Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]Hi George,Here are a few films containing elements of records management, from the last trawl I did. If anyone has any additions, please let me know ([log in to unmask]):1984
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The Orwellian classic -and a prime example of archives been destroyed because of their potential to be corrupting
A Civil Action------------------
A John Travolta film where the records from his case are handed over to the Environmental Protection Agency. I believe they use a forklift to move the records in a warehouse full of such documents.
A Few Good Men-----------------------
The tower chiefs logs for Guantanamo Bay and Andrew Airforce base are used as evidence. These should log a flight that took place at a certain but Colonel Jessup has somehow has them unauthorizedly amended to save him from getting into trouble.
Alien 3----------
The plots centre around the mining companies secret defence contract agenda, which Ripley accesses electronically from the ship's records system. She also accesses the company personnel files.
All the Presidents' Men---------------------------
This film from 1976 stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, as reporters from the Washington Post who discover a link between the Whitehouse and the break-in at the Watergate building, leading to the downfall of Nixon. They investigate the destruction of official records being destroyed without authorisation to cover up the conspiracy. Cringe as Dustin Hoffman goes into a government record office and is brought some volumes by a very nerdy search room assistant. He then tears out the pages he needs as evidence, when the assistant isn't looking.
American Splendour---------------------
A recent and quirky film, where the main character, Harvey Pekar, is a hospital Records Manager and part-time comic script writer. Many of the scenes are set in his *tidy* file room. It won the Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2003; and the Critics Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2003.
Angel
--------
In one of the episodes of Angel (an offshoot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, see below) an evil female lawyer goes to her company's vaults to look up some records and encounters a woman who says 'I am Files and Records; which document do you require?' or words to that effect. It turns out that she is not the person in charge, but she literally IS Files and Records, and can recall/recite anything requested, being some kind of virtual construct or more likely a demonic entity.
Being John Malkovich---------------------------------
This included a records centre with an unusually low ceiling height (cheap rental value), where you could access the brain of JM via a portal hidden behind a filing cabinet. Scene set in LesterCorp offices on floor 7 1/2: see
LESTER - Tell me, Dr. Schwartz, what do you feel you can bring to LesterCorp?CRAIG - Well, sir, I'm an excellent filer.LESTER -You think so, eh? Which comes first, L or... Glooph?CRAIG - Glooph is not a letter, sir.LESTER - Damn, you are good. I tried to trick you.
Black Adder-------------
The records related episodeBladerunner
------------
Are we human because we keep records? Will we have biometric records to prove that we are human?
Blade
-----
An Archivist is fried to death because Blade wants to look at the Archives. And you thought family historians were demanding.
Blue Collar---------------
Paul Shrader's film where factory workers Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Koto and Richard Pryor raid their trade union office for money and find records relating to the unions involvement with the mafia. A great blues sound track follows this film and it is supposed to represent the disenchantment many
Americans felt in Post Nixon America.
Brazil
------
Terry Gillam's surreal movie set in a 'records centre' of the future.
Bruce Almighty----------------
Jim Carey demonstrates just how much you can fit into a filing cabinet. He also has a records problem in managing prayer requests. The prayers have built up and he needs a system to manage them. First he tries stick-it notes, then filing cabinets, and finally opts for an email system on a computer called Yahweh.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer------------------------------------
A gang of vampire hunting teenagers are headquartered in their Local Library and have an archive full of satanic texts to play with.
Carlton Brown of the FO-------------------------
Classic 1950's comedy featuring Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers. The Foreign Office receives a letter from a colony they had completely forgotten about and have to ring down to Archives to retrieve its papers. The Archives/RM unit consists of cobweb encrusted cupboards with mice (located in, you
guessed it, the basement) looked after by an ancient, shuffling records manager/Archivist - how not to keep your semi-current records!
Chinatown
---------------
Jack Nicholson goes to the records office, borrows a ruler from the records clerk, and tears off a property deed while the clerk is not looking.
