for 1918, the year of the film’s release.

Written by Jeff McCarty/Paramount Film Archive

Little Annie Rooney (Digital Cover)

Little Annie Rooney (1925)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Film Archive.

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Little Annie Rooney: (1925) The process of restoring and scoring Little Annie Rooney took several years. The original tinted nitrate print in Mary Pickford’s personal collection at the Library of Congress, made from the camera negative in 1925, was brought to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences archive in Los Angeles. The Academy Film Archive preserved the film photochemically, creating new 35mm preservation duplicate negatives and tinted prints. All photochemical work was completed at YCM Laboratory.

The preservation master was then scanned at 4K resolution so that the MPF, in cooperation with AMPAS, could create a digital version, evaluating the film frame by frame, removing dirt and other signs of deterioration to perfectly match the original nitrate tints and tones.

Then, through the MPF Composition Program at Pepperdine University, an extremely gifted young composer, Andy Gladbach, was chosen to create a new sound track for the film. Mentored by professionals, Gladbach was joined by a 16 piece orchestra that included three percussionists, as well as a conductor and engineers, to record his original music. The film was digitally mastered at Modern VideoFilm. The end result combines and showcases the finest work of artists, craftspeople and musicians from this century and from 1925. The restored film elements are housed at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Film Archive.

Sparrows (Digital Cover)

Sparrows (1926)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the Library of Congress Film Archive.

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Sparrows was reconstructed by the Library of Congress from the best quality film elements, a 35MM nitrate print and a 35MM safety dupe negative. Additional lab work was performed by Colorlab.

The Mary Pickford Foundation scanned the preservation elements in 4K, and worked closely with Roundabout Entertainment, Inc. to complete all digital work, addressing imperfections to ensure that Sparrows is presented in its best possible form for a modern audience. Since this film is known for its stunning visuals, we worked hard to ensure that audiences today can enjoy it in all its splendor.

The Mary Pickford Company commissioned a new, original, orchestral score by the Graves Brothers, which was produced and recorded at the Savannah Studios in Los Angeles.

Films Currently in Production

Tess of the Storm Country (1914)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with the Paramount Film Archive.

Madame Butterfly (1915)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with the Paramount Film Archive.

The Little American (1917)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation and the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

A Little Princess (1917)

The Mary Pickford Foundation will be utilizing film elements from the MPF collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Packard Humanities Institute.

Amarilly of Clothesline Alley (1917)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with UCLA Film & Television Archive.

The Love Light (1921)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Tess of the Storm Country (1922)

The Mary Pickford Foundation will be partnering with the Library of Congress Film Archive and Gosfilmofond of Russia.

My Best Girl (1927)

The Mary Pickford Foundation is partnering with UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation.

Other Film Projects

Rosita (1923)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the Museum of Modern Art, Gosfilmofond of Russia, The Film Foundation and The Mayer Foundation.

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Rosita (1923) has been restored by the Museum of Modern Art from the last known surviving nitrate print donated from Gosfilmofond of Russia in cooperation with the Mary Pickford Foundation. Pickford was instrumental in bringing the German director Ernst Lubitsch to America and Rosita was the first film he made in the United States. The Pickford Foundation provided access to our 35mm elements to assist in the restoration. Other groups partnering with MoMA include The Film Foundation and the Mayer Foundation. The restored film elements will be housed at the Museum of Modern Art Film Archive.

The Son’s Return (1909)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Museum of Modern Art Film Archive with the donation of an original camera negative from Alan Boyd.

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The Son’s Return (1909) is a short Biograph film that was restored in 2013 in partnership with the Mary Pickford Foundation, UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Museum of Modern Art with an original camera negative donated by Alan Boyd to the foundation. The original sprocket holes are located in the center of the frame, requiring that each frame had to be scanned and then reedited together frame by frame. The work was completed at Cinelicious. The restored film elements are housed in the MPF collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Packard Center in Santa Clarita.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with UCLA Film & Television Archive and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) was preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991. The film was preserved in cooperation with the Mary Pickford Foundation from their nitrate and acetate film elements and laboratory services were provided by Film Technology Company, YCM Laboratories. The restored film elements are housed at the UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Packard Center in Santa Clarita.

Films In the Planning Stages

The Mary Pickford Foundation will be partnering with the Library of Congress on these titles:

CINDERELLA (1914)

RAGS (1915)

PRIDE OF THE CLAN (1917)

POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL (1917)

M’LISS (1918)

HEART O’ THE HILLS (1919)

Feature Film starring Jack Pickford TO BE DECIDED

United Artists Films not starring Mary Pickford

DRUMS OF LOVE (1928)

The Mary Pickford Foundation will be partnering with the Library of Congress Film Archive.

Lady of the Pavements (1929)

The Mary Pickford Foundation will be partnering with the Library of Congress Film Archive.

Sleep, My Love (1948)

The Mary Pickford Foundation partnered with the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

The Library of Congress Film Archive will be upgrading film elements from the Mary Pickford Foundation's archival collection which is housed at the UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Packard Humanities Institute Stoa.