TCM Acquires Lost RKO Films

ATLANTA, October 18: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has
acquired the rights to six films from the 1930s, produced by the classic film
studio RKO, that were previously considered lost.

This selection of rare motion pictures includes works
directed by William Wellman, John Cromwell and Garson Kanin, and starring
William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Irene Dunne, Lionel Barrymore and Joel McCrea,
as well as an early screenplay by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo.

In association with the Library of Congress and the Brigham
Young University film archive, TCM is currently making new 35mm fine-grain
masters and prints of six pictures slated to air on the network in 2007: Double
Harness (1933), One Man's Journey (1933), Rafter Romance (1933), Stingaree (1934), Living on Love (1937) and A Man to Remember (1938).

"These six films had slipped through the cracks of film
history because the two copyright holders—Merian C. Cooper and Ernest L.
Scanlon—had long since passed away," said Tom Karsch, the EVP and GM
of TCM. “As a result, they were languishing in film archives around the world,
largely unpreserved. As curators of film history, TCM is proud to take the lead
on preserving these films and airing them for classic movie fans of all
ages."

A Man to Remember,
largely unseen since its original theatrical release, was on the New York
Times' list of the top 10 films of 1938. According to TCM, showings of the five
other films have been extremely rare since 1959.

TCM embarked on a search for these titles following requests
from viewers regarding the Turner Entertainment Company library status of Double
Harness. These six films were sold out of
the RKO library to Merian C. Cooper in 1946. In 1959, ownership transferred to
former Selznick International executive Ernest L. Scanlon.

Brigham Young University has Cooper's 35mm and 16mm
safety-dupe television negatives for Double Harness, One Man's Journey, Rafter Romance, Stingaree and Living
on Love. The only surviving copy of A
Man to Remember is a 35mm original nitrate,
Dutch-subtitled, English-language print, which was preserved by the Netherlands
Filmmuseum in 2000. Additional 35mm nitrate dupe negatives for Double
Harness were found in France at the CNC.
The original 35mm nitrate camera negatives for all six films appear to be lost.