Class Action-------------
This 1990 movie class features Gene Hackman. The film centres around evidence for a court case against a motor firm. Many scenes in a Record Centre & lots of records being dumped on solicitors to mask "the truth"! It includes a strong document production/litigation theme with tons of Iron
Mountain boxes and the line by an elderly witness who said that he didn't have the document -- to get it you have to go to the mountain -- Iron Mountain!.
Clear and Present Danger------------------------------
Demonstrates the difference between computerized research into records versus paper records and how a destruction schedule is not always respected.
Cold Case-----------
New TV series pulling out old case files and not using "Out Cards"! There's one episode where the killer turns out to be the deranged nerdy archivist who knows everyone's secrets because he has read all their files
Defence of the Realm----------------------Gabriel Byrne trying the old cough-loudly-while-ripping-out-a-record trick when investigating a government cover-up.
Desk Set--------
A classic Spencer Tracy/ Kate Hepburn movie
Die Hard 2-----------
Bruce Willis is looking for the plans for the airport cable raceways to get under the runway and he encounters the "file room" with the drawings in rolls "filed" in garbage cans.
Disclosure
----------
The film version of Michael Crichton's novel in which the electronic records of the computer company (emails, voicemail and videoconference records) in which the action is set are visualised in their experimental virtual reality environment as a series of folders in vertical filing cabinets, the drawers of which are marked with topic labels and open on voice command. When the hero (Michael Douglas) enters the virtual reality space looking for 'files' he watches them physically disappear as the evil hard woman who is trying to destroy his career (Demi Moore) sits at her computer in real time and deletes them. He is able to recover the crucial deleted e-mails and other documents he needs by having
them faxed to him by the recipient in the firm's Asian manufacturing plant. This gives him a hardcopy product and by passes the firm's e-mail system from which he has been maliciously excluded.
Dodge Ball----------------
A brief mention of Freedom of Information
Erin Brokovitch-----------------
Julia Roberts stars as Erin Brokovitch as the heroine of the movie pitched into battle against. Pacific Gas & Electric. The story is littered with references to the use and abuse of records (and very disorganised file rooms).and provides a very useful (negative) illustration of the issues around disclosure and retrieval of relevant records:
1. The water testing board retained all their water testing records in a back of beyond office - despite being retained in a haphazard format (not sure if it would be classed as a relevant filing system, and after an extensive search, key records are found in paper format providing valuable evidence against a corporation's chemical disposal procedures, controls and damage mitigation activity.
2. A worker for the manufacturer recalled being asked to shred a substantial amount of paper records in dubious circumstances and was able to recall the nature of the content and timing of the request to dispose. Again, the nature of the disposal of the records was held against the firm.
3. Documents from the manufacturer to householders residing near the plant confirmed offers to purchase their property for minimum sums and again provided key evidence as 'records of activity' by the manufacturer to enter into damage mitigation activity....and as everyone knows, substantial payouts ensued thanks to the records!
Enemy of the State----------------------------
This film featuring Gene Hackman and Will Smith included the capture of a murder scene on a video used to record bird activity – demonstrating that over the lifecycle of the record, the content may have more value than that of original intent! Stolen identities and lots of Data Protection type issues - a good illustration of how records can be manipulated.
Enigma
-------
Record access issues and secrets abound.
Fahrenheit 451---------------
A bookless society where all books are burned (FH 451 being the temperature at which they catch fire)
Fatherland
-----------
Old Nazi records are key to the story.
Ghostbusters
-------------
The library scene.
Goldeneye
-----------
James Bond runs amok in a Russian filing room and the unsecured shelves and their contents go flying in particularly spectacular fashion. A major gunfight trashes the place - not something that figures in many people's disaster plan! cf. Case files associated with all other movies.
Glengarry Glen Ross----------------------
Having your records stolen by a member of your own workforce is quite a trying experience. The acting by Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin is a masterclass. You also get the atmosphere of a high tension office at work or ordinary people under extraordinary pressure.
Hannibal
---------
Patients files have been dumped in a filing cabinet in the old, abandoned hospital, providing Barney with an opportunity to sell Hannibal Lecter's medical files on the internet.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy---------------------------------
Always a good idea to check with planning. Is there an intergalactic EIR system?
