National Film Preservation Foundation

The latest invaluable release from the National Film Preservation Foundation, the three-disc boxed set "Treasures 5: The West, 1898-1938," deals not just with the evolution of the western but also with the idea of the West, as it was reflected and shaped in the early years of cinema. The western is perhaps the most American of genres, a historic symbol of Hollywood supremacy and still among the most durable of narrative templates, as recent movies as different as "Meek's Cutoff" and "True Grit" have shown.

The latest invaluable release from the National Film Preservation Foundation, the three-disc boxed set "Treasures 5: The West, 1898-1938," deals not just with the evolution of the western but also with the idea of the West, as it was reflected and shaped in the early years of cinema. The western is perhaps the most American of genres, a historic symbol of Hollywood supremacy and still among the most durable of narrative templates, as recent movies as different as "Meek's Cutoff" and "True Grit" have shown.

Still floating: The National Film Preservation Foundation said Wednesday that the 1,000th film to get its support for preservation was a 1920 silent adaptation of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," using a print that was found in Denmark.

The audiences' anticipation was palpable Wednesday evening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The SRO crowd was there for what Academy First Vice President Sid Ganis described as a "historic" event: the "re-premiere" of "Upstream," a previously "lost" 1927 John Ford film. Because Ford is known for his westerns ("Stagecoach") and dramas ("The Grapes of Wrath"), "Upstream," which was preserved through a collaboration between the Academy Film Archive and 20th Century Fox, was a real surprise.

The audiences' anticipation was palpable Wednesday evening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The SRO crowd was there for what Academy First Vice President Sid Ganis described as a "historic" event: the "re-premiere" of "Upstream," a previously "lost" 1927 John Ford film. Because Ford is known for his westerns ("Stagecoach") and dramas ("The Grapes of Wrath"), "Upstream," which was preserved through a collaboration between the Academy Film Archive and 20th Century Fox, was a real surprise.

MOVIES Preservation Boost: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has pledged $250,000 to the National Film Preservation Foundation to help preserve "orphan films" that have no studio affiliation. The grant--the academy's largest ever to an outside group--kicks off an industrywide fund-raising effort co-headed by, among others, director Martin Scorsese.

While recent attention has focused on our commercial film heritage--thanks to the American Film Institute's controversial 100 best list--a less glamorous effort to preserve films outside the mainstream has quietly gained momentum. These "orphans" are withering away in nonprofit archives without protective ownership. They include silents, newsreels, independents, experimental and ethnic works, as well as commercial titles in the public domain.

The National Film Preservation Foundation and the New Zealand Film Archive on Monday plan to announce the formation of a partnership to preserve and make available a collection of 75 silent films that have been unavailable for decades. All of these rare films, made in the U.S., are on highly volatile, hazardous nitrate stock. The crown jewel of the collection is "Upstream," a "lost" John Ford silent from 1927 about a romance between a Shakespearean actor and a girl from a knife-throwing act. Only 15% of the silent films made by Ford, who won four Oscars, including for "The Grapes of Wrath" and "How Green Was My Valley," survive.

Roger Mayer, president of Turner Entertainment Co., will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards on Feb. 27, the movie academy said Thursday. Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to honor Mayer because of his contributions to the industry as chairman of the board of the Motion Picture and Television Fund and as founding board chairman of the National Film Preservation Foundation.

If you want to know more about film preservation, check out the new book, "Our Movie Heritage" (Rutgers University Press, $45), by Tom McGreevey and Joanna L. Yeck, with a foreword by Leonard Maltin. The lavishly illustrated book examines the race in both the public and private sectors to salvage what films are left in vaults, theaters and private collections and discusses the basics of film preservation with archivists and film restoration experts.

The National Film Preservation Foundation and the New Zealand Film Archive on Monday plan to announce the formation of a partnership to preserve and make available a collection of 75 silent films that have been unavailable for decades. All of these rare films, made in the U.S., are on highly volatile, hazardous nitrate stock. The crown jewel of the collection is "Upstream," a "lost" John Ford silent from 1927 about a romance between a Shakespearean actor and a girl from a knife-throwing act. Only 15% of the silent films made by Ford, who won four Oscars, including for "The Grapes of Wrath" and "How Green Was My Valley," survive.

Still floating: The National Film Preservation Foundation said Wednesday that the 1,000th film to get its support for preservation was a 1920 silent adaptation of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," using a print that was found in Denmark.

PEOPLE A Nation in Pain: Actress Sharon Stone, distressed by last month's Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, has given her guns to police and asked that the weapons be destroyed. The actress, who played a gunslinger in the 1995 movie "The Quick and the Dead," called officers to her Beverly Hills home May 14 to pick up her shotgun and three handguns. She was particularly "moved by the incident at Columbine High School," said Officer Mike Partain, a police spokesman.

While recent attention has focused on our commercial film heritage--thanks to the American Film Institute's controversial 100 best list--a less glamorous effort to preserve films outside the mainstream has quietly gained momentum. These "orphans" are withering away in nonprofit archives without protective ownership. They include silents, newsreels, independents, experimental and ethnic works, as well as commercial titles in the public domain.

Since its 1939 release, "Gone With the Wind" has risen more times than the South. Rereleases, re-premieres, restorations and anniversary screenings are as much a part of the epic's saga as Clark Gable's caustic eight-word, relationship-terminating farewell. The latest "renewed" version--enhanced color, digital sound, correct height-width projection--was seen during a benefit screening Wednesday at the motion picture academy's theater in Beverly Hills.