Universal Studios is taking stock in the wake of the severe fire that raged on its lots; millions in damages, a number of famous sets critically damaged, and thousands of films destroyed. The silver lining may be that those films had duplicates stored elsewhere, and little or nothing should be lost permanently.
But it does appear that there will be short-term and long-term repercussions. Discussing the short-term, Chicago Tribune writer Mark Caro notes that the destroyed stock of films was the primary source of reels for throwback screenings of classic Universal films around the country, and no one knows how long it will take to replace the lost movies. It’s troubling to think a film like Vertigo, so richly rewarding both for its psychological and cinematic implications, might not reach as many viewers because of a misused blowtorch. The 70 mm Vertigo itself was fortunately spared, but many others clearly weren’t so lucky.
The long-term repercussions will require Universal to spend insurance returns to the tune $2,500 to $6,000 per film to replace the expensive film prints. It’s easy to wonder if Universal (and other studios facing similar archival questions, disaster-related or otherwise) will follow through on such artistic obligations when modern popular cinema has so little regard for its own history. Entertainment Weekly writer John Young noted the weird mood at the MTV movie awards, which took place literally “a couple hundred yards away” while the fire was still burning, but failed to mention the tragedy even once. Weirdly, as movie pop culture becomes ever more self-referential (best exemplified by awards shows themselves) the range of references becomes ever narrower and more recent, with little time for those archived classics.
All of this would be easier to understand if it was a rarer occurrence. The safety of studio staff, the film reels and sets, and the studio lot itself (perhaps one of the most precious and iconic parts of Hollywood’s image) need to be better protected against these preventable risks.
Tags: Film Preservation, Fire, John Young, Mark Caro, MTV Movie Awards, Universal Studios, Vertigo