Hopscotch
-------------
Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson. Walter = a retiring CIA/FBI (one of them) agent who successfully manages to shred his file while the records manager distracted with talk of baseball. No formal tracking of files going out there either!
In the Name of the Father----------------------------
A records clerk inadvertently gives the barrister (Emma Thomson) the wrong file, the one that reveals the suppression of evidence that resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade------------------------------------
Who had the notebook? Did they check it out? Or update the location??
Insider
----------
In Michael Mann's excellent where Russell Crowe walks out of his office with confidential information relating to the addictiveness of cigarettes. This story is loosely based on real events, but the film again shows ordinary people working under extraordinary circumstances. The fax machine plays a vital role in this film as does email and the tension generated around waiting for information to come through is palpable. I also liked Michael Gambons gold desk pen set.
Jurassic Park-------------
A library of Dinosaur DNA classified by type.
LA Confidential----------------
Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce destroy a records store by fighting after one of them has accessed some of the records. Guy Pearce also manages to find lots of information from files languishing in the basement.
Messiah 2----------
TV drama in which past miscarriages of justice were 'corrected' by the murder of the actual killer along with the policeman who got the wrong man. In the end it turns out the Police Records Manager did it.
It’s amazing what working in a basement does to you after a while!
Minority Report----------------
In a RM system of the future, criminals are decommissioned, stored in suspended animation chambers (in itself, a form of RM) and listed on the computer along with all their memories and history and offence etc.
Memento
----------
Guy Pierce keeps the record of his life on his own body
Midsomer Murders--------------------
An episode where the 'archivist' (ie someone who keeps a load of records in their house!) is murdering bellringers because they put her ancestor in a well! Warning of the dangers of genealogy there...
Mr Bean---------
The Library episode where he tears pages out of an archive/old book
Napoleon
----------
Kevin Brownlows restoration of this silent film classic has a scene where the dramatic destruction of the state records is symbolic of the fall of the old regime. One of the scenes is set in a vast records centre, where staff are pulled up and down on rope pulleys to find or return records; the focus is on one
worker who surreptitiously ate the records of aristocrats so that the revolutionaries would not identify and execute them.
National Treasure-----------------
A recent addition to the collection, features Nicholas Cage trying to steal the Declaration of Independence from The National Archives of the U.S.A, which incidentally is kept behind a laser guided security system (and if it gets too warm it drops swiftly down through the floor straight into the
conservation area). Cage steals the document, bullets go whistling around the conservation lab,
he kidnaps the Head Archivist (who looks about 28 and wears a ballgown), rolls up the delclaration in a tube, bangs it about on tables, throwing it around, squeezes lemon juice all over it and rubs it with a cotton bud to see if there is a hidden message - and the most the Head Archivist does is to say "no if
anyone's going to squeeze lemon juice on it, it should be me because I'm a professional!".
Guaranteed to make any Archivist apoplectic within seconds.
Office Space-------------
One of the minor characters is a records clerk responsible for collation and distribution of reports. During a reorganization, consultants discover that he was actually laid off, never told, and continued to be paid for 3 years. Rather than inform the poor records clerk that he has been sacked, the consultants just remove him from the payroll. To add insult to injury, the records clerk's office is moved 3 times finally resulting in him being relocated to the basement with no lights & a can of bug spray to control the roaches.
One Foot in the Grave-----------------------
Classic British TV sitcom - Pippa sends Mr Meldrew a copy of Patrick's "Diary", instead of a copy of the letter to the "Dairy", revealing unfortunate confidential information and demonstrating the need for accurate data entry and security checks. In another episode, Victor fills out an order form incorrectly and ends up with 263 garden gnomes!
Passport to Pimlico-------------------
A deed (which has been misfiled and lost!) proves that Pimlico belongs to the Duke of Burgundy rather than to the British Crown.
Possession
-----------
The film version of A S Byatt's book has lots of archivally-centred action, with a researcher discovering a key document in a book at the London Library, which he then lifts, leading to a quest for a hoard of previously undiscovered letters in an attic of a random castle with some rather eccentric owners. Definitely worth watching, if only to cry, 'But that would never happen!'. Gwyneth Paltrow adds a touch of glamour too.
