Forgotten Silver (1995) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

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:

New Zealand | Mockumentary | Mock Documentary | Spanish Civil War | Photograph

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 | USA:70 min (DVD)

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 photographs showing Colin and Brooke McKenzie as children are actual vintage photographs from the 1800s. They depict the grandfather and great uncle of the wife of co-director Costa Botes.

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:

Features The Suburbanite (1904)

A loving and comic tribute to the Silent Screen

Peter Jackson has a big heart, I think. Even for all the gore and grossness of his films (i.e.; Dead Alive aka Braindead) he always has a very heartfelt moment of sentiment. In this film, it's the loving way McKenzie is treated and the seriousness of his death scene, captured on film. While much of the film has very tongue in cheek chuckles, this part is played very seriously.

Also, as someone who works every day with "forgotten silver", I admire his treatment of the whole subject. For, while McKenzie and his films may be bogus, the plight of old movies is not. I'm amazed at how much footage shows up in attics and basements and garden sheds every year. In just the eight months so far of 1999, we have received at least 30 "new" films; rare and unique items all. And we have films done by people very much like Colin McKenzie. Private, personal projects, most of which never saw the light of day or vanished quickly after their initial release. So much "forgotten silver."