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Peter the Great?

Hollyfeld, here. It’s Peter Jackson week at Look Closer... looking at some of the early films of the director of the upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy. The new movies are arguably the most highly anticipated films of the next few years, but when you look at Jackson’s earlier works it is somewhat amazing that a project as monumental as Tolkien’s masterpiece was made his own responsibility. An Oscar nominee (for his Heavenly Creatures screenplay), sure, but Jackson’s only mainstream Hollywood project to date is the moderately unsuccessful Michael J. Fox project The Frighteners. I digress of course (as I usually do), for today’s subject is not The Frighteners. Rather, we focus on one of his least known works, Forgotten Silver.

Although I had enjoyed his other films, I was unaware of the scope of Peter Jackson’s abilities until I caught this little gem of a movie on the cable one night. I had noticed it on the Internet Movie Database a while earlier, and had always intended to seek it out whenever I could. Of course, a week or so after I stayed up obscenely late to catch it on TV it was released on DVD here in the states, so I felt like a total mook. This is the vie, I guess. Anyway...

Forgotten Silver is a documentary dedicated to one of New Zealand’s greatest and (until now) least recognized filmmakers, Colin McKenzie. A brilliant inventor, McKenzie would have revolutionized the early ages of filmmaking had not the cruel fates seemed so dead set against him. Colin McKenzie saw his first film a mere four years after the medium’s invent, and began to make technological advances that, while commonplace now, were far, far ahead of their time. It is only now that we realize this unknown New Zealander may have indeed invented the close-up, the fully automated camera, synchronized sound, and even an early form of color, long before they are traditionally believe to have been created. It is also suspected that he may have directed the very first feature length film, which ran at 84 minutes.


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So why haven’t you heard of Colin McKenzie, you ask? Well, this is a complicated question. You may have heard him mentioned anecdotally in a textbook before the extent of his work had been fully acknowledged, as Leonard Maltin and Harvey Weinstein (who make appearances in the documentary) did. A large part of his anonymity has to do with the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his productions. Perhaps only Orson Welles could ever truly sympathize with the obstacles this great pioneer had to overcome in order to create his visions. Like Welles, he was forced to make more commercial films to support his own films, making Candid Camera-style comedies with forgotten New Zealand comedian Stan The Man. His production of Salome, a 3-4 hour biblical epic, was almost impossible to finance, and the director was forced to give in to outside investors, ranging from the New Zealand Communist Party and the American Mafia.

But the biggest reason no one knows the name of Colin McKenzie is because his films were only discovered in the early 90s, interestingly enough by Peter Jackson himself, who is featured prominently throughout his own documentary along with his co-director Costa Botes. Although his opus, Salome, was finally completed sometime in 1994, there is still some debate as to the authenticity of his work. (I believe the Smithsonian is still examining his films as we speak.) Was he really the greatest technological pioneer of the early period of film? Will all the history books have to be re-written?

In short: No, because Peter Jackson made it all up. (You didn’t really buy all of that, did you?) The greatest conceit of Forgotten Silver is that it takes a common novelty, a false documentary, and never lets the audience in on the joke. Although the film is not without its humors and ironies, Jackson and Botes never tip their hat to the audience and say that none of their findings are real. Like a long, scholarly Andy Kaufman routine, the greatest appreciators of the joke are the ones who told it. Whenever someone catches Forgotten Silver on television and thinks for one second, even one second, that it might be real (and it is VERY convincing if you don’t already know the gag), Peter Jackson and Costa Botes burst into gales of laughter, I promise. Wouldn’t you?

Forgotten Silver is a fine testament to the power of films to influence and entertain. After sitting through the fictional life of Colin McKenzie, it is indeed hard not to shed a tear the final moments of life his as they are "discovered." Peter Jackson and Costa Botes crafted a surprisingly powerful and beautiful film, and although it is not one of Jackson’s most popular works, this element of anonymity only increases the amount of fun to be had with it. Get a copy of Forgotten Silver, pop it in your VCR or DVD player, and just tell your Mom and Dad that "there’s a documentary they just HAVE to see." Watch how long it takes them to figure it out, and insist on its authenticity at every count. It is worth owning for that element of fun alone. Forgotten Silver is available on video and DVD (although the DVD tends to be easier to find). Hollyfeld out.

Next On Look Closer... The Goriest Film Ever Made?

As always, Hollyfeld can be reached at hollyfeld_@hotmail.com

You there! You think you could do this job better than I can? Well, you might be right! Look Closer… is always looking for guest columnists, and you might as well be one of them. Just write a review of reasonable length for a movie that you think is under-rated, over-rated, no one knows, etc., and if it makes the grade we will print it in an edition of this column! Those whose reviews are published will also receive a free piece of (slightly cheesy and really inexpensive) promotional merchandise from a movie, to be sent when their review is published, courtesy of me. Just send any and all reviews to the above address. Thank you for reading and participating in the site!

Lazlo Hollyfeld is the pseudonym of an aspiring writer/actor/director located in Southern California. With one screenplay under his (collaborative) belt and more to come, he is sure to work his way up in the world with the help of his talented and close-knit group of friends, co-workers, and penguins. Yes, you heard me, penguins. A film student since before he can remember, he has devoted much of his life to the study of the silver screen and its related art forms.