Last updated 12:53PM ET
May 28, 2012
RIPR News
RIPR News
Film cache discovered
By FLO JONIC (2011-09-16)
PROVIDENCE, RI (RIPR) - The Providence Community Library system has come into the possession of a treasure: a collection of old 16 mm prints of classic Hollywood films dating back to the 1930's. Dave Dvorchak, office manager of the Providence Community Library, went on a search for them after finding a catalog describing the collection. He found it in the basement of a Charlestown library. Assured that the collection would put to good use, the Charlestown library donated it to the Providence network of nine neighborhood libraries.

"My personal favorite is Night of the Living Dead on two 16 mm reels," Dvorchak told Rhode Island Public Radio's Flo Jonic. The original 1968 classic horror film is valued at $300 to $400, he estimates. The collection also includes Gone with the Wind, Murder on the Orient Express, and It's a Wonderful Life as well as several documentaries on Rhode Island. The collection was originally amassed by the defunct Rhode Island Library Film Cooperative which would loan the prints out to member libraries. They became obsolete with the advent of videotape. They've been stored in a basement for the past 20 to 25 years.

Once repaired and restored, the films will be available for public viewing during a regularly scheduled free film series.

"This was a great find for me personally," said Dvorchak, a film buff.

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