In search of 101 missing movies
Missing Movies, a nonprofit organization that seeks to publicize the problem of films that are unavailable for broadcast and home entertainment release due to rights/clearance issues, lack of available materials or “distributor indifference,” has published a list of the most sought-after films that are out of view.
The list, titled “101 Missing Movies We’d Like to See,” includes works by iconic filmmakers including Gregg Araki”™s “The Doom Generation,” Shirley Clarke”™s “The Cool World,” Richard Fleischer”™s “The Happy Time,” Elaine May”™s “The Heartbreak Kid,” Paul Mazursky”™s “Willie and Phil,” Marcel Ophuls”™ “The Memory of Justice,” Otto Preminger”™s “The Cardinal” and “Porgy and Bess,” Kevin Smith”™s “Dogma” and Frederick Wiseman”™s “The Garden.”
Of the 101 listed films, two were never theatrically released. Todd Haynes”™ 1988 “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,” a biopic on the late pop singer using Barbie dolls for its cast, was blocked from commercial distribution because of an unauthorized use of The Carpenters”™ music. And Penelope Spheeris”™ 1969 “Uncle Tom”™s Fairy Tales” was unfinished due to conflicts with Richard Pryor, the film”™s star and producer.
“The streaming age has presented the illusion of every film being available at any time, but there are thousands of works of cinematic art that have slipped through the cracks and remain impossible to see by legal means,” said film scholar Mitchell Beaupre in an article accompanying the list. “Whether it”™s having their rights lapsed, disinterest from the distributor, not even having a distributor at all or numerous other reasons, these films have seemingly just ceased to exist.”
Photo: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Kevin Smith”™s “Dogma” (1999); photo courtesy Lionsgate