Upstream (film)
Encyclopedia
Upstream is a comedy film
directed by John Ford
. A "backstage drama", the movie is about a Shakespearean actor and a woman from a knife-throwing act. The film was considered to be a lost film
, but in 2009 it was discovered in the New Zealand Film Archive
.
It is considered the first Ford film to show some influence of German director F. W. Murnau, who began working at Fox Studios in 1926. From Murnau, Ford learned how to use forced perspectives and chiaroscuro
lighting, which the American director then integrated into his own more naturalistic and direct filmmaking style.
, the National Film Preservation Foundation
sent consultants Brian Meacham and Leslie Ann Lewis to assess its holdings of long unseen nitrate film prints of American silent films. The cache was found to include astonishing treasures of at least 75 American silent films unknown to exist in the United States, including a complete tinted nitrate print of Upstream and a trailer for another lost John Ford
feature, Strong Boy
(1929).
The New Zealand Film Archive
turned out to have many American films that had never been shipped back to the United States after they ran in theaters. The films were supposed to be destroyed at the end of their distribution run, but some were stashed away instead. Upstream was considered so important that, unlike other films discovered in the New Zealand archive, it was restored in New Zealand.
20th Century Fox
, a descendant company of the studio that made the movie, supported the preservation of the film in collaboration with the National Film Preservation Foundation
and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
film archive. Upstream received a "repremiere" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in September 2010. and a European screening at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone Italy in October 2010. Michael Mortilla wrote music for the AMPAS screening, and Donald Sosin for the Pordenone event.
Only 15 percent of Ford's silent films are known to have survived as of 2010.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
. A "backstage drama", the movie is about a Shakespearean actor and a woman from a knife-throwing act. The film was considered to be a lost film
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
, but in 2009 it was discovered in the New Zealand Film Archive
New Zealand Film Archive
The New Zealand Film Archive is a charitable trust dedicated to the collection, preservation and viewing of mainly New Zealand films and videos made between 1895 to the present day.- Background :...
.
It is considered the first Ford film to show some influence of German director F. W. Murnau, who began working at Fox Studios in 1926. From Murnau, Ford learned how to use forced perspectives and chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
lighting, which the American director then integrated into his own more naturalistic and direct filmmaking style.
Recovery
In 2009, at the invitation of the New Zealand Film ArchiveNew Zealand Film Archive
The New Zealand Film Archive is a charitable trust dedicated to the collection, preservation and viewing of mainly New Zealand films and videos made between 1895 to the present day.- Background :...
, the National Film Preservation Foundation
National Film Preservation Foundation
The National Film Preservation Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America’s film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began operations in 1997. It supports activities nationwide that...
sent consultants Brian Meacham and Leslie Ann Lewis to assess its holdings of long unseen nitrate film prints of American silent films. The cache was found to include astonishing treasures of at least 75 American silent films unknown to exist in the United States, including a complete tinted nitrate print of Upstream and a trailer for another lost John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
feature, Strong Boy
Strong Boy
Strong Boy is a comedy film directed by John Ford. It was a silent film with a synchronized music track. The film is now considered to be a lost film. A trailer for the film was discovered in the New Zealand Film Archive in 2010.-Cast:...
(1929).
The New Zealand Film Archive
New Zealand Film Archive
The New Zealand Film Archive is a charitable trust dedicated to the collection, preservation and viewing of mainly New Zealand films and videos made between 1895 to the present day.- Background :...
turned out to have many American films that had never been shipped back to the United States after they ran in theaters. The films were supposed to be destroyed at the end of their distribution run, but some were stashed away instead. Upstream was considered so important that, unlike other films discovered in the New Zealand archive, it was restored in New Zealand.
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, a descendant company of the studio that made the movie, supported the preservation of the film in collaboration with the National Film Preservation Foundation
National Film Preservation Foundation
The National Film Preservation Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America’s film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began operations in 1997. It supports activities nationwide that...
and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
film archive. Upstream received a "repremiere" at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
in September 2010. and a European screening at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone Italy in October 2010. Michael Mortilla wrote music for the AMPAS screening, and Donald Sosin for the Pordenone event.
Only 15 percent of Ford's silent films are known to have survived as of 2010.
Cast
- Nancy Nash - Gertie Ryan
- Earle FoxeEarle FoxeEarle Foxe was an American actor.-Background:Foxe was born Earl Aldrich Fox in Oxford, Ohio, to Charles Aldrich Fox, originally of Flint, Michigan, and Eva May Herron. His older half sister was Ethel May Fox, a music teacher, born in Michigan to Charles Aldrich Fox and Katie Eldridge. Always very...
- Eric Brasingham - Grant WithersGrant WithersGrant Withers was an American film actor. With early beginnings in the silent era, Withers moved into talkies establishing himself with a list of headlined features as a young and handsome male lead...
- Jack La Velle - Lydia Yeamans TitusLydia Yeamans TitusLydia Yeamans Titus was an Australian singer and actress of the stage and motion pictures. She was the daughter of Edward Yeamans, a circus clown and Annie Yeamans. Her mother was a noted stage performer on two continents as well as having traveled to Japan, China, Java and the Philippines...
- Miss Hattie Breckenbridge - Raymond HitchcockRaymond Hitchcock (actor)Raymond Hitchcock was a silent film actor, stage actor, and stage producer, who appeared in or produced 30 plays on Broadway from 1898 to 1928, and who became famous in silent films of the 1920s.-Biography:...
- Star Boarder - Emile ChautardEmile ChautardEmile Chautard was a French film director, actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 107 films between 1910 and 1924...
- Campbell Mandare - Ted McNamara - Callahan and Callahan
- Sammy Cohen - Callahan and Callahan
- Judy King - Sister Team
- Lillian Worth - Sister Team
- Jane WintonJane WintonJane Winton was a movieactress, dancer, opera soprano, writer, and painter. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.During the 1920s she began her stage career as a dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies.-Film actress:...
- Soubrette - Harry A. Bailey - Gus Hoffman (as Harry Bailey)
- Francis FordFrancis Ford (actor)Francis Ford was a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man.He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400...
- Juggler - Ely Reynolds - Deerfoot