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<DIV><FONT size=3>Dear William,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>This is a crucial point that you have hit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Iris Barry is one of a very small number of people who, if
they had any Asian focus, would have radically changed the preserved landscape
of film history.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Presumably like you, I found very little to go on at
MoMA. So, I followed the money to the Rockefeller Foundation.
The short answer is yes, its collection activities were limited to the United
States and Europe, including the Soviet Union, and there was no failed rescue
attempt for Japan. But there is a slightly longer story which is likely to
be told soon.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Is there any chance we could meet at KinemaClub X
?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Roger</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ReelDrew@aol.com href="mailto:ReelDrew@aol.com">ReelDrew@aol.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, February 07, 2010 10:52
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> question regarding early
archives and Japanese film</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial><FONT
id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV>I am right now working on the final draft of my forthcoming book, "The
Last Silent Picture Show: Silent Films on American Screens in the
1930s." Presently, I'm doing the revisions for a chapter on the archival
movement and the Museum of Modern Art in the '30s.</DIV>
<DIV>Relating this to Japanese film, I point out that MOMA in the Iris Barry
years (1935-1951) limited its collection of early cinema--and the programs of
early films it featured--to the historical development of filmmaking in the
United States, Western Europe and the Soviet Union. What I'd like
to find out from knowledgeable people here is does anyone know if my
information is accurate? Has anyone here, for example, seen any
correspondence or other documents indicating that Iris Barry was planning a
program on the history of Japanese cinema (and those of India and China as
well) in say, 1939 but that the outbreak of WWII halted this project? Or
am I correct in my assumption that the standard view of the historical
development of cinema in those days, as set forth at MOMA, completely omitted
the early contributions of Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, including
Japan?</DIV>
<DIV>I should point out that in the 1930s and 1940s, the Museum of Modern Art
Film Library, contrary to Peter Decherney's tendentious assertions in
"Hollywood and the Culture Elite," was not a national film archive and, in
fact, many important areas in early American film history were neglected due
to Iris Barry's international focus. Many at the time, in fact, felt it
was her preoccupation with the European art film that caused her to overlook
so much of the American cinema. Or perhaps in fairness to her, she was
trying to balance America and Europe in the collection she built up.
However, what I think was clearly left out of the film history programs
established by Barry at MOMA was the entire historical production of cinema in
Asia, the Middle East and Latin America during the first half of the 20th
century. I am not aware that Barry made any effort in the 1930s and
1940s to obtain examples of filmmaking from those countries beyond Hollywood
and Europe. If anyone here, however, has information to the contrary,
specifically, of course, with respect to Japanese cinema, I would very much
like to know. I wish my analysis to be as accurate as possible.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>William M. Drew</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>