A film buff’s best friend

Sidney P. Bloomberg believes there is no such thing as a lost movie. And for the last three years, he’s tracked down some of the more obscure titles for movie buffs.

The 83-year-old Bloomberg, a former publicist at 20th Century Fox, doesn’t take much stock in today’s stars. “Actors are just foolish now,” he says. Nor is Bloomberg fond of what most critics believe is the greatest movie ever made. “I think to some degree you can’t even watch ‘Citizen Kane’ now,” Bloomberg states over the phone from his home in San Francisco. And he’s still grousing that Marlene Dietrich didn’t get an Oscar -- let alone a nomination -- for the 1957 classic “Witness for the Prosecution.”

But can Bloomberg really deliver? I decided to put him to the test.

Do you have “Cuban Rebel Girls”?

“Cuban Rebel Girls” is a 1959 grade-Z drama starring Errol Flynn in his last movie with his then 17-year-old girlfriend, Beverly Aadland. This legendary turkey saw very little distribution in America because of its pro-Castro sympathies.

“I have that some place,” Bloomberg says, then pauses and adds: “I think it’s down in Havana.”

What about “Porgy and Bess”?

The 1959 Samuel Goldwyn production of the George Gershwin opera has never been out on video, and only one print of the film is known to survive.

“No, no,” says Bloomberg. “I got my last copy back. Someone ordered it from Brooklyn and sent it back to me and I played it. You can’t watch it -- it hurts your eyes. I don’t sell anything I wouldn’t buy myself. I got to find a new, a better copy.”

Bloomberg did have a copy, however, of an obscure 1931 Gary Cooper-Claudette Colbert movie, “His Woman,” as well as the very rare and very bad 1956 Katharine Hepburn-Bob Hope comedy, “The Iron Petticoat.”

He’s been collecting films for years, and he started selling videos to keep active. “I am one of those people who can’t sit still. I am the only person alive who can tell you the capital of Somalia if you want to know. I have this font of irrelevant information.”

Bloomberg has about 150 of his favorite films on VHS. When a request comes in for a title he doesn’t have ready access to, he goes searching around the world, often from collectors. “I get them from all over. I am at the moment writing for Spanish films to the Latin American Video Archives. I found them on the Internet. If anybody has something I want, I usually trade.”

He says he has also talked with “upwards to 20 lawyers” about copyright infringement and other legal questions dealing with movie titles. “There are certain things I will not sell, like ‘Bolero’ with George Raft and Carole Lombard. There is a suit pending as far as I remember -- two people who are alive claim they did the dancing for Raft and Lombard. That’s patently stupid. George Raft was a fantastic dancer. Carole couldn’t dance.”

Bloomberg says he gets “tons of hits” a week on his Web site -- www.blsinc.com/partners/bloomberg/bloomberg.htm. “I decided to stop sending out order forms because it is 37 cents each time I stick something in an envelope. So we put up my Web site. There’s a wish list and a want list. People just download it and fill it out and mail it in.” Most videos cost $45 to purchase; it’s $50 and up for titles that require an extensive search.

He generally deals only with films from the silent era through the ‘40s “I don’t’ deal with animation,” he says. “I don’t deal with serials. They were falling apart five years after they came out.”

Bloomberg admits he still hasn’t been able to find certain titles. In fact, he has his own wish list. “I would love to find ‘Rose of the Rancho’; ‘My Man,’ with Fanny Brice from 1928; ‘The Great Gatsby’ from 1926.”

Bloomberg recently acquired a copy of the 1929 film “The Letter,” with Jeanne Eagels, who was nominated posthumously for an Oscar for best actress. “She should have won the Oscar,” he says of Eagels. “I think it was the year they gave it to Mary Pickford for ‘Coquette.’ They did it to give United Artists a boost, but the Oscar should have gone to her.”

(Note: Besides the Web site, Bloomberg can be reached at (415) 931-3676. However, you may have to try him several times before you reach him; he doesn’t have an answering machine.)