10 Famous Lost Films You Wish You Could Watch

9. The Life Of General Villa (1914)

The Day The Clown Cried
Mutual Film Corporation

The Life Of General Villa depicted the life of the famous Mexican revolutionary, Pancho Villa, during the Mexican Revolution and was amongst the first biographical films ever produced. Additionally, this particular biopic carried extra weight due to its production, its unique piece of casting, and its hand in history.

Produced by D.W Griffith, a unique casting deal was made in which the real-life Pancho Villa would play himself in the film in exchange for money to fight in the Mexican Revolution going on at the time. 

Not only did this piece of authentic casting add weight to the film, but the film incorporated staged and live authentic footage from real battles during the Mexican Revolution. In fact, real-life scenes of desperation and poverty depicting poor peasants knocking out the teeth of corpses in order to harvest gold-fillings were so shocking that it made film projectionists sick during screenings in Los Angeles. 

So really, The Life Of General Villa was part biopic, part documentary, part snuff film, and was produced by the guy who made the controversial A Birth Of A Nation. To say this film would've been quite the cinematic experience would probably be an understatement, but since the film is sadly forever lost, no one will ever get the chance to feel ill over it ever again.

Contributor
Contributor

My life story is nothing special. I haven't cured ebola, I'm nowhere near stopping terrorism, and I'm still working on that climate change problem. Instead, all I've done so far is put a few hundred words together in an attempt to make people laugh. You can follow me at @Fry_ying_pan but don't be offended if I don't tweet back. It's usually because I've spent too long trying to think up a witty response that the reply window has closed.