Filmmuseum Presents Long Lost Valentino Movie

Filmmuseum Presents Long Lost Valentino Movie

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, January 31/PRNewswire/ -- The Filmmuseum presents the newly restored version of the movie Beyond
the Rocks (Sam Wood, 1922) found last year. Movie historians had been looking
for this classic for almost 75 years. This is the only movie in which
Hollywood legends Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson can be seen together.
Beyond the Rocks was restored and provided with a score by composer Henny
Vrienten. The world premiere of the film will take place on April 5, during
the second Filmmuseum Biënnale. Beyond the Rocks will be in theaters in the
Netherlands starting May 26.



It will be shown at Pathé Tuschinski (Amsterdam) April 5 and 10 and from
April 6 through 10 at Filmmuseum Cinerama (Amsterdam). It will be in Dutch
theaters starting May 26. Milestones, renowned for distributing major recent
restorations, will distribute Beyond the Rocks in North America.



Beyond the Rocks seemed to have disappeared without a trace. The only
thing left of the film was a 1 minute nitrate strip which had been kept in
the movie collection of the Filmmuseum since 1976. It was a big surprise when
the film turned up in the estate of a movie collector. Finally, this famous
silent movie could be restored to its original glory. With this discovery,
the Filmmuseum received truly the only copy of the movie.



Movie historians and restorers had been looking for Beyond the Rocks for
almost three quarters of a century - a classic melodrama on impossible love.
This is the only movie from the silent era (1895 through 1928) featuring then
Hollywood greats Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson together, making this
film unique in movie history.



The recently discovered Dutch copy of Beyond the Rocks (or Gouden Boeien,
the Dutch title), turned out to be in fairly good condition. The goal is to
restore the movie as much as possible to its original state. The Filmmuseum
decided to produce a modern version of Beyond the Rocks as well and invited
Henny Vrienten to write the score.



Henny Vrienten, movie composer and musician, wrote his first film score
for the Dutch movie De prooi (Vivian Pieters, 1985). For the last several
years, he worked on the score for Pietje Bell en Pietje Bell II (Maria
Peters, 2002/2003), Het stenen vlot (George Sluizer, 2002), The Discovery of
Heaven (Jeroen Krabbé, 2001) and Left Luggage (Jeroen Krabbé, 1998), among
others. He was commissioned by the Filmmuseum to write scores for the silent
movies Een telegram uit Mexico (Louis Chrispijn sr., 1914/1992), Het geheim
van Delft (Maurits Binger, 1917/1995) en Zeemansvrouwen (Henk Kleinman,
1930/2003). In addition to the music, Vrienten also provided the sound
effects for Zeemansvrouwen. In 1996 Henny Vrienten was awarded the Silver
Harp for his entire work. Vrienten received the Golden Calf for film scores
at the Netherlands Film Festival twice, in 1996 and 2001.



When creating soundtracks for silent movies, Vrienten makes full use of
his freedom of discretion as a composer. "Silent moving pictures are to me
what a blank page is to a writer," explains Vrienten in the magazine
Volkskrant (11-23-2003). His film scores are never alike: "If you do it
right, the music is dictated by the movie," says the composer. For Beyond the
Rocks, Vrienten created a grand and engaging score in typical Hollywood
style.



The restored copy of Beyond the Rocks (with Henny Vrienten's soundtrack)
will have its world premiere on April 5 during the opening of the second
Filmmuseum Biënnale. Milestone, renowned for distributing major recent
restorations, will distribute Beyond the Rocks in North America.



The restoration of Beyond the Rocks was made possible among others by ING
Real Estate Development.



Beyond the Rocks, Sam Wood (US 1922) Dutch subtitles, ca. 80 minutes,
tinted, 35 mm, Dolby Digital.



Source: FILMMUSEUM

For more information: FILMMUSEUM, Jan van den Brink, phone +31-020-5891-469 or +31-06-14224403, e-mail: jbrink@filmmuseum.nl; Géke Roelink, phone +31-020-5891477 or +31-06-55782815, e-mail: groelink@filmmuseum.nl; Photos: Mark Mallon (out of the office on Wednesdays), phone +31-020-5891.405, e-mail: mmallon@filmmuseum.nl


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