10 Movies That Were Nearly Lost Completely

The 1910 version of Frankenstein is the oldest lost and found movie to ever exist. Because of its age and the improper treatment of film print in the early days of cinema, this adaptation of Frankenstein was thought to be lost for at least 60 years.

The first recognized mention of this film after the 1910s was a plot description and a few stills that were featured in the 15 March 1910 issue of The Edison Kinetogram film catalogue, which was found in 1963. For many years, this was believed to be the only evidence pointing to a version of Frankenstein that predates the Universal adaptation.

However, a print of Edison's original was found in its entirety in the hands of Wisconsin film collector Alois F. Dettlaff. Dettlaff had purchased some film reels from his mother-in-law in the early 1950s, of which she was also a collector, but he never realized what he had come across until he started reading about how this film was thought to be lost forever.

Afterwards, Dettlaff got to work. He had a 35mm preservation copy made for his personal collection and made it known to film distribution companies that he had the last remaining copy of Thomas Edison’s Frankenstein. In the 2000s, he even issued DVD copies - 1000 in total - which are hunted by collectors today.