Presumed Innocent-------------------
Harrison Ford plays an attorney accused of murdering a colleague and is seen packing files into an Iron Mountain box!
Raiders of the Lost Ark-----------------------------------
The closing sequence demonstrating exactly how to hide valuable items in a warehouse.
Sahara
-------
Penelope Cruz uses events to find dates (not the other way around) - innovative use of metadata
Serendipity
------------
John Cusack traces Kate Beckinsale using the credit card records of a department store.
Shoah (http://imdb.com/title/tt0090015/)--------
Contains a scene where a page showing a week's schedule for a train represented about 10,000 (if I remember the number correctly) lives as it was a goods train going from "A", fully laden, to Auschwitz then going on to "B" empty and so on for a week. The page was discovered in either the East German or the USSR archives.
Spy Game------------
Robert Redford uses information systems, maps, press leaks, knowledge of records management, and amazing chutzpah to save Brad Pitt.
Star Wars-----------
Darth Vader goes to extraordinary lengths (including the vaporisation of Princess Leia's home planet), to retrieve the commercially sensitive and copyrighted plans for the Death Star.
Star Wars Episode II - The Attack of the Clones-------------------------------------------------
Obi Wan takes Luke Skywalker to try to find records of alien nations which have already been making clones. The lady archivist has sleek silver hair swept up into a bun and glasses on the end of her nose and is very wise and serene!
Obi Wan Kenobi looks at the Jedi Archives for a star system (Kamino) with no success and Madame Jocasta Nu, Jedi Archivist foolishly states "One thing you may be absolutely sure of: if an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist." We all know that no records system is perfect! All
the files were glowing electronic thing's on shelves going miles high up into the ceiling. There was some minor controversy about it being based on a famous Library in Ireland.
Does the Star Wars ref perhaps indicate a finding aid problem or worse still an inadequate EDRM System? Worse still, the 'item' in question is actually evidence of a whole planet, not just a boring old title deed. We probably wouldn't say it didn't exist, but might suggest it was 'in conservation.' (only kidding – no correspondence please).
Stargate (the movie); Stargate-SG1 (TV series); and Stargate Atlantis (TV series)----------------------------------------------------------------------------Just marvel at the record keeping practices of 'The Ancients'. If only!The Anderson Tapes-----------------------------
Sean Connery in a film about a robbery that is being filmed and recorded by FBI and persons unknown. At the end an unknown person erases all of the tapes. So you are left to wonder what an earth the film was all about. Great shots of old 70's tape machines and an early cameo from a certain Christopher Walken.
The Bad Girl (Die schreckliche Frau)-------------------------------------
Women doing research in local archives on Nazi era in her community.
The Boys from Brazil (1978)-----------------------------
After an exciting series of adventures, the famous Nazi hunter, Jacov Liebermann, tracks down Dr Jospeh Mengele who has a fiendish plan to create a number of Adolf Hitler clones. Lieberman is seen consulting his records in his office.
The Client----------
The John Grisham movie with Susan Sarandon, who accesses her personal Records.
The Lives of Others--------------------
Record-keeping being a staple of an effective fascist regime.
The Spy who came in from the Cold (1966); The Little Drummer Girl (1984); The Deadly Affair (1967)--------------------------------------
John Le Carré's novels tend to include mention of a traditional file registry, complete with obligatory middle-aged female dragon registry keeper.
The Fellowship of the Ring------------------------------------------------
Gandalf goes to search some old documents in the Minas Tirith archives, where he sits in a gloomy, dank room surrounded by piles of dust and thousands of lit candles. This is a good clip for a training video ("spot the mistakes...") where just about everything that can be done wrong in an archive, happens...
- He is led there by a servant who carries a burning brand- He is left alone in a strongroom without supervision- He is allowed to smoke (a lot)- He is provided with a big cup of water that he slurps while poring over documents- Documents are stored in piles all over the place, no boxes in sight- He is allowed as many documents as he wants at the same time- Archives are covered in dust and cobwebs, that produce great clouds when he blows on them- And of course...the archives are at the bottom of a winding stair, in some dungeon!
