Adventures of a Film Library

Collecting and circulating important films of the past is not as dusty an occupation as it sounds. Even the mechanical acts of collecting and preserving film involve the human factors: people feel strongly about works that they themselves have created, criticized, or merely seen, and the collection of films both in this country and in Europe has been fraught with emotional, financial, and political complications, while the number of illustrious personalities who have in one way or another become involved in the Museum of Modern Art Film Library's work is evidence of the ability of even the most ancient fragments of celluloid to retain a contemporary as well as an archaeological interest. — Circulation of the Film Library's motion picture programs has proved illuminating in its revelation of the attitude taken toward the film medium by all varieties of persons. The purpose has been to provide students with the opportunity to form a critical attitude by examining important films at first hand. There has gradually grown up a new appreciation which has learned not only to marvel at the rapid development of this new medium but also to discern its enormous and largely untapped potentialities.

Print ISSN

0097-5834

Published

1942-03

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J09921