Forgotten Silver (1995) (TV)

Directors:

Costa Botes
Peter Jackson

Writers:

Costa Botes (written by) &
Peter Jackson (written by)

Release Date:

3 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Forgotten Silver is a mockumentary which details the prodigious life of "lost" filmmaker Colin McKenzie...

Plot Keywords:

Director | New Zealand | Photograph | Interview | Spanish Civil War

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Peter Jackson	...	Himself
Johnny Morris	...	Himself - Film Archivist (also as Jonathon Morris)
Costa Botes	...	Himself - Film Maker
Harvey Weinstein	...	Himself - Miramax Films
Leonard Maltin	...	Himself - Film Historian
Sam Neill	...	Himself - Actor / Director
Marguerite Hurst
John O'Shea
Lindsay Shelton	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beatrice Ashton	...	Hannah McKenzie
Peter Corrigan	...	Stan the Man
Sarah McLeod	...	May Belle (research assistant)
Thomas Robins	...	Colin McKenzie
Jeffrey Thomas	...	Narrator
Davina Whitehouse	...	Herself

Runtime:

53 min

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

Finland:K-7 | France:U | Iceland:Unrated | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

New Zealand

Company:

New Zealand Film Commission

Trivia:

The television network that first broadcast the film received mountains of angry and even threatening mail. Some of these letters are reenacted with voice overs in Behind the Bull: Forgotten Silver (2000) (V).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film implies that Colin invented the close-up around 1912, but the earliest close-ups date from around 1903, nine years earlier.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Very, very good.

This hour-long documentary details the amazing work of the nearly unknown Colin McKenzie, the first man to film movies with sound or in color. He documented the first man to ever fly (before the Wright Brothers, even!) and filmed a biblical epic on a massive set he built single handedly in the mountainous forests of New Zealand. So why haven't you heard of him? It might be because most people are biased against New Zealand film-makers, or it could be because this movie is entirely fictitious.

The very real, very brilliant director Peter Jackson fashioned this very funny and touching film for New Zealand television, and it's worth checking out for many reasons. First of all, it's technically amazing- the vintage film scenes are very convincing and well thought out. Second of all, the movie is very funny, including the hilarious antics of Stan the Man, a mean spirited prankster who is kind of like Tom Green, only much less annoying because he's silent. Finally, this movie has real heart, and gets you to care about the eccentric MacKenzie. As a bonus, this movie also features (an was co-conceived by) the guy from "Bad Taste" who threw the pine cone at Derik.

This movie is kind of hard to find, but well worth hunting down, especially if you are a fan of Jackson's work (and everyone should be).