The vital document is in there somewhere, and he eventually finds it. Without the information contained within it the good guys would have lost and it would have been the end of the world etc...very valuable archives then, strange how they were not being cared for properly! .
The Firm---------
Tom Cruise gets the bad guy through his billing records. Lots of lovely photocopying of documents in the Caribbean that nails the baddies for money laundering (cf. any film about Al Capone of course...)
The Ipcress File----------------
Michael Caine tracking down a missing scientist plus his file. Proper file keeping in this film with lots of grey metal filing cabinets regularly attended to by a chain smoking secretary. Lots of good hot tea, and classic views of London with no congestion charging and plenty of parking spaces around the Royal Albert Hall.
The Odessa File (1974)------------------------
Peter Miller (Voight) is a freelance reporter on the trail of former SS Officer Roschmann (Maximillian Schell). Aided by Israeli activists, Miller comes up against the shadowy Odessa organisation, a government-approved body providing protection and funding for some of the Nazi Party's highest-ranking survivors. He searches for and finds a file listing Odessa members in a remote office.
The Package-------------------
Major Sergeant Gene Hackman has to visit his ex-wife Col. Joanna Cassidy who is in charge of military personal records to track down the military files on Tommy Lee Jones whom is he chasing. The records management section is very clean and efficient.
The Matrix (1, 2, and 3)-------------------------
Carrying information and records management issues to the nth degree.
The Rainmaker---------------
Aside from the 'Stupid, Stupid, Stupid' letter, there is the missing annex from the claim handling file that requires the denying of all insurance claims
The Pelican Brief--------------------------
Considers what one can do with a little bit of research on Lexis Nexis (TM) and illustrates the dangers of allowing documents to fall into the hands of public officials
The Ring--------
Noah Clay gains access to a living person's medical files through deception
The Name of the Rose----------------------
The library is arranged in such a way as to make it near impossible (unless you're the librarian) to get into, find your way around or any books or information that you might want, and then get out of it. The book's description of the library is somewhat better than that in the film that was made of the book, but even so, the film makes clear what a labyrinth it was. A classic demonstration of the power of information control.
Three Days of the Condor---------------------------
Shows how the mosaic effect, in gathering information, can have dangerous consequences.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-----------------------------------
Even though it is not a film, the television mini-series of John Le Carre's has some tense scenes where someone goes into the archives to remove an important dossier.
X-Files-------
Many examples of case files. Also, the episode where the Smoking Man is placing the implants in tubes in the little sectioned plastic container in the unlabeled shelf box in the unlabeled room in the Pentagon.
Yes Minister (and Yes Prime Minister)---------------------------------------
Various mentions in this classic British sitcom, for example: The Skeleton in the Cupboard: The 30-year-rule is about to reveal the name of the young Civil Servant who made a complete mess of a defence contract. For some reason Sir Humphrey seems nervous.
The Death List: In this episode, the Minister rejects a petition opposed to phone tapping that he himself had started while in opposition. He tells Bernard that it must never been seen again, so Bernard suggests that instead of destroying it, they file it.Best Wishes,PaulFrom: George Brierley <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, 20 June 2014, 16:09
Subject: Film suggestions for MA dissertation
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]Hello everyone, &am p;nb sp; My name is George Brierley, and I am a postgraduate student at University College London about to complete my MA in Archives and Records Management (I finish in September 2014).I am currently in the middle of conducting the research for my MA dissertation. The topic of my dissertation is representations of archives and archivists in feature film. Using past research as well as The Internet Movie Database and the website The Fictional World of Archives, Art Galleries and Museums I have managed, so far, to compile a comprehensive list of roughly 100 film titles that contain representations of archives and archivists.
However, I am interested in whether anybody knows off hand of any films that I could perhaps add to the list. I am focusing on fictional feature-length films released from 1964 to 2014 that have had theatrical releases (I am aiming to reduce my list to about 15 films for my study). No television episodes, made-for-television films, television/film documentaries or short films please. I would be very interested in hearing people’s responses to this.Thank you and best wishes,George BrierleyFor information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nraFor information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra