Presumed lost, "His Musical Sneeze", the US silent film comedy from 1919, starring Virginia Rappe and Lloyd Hamilton, has been identified among the catalogue of Danish titles at the DFI Film Archive. Enthusiastic responses from film archivists from the US and other countries have poured in since the discovery was made a week ago.Among those who have responded are writer Anthony Balducci, who is in the last phase of writing Hamilton's biography to be published by McFarland, and New York Public Library historian Steve Massa, who wrote: "This is a very exciting discovery as Lloyd Hamilton was a great clown who is sadly neglected today due to the loss of most of his films."Lloyd Hamilton (1891-1935) starred in 246 films, only a few of which remain today. Meanwhile four of the ten films Rappe starred in have been left to posterity. Rappe's film career was cut short due to her untimely death at age thirty in 1921. One of the ongoing tasks of the DFI Film Archive is to identify and register the collections that are donated to the Archive. The older films, the so-called nitrate films, have been registered, but viewing the actual content is a slower and more time-consuming process. It was during one of these viewings that the Archive discovered "His Musical Sneeze". A number of international archivists were called upon to help identify the film.For further information:Article on the website of DFI Film Archive
A Lost Film
DFI Film Archive
Palle Bøgelund Petterson, Film Archivist: +45 3374 3633, +45 5052 9075, palleb@dfi.dk
Jacob Trock, Head of the DFIFilm Archive: +45 3374 3622, jacobt@dfi.dk