A classic silent film rises from the grave

“Sorrell and Son” was a hit film in 1927, and its writer-director, Herbert Brenon, received an Academy Award nomination for best director. The drama featured lush camerawork by an up-and-coming cinematographer named James Wong Howe, and William Cameron Menzies designed its lavish sets.

At the center of the story is film veteran H.B. Warner, who stars as a noble, impoverished father who maintains a loving relationship with his son (Nils Asther) when his wife (Anna Q. Nilsson) abandons them.

Despite its success, “Sorrell and Son” hasn’t been screened publicly for 60 years; for much of the past two decades it had been considered lost because no copies of the film could be located. A few years back, though, the academy’s film archive discovered a print in its holdings. The restored version of the film will launch the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ new screening series, aptly titled “Lost and Found,” Thursday at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

Archive director Michael Pogorzelski explains that for years the print was mislabeled as the 1934 sound version. “We have switched databases so many times,” he says, explaining the possible cause of the confusion.

The print had been in the collection of the independent producer Lester Cowan, whose materials were donated to the academy’s Margaret Herrick Library after his death in the early ‘90s. The archive staff decided to double-check the print when the academy was preparing a film series to celebrate the organization’s 75th anniversary, and “as it turned out, it was the silent one,” says Pogorzelski. “There was a controlled jump for joy.”

Unfortunately, the print had two major flaws. It had been made with a high level of contrast, “so people’s faces were so blown out you couldn’t even see the detail on someone’s cheek -- it was little more than two dots in a white, expansive face.”

The copy, Pogorzelski believes, “had been made on the cheap and on the fly.”

The speculation was that Cowan and his brother might have been considering a remake themselves, which may be why the print was struck and held in his personal collection for so many years.

To make matters worse, the film’s highly moving ending was missing.

“Original reviews pointed out that it had one of the most amazingly moving endings ever set to film. We re-created the ending through stills and just used the shooting script as a guide. We have an epilogue [on the print] saying, ‘If you know the whereabouts of anything else on the film, please contact the academy film archive.’ Hopefully there is a print out there of the missing footage.”

To adjust the film itself, “we did as many tricks as we could in the photo chemical realm to lower the contrast and keep it minimized. But there are still some shots that are beyond salvation.”

Nothing could be done digitally. “Digital restoration techniques are good at removing things that have been added to the picture, like dust and dirt and tears,” says Pogorzelski. “But in this case there is nothing there to work with. The picture information isn’t there.”

Programmer Randy Haberkamp hopes to schedule three or four “Lost and Found” evenings per year. “It is an opportunity for us as an archive to share what archives around the world are doing,” he says.

“At the same time, these are projects that for one reason or another require a little bit of sensitivity in handling that a normal theatrical venue couldn’t necessarily provide. You need to present [these films] in an educated environment so people know what they are seeing. Some places won’t show things like [‘Sorrell and Son’] -- things that are problematic.

“I think that is kind of eliminating film history. Obviously, not every film is terrific and needs to be remembered, but on the other hand, this was nominated for an Oscar, so let’s take a look at it. Why was this an interesting film to academy voters way back when? This is your chance to find out.”

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‘Sorrell and Son’

Where: Linwood Dunn Theater, 1313 N. Vine St., Hollywood

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Price: $3 to $5

Contact: (310) 247-3600

or www.oscars.org