BFI 75 Most Wanted
The BFI 75 Most Wanted list is a compilation of the 75 most wanted films by the British Film Institute . The name is borrowed from American usage and comes from the list with the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives .
The BFI 75 Most Wanted are films that are considered culturally and historically valuable in terms of style, technology, subject matter or innovation, but are now lost. The works involved are very diverse: from quota films (the so-called quota quickies ) from the period after 1927 to typical B-films to complex productions that were technically and artistically up to date.
Quota films were those films that had to be produced under the Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 in order to meet the minimum quota for British films in theaters. The films had to have been shot by a British company in a studio within the British Empire , the story writer or screenwriter had to be British and 75% of those employed in the production had to be British citizens. The quota was set at 7.5% in 1927 and increased to 20% by 1935. The resulting films were called quota quickies . As a rule, they were not popular with the public, nor were they artistically valuable; Nevertheless, some of these films can also be found on the BFI 75 Most Wanted list as typical representatives of their genre.
The earliest films on the list are from 1913, the most recent from 1983. The 1930s is the highest-entry decade (24), followed by the 1920s with 16 and the 1940s with 14. The most-represented director on the list is Maurice Elvey with four films. The best-known director on the list today is Alfred Hitchcock , whose silent film Der Bergadler , made in 1926, was unsuccessful at the time and is now lost, but is urgently wanted and described by some film historians as "the Holy Grail" because it shows Hitchcock's early work.
The problem is that until around 1950 only celluloid film that is not age-resistant was used. It is believed that celluloid film can only last about 40 years at room temperature and normal humidity before it begins to decompose. A film that was produced before the Second World War and has not been copied to this day would therefore possibly no longer be usable even if the original material were found.
In 2012 the BFI announced that some of the films have since been found and can therefore be removed from the list.