THE ORIGINS OF BEETHOVEN’S MOONLIGHT SONATA AFI Preservation

Film preservation also means exhibition to AFI. This extraordinary
program of rare films saved and/or restored by AFI includes the
long lost first OUR GANG movie, the oldest surviving AfricanAmerican
feature, a lost Harold Lloyd comedy and a lost Edison
color film.
The OUR GANG/UTILE RASCALS movie titled OUR GANG ( 1922,
8 min) was discovered by AFI Curator Zoran Sinobad and restored
in a Dutch laboratory. Mary Kornman, Ernie Morrison and Mickey
Daniels star in a story of kids who use animal friends to help a
woman save her store.
WITHIN OUR GATES (1920, 71 min), made by the great AfricanAmerican
director Oscar Michaux, was discovered in Spain and
brought to the U.S. for restoration and retitling by the Library of
Congress. It’s a powerful story about racial relations and has a
controversial lynching scene.
The lost Hal Roach Lonesome Luke comedy PECULIAR PATIENTS
PRANKS (1915, 9 min) stars Harold Lloyd cutting up in’ a hospital.
The Edison color movie THE ORIGINS OF BEETHOVEN’S
MOONLIGHT SONATA (1909, 10 min) stars Charles Williams as
Beethoven in a story about the composer’s source of inspiration.
AFI National Preservation Center Vice Chairman Ken Wlaschin will
introduce the program and provide background on the films and
their discovery.