The George Eastman Museum offers a glimpse into its film collection

The museum is providing free digital access to a selection of preserved films

The George Eastman Museum recently launched an online project that provides access to a selection of digitized films from its moving image collection.

To date, the museum has released 23 digitized films, including groundbreaking documentaries by Leo Hurwitz, a group of 13 rare screen tests from the David O. Selznick Collection, and a Rochester-based film about Eastman Kodak Company.

Most of the digitized films are accompanied by an introduction. Free access is available at eastman.org/digitizedfilms.

“As a museum, our goal is not only to provide access to our collections but also to exhibit works of art in their original formats. Yet, as a result of pervasive isolation, online resources have become particularly valuable and appreciated,” said Peter Bagrov, Ph.D., curator in charge, Moving Image Department of Eastman Museum. “We know that viewing these films on a computer or handheld device is not the way they were intended to be seen, but for now, in an effort to provide some special cinematic experiences during this pandemic, we hope that you all enjoy the shows!”

The museum’s Leo Hurwitz collection comprises 35 film titles, as well as 61 cubic feet of corresponding documentation, covering the sixty-year career of one of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the twentieth century. Emergency Ward (US 1952), The Young Fighter (US 1953), Dancing James Berry (1958). and Here at the Water’s Edge (1962) were preserved with funding from the National Endowment of the Arts and Rohauer Collection Foundation and are the first of Hurwitz’s films the Eastman Museum is making available to view online.

The Eastman Museum owns more than 300 screen tests for motion pictures made by producer and studio executive David O. Selznick. Among the online digitized films are some of Selznick’s screen tests, featuring a host of Hollywood stars as well as some unfamiliar faces, from his preparations for The Young in Heart (1938) and Gone with the Wind (1939). Technicolor tests of Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel, and other stars of Gone with the Wind were filmed to try out different hairstyles, makeup, and other costumes. Screen tests of Susan Hayward and Margaret Tallichet and of Georgette Harvey provide a unique opportunity to peek into an alternative history of cinema, to witness some of the “what ifs.” Two of the most remarkable items in the collection feature American theatre legends Maude Adams and Laurette Taylor, who were both tested for the same role in The Young in Heart. These tests remain the only record of their acting in sound films.

The digitized films online project is generously sponsored by Nocon & Associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services Inc.