LYON, France — “It,” the 1927 breakout movie of silent film star Clara Bow, to whom Taylor Swift paid tribute in a song named after her in “The Tortured Poets Department,” leads a deal between French classic film distributor Carlotta Films and U.S. restoration company Artcraft Pictures. Under the terms of the deal, Carlotta will represent its Artcraft’s catalogue across all rights in France, bringing a collection of Hollywood classics from the silent and early sound eras to French theaters and home entertainment. The collaboration is being launched at Lyon’s Lumière Film Festival with a newly restored version of Clarence G.
Badger’s “It” (1927), the romantic comedy that propelled Clara Bow to stardom and established her as Hollywood’s original “It girl.” The film will screen Oct. 17 at Lyon’s Auditorium, accompanied on the organ by Italian musician Gabriele Agrimonti. Bow also inspired Margot Robbie’s character Nellie LaRoy in Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.” Other titles covered by the agreement include Herbert Brenon’s “Beau Geste” (1926), starring Ronald Colman; Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Affairs of Anatol” (1921), starring Gloria Swanson; and William C. deMille’s “Miss Lulu Bett,” adapted from Zona Gale’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
The slate also extends to early sound films, including Lionel Barrymore’s “His Glorious Night” (1929), starring John Gilbert. Artcraft Pictures was founded by two American film preservation specialists: James Mockoski, a longtime archivist and restoration expert who worked with Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope, and Robert A. Harris, whose work with James C.
Katz includes landmark restorations of David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” George Cukor’s “My Fair Lady” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” The company takes its name from the original Artcraft Pictures, a distribution banner established in 1916 that became part of Paramount Pictures and was associated with some of the studio’s biggest silent-era stars, including Mary Pickford. We share a passion for keeping cinema’s roots alive so new fans can enjoy them,” said Mockoski. The restored “Beau Geste” was presented at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this year.
For Carlotta, which has spent close to three decades distributing classic cinema in France, the agreement expands a catalogue that already includes major works of the silent era, from F.W. Murnau’s “Sunrise” and films by Frank Borzage and Erich von Stroheim to G.W. Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box,” starring Louise Brooks.
Carlotta plans to release the films in France theatrically and on Blu-ray, with individual release dates yet to be announced. The Lumière Film Festival runs through Oct. 18.
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