10 Famous Lost Films You Wish You Could Watch

With such a vast library of films created in the more than hundred years the film industry has been open for business, measures have had to be taken to ensure that the great films of our time have been preserved forever. As such, current generations can marvel at some brilliant black and white silent films of the 1920's and future generations can marvel at how bad Hollywood was at making plausible CGI dinosaurs. 

Yet despite those preservation efforts, not every great film can be saved and some famous and pioneering works have been sadly lost forever. Whilst there have been famous contemporary films that have somehow disappeared, it has been estimated that approximately 75% of all films in the silent era have been lost due to poor preservation practices, accidental fires, and sometimes for no discernible reason at all. 

So despite all the rich film history and culture that will be around forever, there will forever be a large chunk of film history that has been lost because some guy decided to light up a cigarette in a film storage closet. 

With that in mind, here is a list of 10 famous lost films that everyone wishes they could watch, whether it be due to their quality, their place in film history, or just out of simple morbid curiosity. 

The Story Of The Kelly Gang is the world's first biographical film that depicted the life of Australia's infamous outlaw, Ned Kelly. But being the first biographical film ever is just the mere tip of how historically important this lost film is.

Filmed in 1905 over an unheard of six months, only 26 years after the execution of the real-life Ned Kelly, the final cut of the film comprised of 6 major sequences and clocked in at 4000 feet (1220 m) of film, or just over an hour in running time. This made the film the longest narrative feature ever made in the world at the time and is considered the world's first full-length feature film. 

Given that it was the first of its kind, screenings of The Story Of The Kelly Gang were unique experiences. Program pamphlets were handed out to audiences, live practical sound effects were used, such as shooting blanks during the gun fight scenes and pebbles shaken for rain, and an actual lecturer was brought along to explain to the audience about all the action going on.

Whilst everyone can only muse about how awesome this depiction of Ned Kelly would've been based off the remaining stills and film fragments, everyone will just have to make do with the sub-par 2003 Ned Kelly film for now.