calling all KineJapan members for Abe collection news
ReelDrew at aol.com
ReelDrew at aol.com
Thu May 19 19:35:24 EDT 2005
To all the members of the KineJapan group:
Many of you will remember that back in February, it was announced that the
National Film Center in Tokyo was acquiring the film collection of the late
Yoshishige Abe. It was rumored that it consisted of up to 45,000 titles and that
this might be the largest single find of Asian films, many of them silent and
thought to be lost. Reportedly, Abe and his father had acquired rare Korean
films, including the celebrated 1926 silent, "Arirang," from the early period
of Korean cinema which had been said to have completely vanished during the
Korean War. His collection was also said to include many long-lost Japanese
silents such as missing Mizoguchi films. However, others noted that Mr. Abe was
reputed to be an eccentric and rather mysterious individual who would never
show the films said to be in his vast collection but only a catalogue listing the
films he claimed to have. Consequently, there were a few skeptics who
questioned whether the collection ever existed except in his imagination. Because
it would take a while to process all this, including transporting whatever
films existed to the archive in Tokyo, it was understood that it might be several
more months before there would be more definite information on the Abe
collection.
Not long after this announcement, I began corresponding with a source in the
Tokyo archive who, first of all, confirmed one thing--namely, that Abe really
did have a collection of films although it was not yet known what works it
included. Subsequently, I learned from the source that the Tokyo archive was in
close contact with the film archive in South Korea, a strong indication that
they had now established the Abe collection did include rare Korean films from
the missing 1923-1937 era--at least, that they had likely found "Arirang."
Understandably, the film devotees in Korea were positively ecstatic at the
prospect of their national film heritage finally being recovered.
Last week, the source informed me that on the Friday, May 13 that has just
passed, the films in the Yoshishige Abe collection would arrive at the Tokyo
archive and that the source, along with others in the National Film Center, would
be present at this event. The archivist told me, however, that the
collection was not the 45,000 number initially given but was about 2,000 films. That
did not surprise me, as I had thought the earlier figure given was too large.
More disconcerting, though, was the news that the films were mainly 16mm.
prints and might not be so rare. Since then, I have e-mailed the archival source
concerning what the people present at the National Film Center on May 13
observed. I would think there might be markings on the cans of film indicating
their titles or some other kind of information. To date, however, I have
received no reply from this or other sources. Nor has anything appeared in the news
or on this board concerning the Abe collection since the archive took charge
of the films last week.
For this reason, I'm posting here to ask if any KineJapan members in Japan,
including those with contacts in the National Film Center, might be able to
provide to me and other interested people here any new information they might
have on the Yoshishige Abe collection. It is, of course, entirely possible that
Abe and his father, when they were collecting rare Korean and Japanese films
in the 1950s and 1960s, copied them onto 16mm. and then discarded the original
35mm. nitrate. Although archivists have long since abandoned this approach,
it was not uncommon for film preservationists around the world in those years
to choose 16mm. as a preservation format and simply toss out the 35mm.
nitrate. On the other hand, it is also possible that Abe's collection largely
consisted of 16mm. copies of the more familiar or standard American, European and
Japanese silents and early sound films that can be found everywhere, with
perhaps some of the rarer cut-down (for home use in the '20s and '30s) 9.5mm. and
16mm. copies of Japanese silents that have turned up in a number of collections
in recent years. In this case, his collection would hardly be as remarkable
as he liked to claim. And in the case of Korea, it would be especially
heartbreaking if the imminent prospect of finally recovering some of their early
films has turned out to be a will o'the wisp. Understandably, many people in the
Japanese archival community might be a bit embarrassed if they were in a sense
a victim of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by Mr. Abe--hence, the reason no
information seems to have been forthcoming since last Friday.
Again, I would be very appreciative if any knowledgeable KineJapan members
could make the proper inquiries and provide the information here regarding the
precise nature of the Abe collection and whether it includes any of the rare
Korean and Japanese silents that it was reported to have back in February. No
matter how painful the let-down might be, it is essential that the facts about
this collection come out. More than anything, it illustrates how important
film preservation is and how we must be all the more diligent in preserving and
making more widely available the precious Asian silent films that have
survived the ravages of time.
William M. Drew
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