Hi George
Your list of films is very interesting. I don't know if you're wanting to restrict your list to live-action films but there are some animated films that might be of interest:
The Rescuers (1977)- the plot hinges on the Rescue Aid Society finding the rescue note written by Penny and placed in a bottle
The Little Mermaid (1989)- By ensuring the careful (magical!) preservation of her contract with Ariel, Ursula becomes Queen of the ocean (for a little while at least)
Toy Story 2 (1999)- the collection of materials on Woody's Round-up contains a number of documents
Fantasia 2000 (1999)- as well as featuring cleaned up archival footage of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, there's also a section where they showcase drawings from the Walt Disney Archive of sequences that were designed for the original Fantasia but not animated
Atlantis The Lost Empire (2001)- Milo, the lead character, discovers a document during historical research that show's the location of Atlantis
The Incredibles (2004)- Mr Incredible hacks into the computer of Syndrome and discovers the records he has collected on super heroes
Wall-E (2008)- Wall-E collects a number of items from earth's past, including a historic recording of 'Hello Dolly'
Up (2009)- The film begins with archival film footage, and a big feature of the plot is Ellie's (the main character's wife) Adventure book she started as a child and then filled in later in her life.
Wreck-It-Ralph (2012)- illustrating the importance of electronic records management and protecting electronic files from viruses, otherwise a lot of computer game characters end up homeless or go rogue in other computer games (!)
OK, some of these are slightly tongue in cheek but they do show how documents are often important plot hooks even in animated films.
In a non-animated vein, Saving Mr Banks (2013) doesn't feature archival documents in the main film but was essentially made due to Disney themselves keeping good archives, the end credits also features photographs from Disney's archives of the premiere of 'Mary Poppins', and also a recording from their archives of PL Travers at an early session with the script writer and composers of 'Mary Poppins.
I hope that helps, good luck with your research.
With regards
Katie
Katie Giles
Archivist
Kingston University
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 13:55:35 +0100
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: My list of films so far...
To: [log in to unmask]
Hi George,
Hope all the silliness on here hasn’t been too distracting from your dissertation. I’m also working on my MA dissertation at the moment, so can sympathise with how baffling the response your question got must have been. Anyway, not sure if this one came up in the various film suggestions, but I’m pretty sure the opening quarter of the recent Star Trek Into Darkness featured an archive at the centre of a terrorist plot by Benedict Cumberbatch’s character.
Hope the dissertation goes well. As my first degree was in Media Production, I have to say that your topic sounds brilliant!
Wow, didn't expect so many responses so quickly. Thank you everybody!! Paul's suggestions were particularly excellent :)
I have included my current list of films below.
Initial Filmography
- A Very Long Engagement (2004)
- The Baron of Arizona (1950)
- Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
- Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- The Bone Collector (1999)
- Call Northside 777 (1948)
- Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959)
- Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
- The Company You Keep (2012)
- 8mm [Eight Millimeter] (1999)
- The Five Deadly Vices (1933)
- I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
- In the Name of the Father (1993)
- The Indiana Jones films (1981, 1984, 1989, 2008)
- Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (Doppelganger) (1969)
- The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (2005)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
- Message in a Bottle (1999)
- Midnight at Madame Tussauds/Midnight at the Wax Museum (1936)
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
- My Fellow Americans (1996)
- Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
- The Name of the Rose (1986)
- The Nasty Girl/Das Schreckliche Maedchen (1990)
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
- Night at the Museum (2006)
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
- Nightmare in Wax/Crimes in the Wax Museum (1969)
- Nineteen-Eighty Four (1956, 1984)
- Oranges and Sunshine (2010)
- Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997)
- Star Wars II: Episode of the Clones (2002)
- Terror in the Wax Museum (1973)
- The Thomas Crown Affair (1968, 1999)
- Waiting for Guffman (1996)
- The Watermelon Woman (1996)
- The World Is Not Enough (1999)
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