This educational and highly informative film about the production of motion picture film stock and the impact of movies on a global audience was shot at Kodak Park, the headquarters of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. The film begins with a gathering of animated multi-national characters attending the “International Convention of Movie Fans”. In order to keep everyone’s attention they agree to “…say it with movies”. The animated curtains part, and we are transported to the center of the motion picture industry – Kodak Park – where 147,000 miles of motion-picture film were produced in 1921, enough to circle the globe. A Movie Trip Through Filmland takes the viewer through every step of the film manufacturing process, and recounts some amazing statistics: 4,000,000 pounds of raw cotton are consumed to make the nitrocellulose “dope” that becomes the film base; three tons of pure silver bullion are dissolved every week to create the silver salts for the emulsion; 12,000,000 gallons of water are used to wash the film. This is a rare glimpse into an industry and manufacturing process that today is rapidly being overtaken by new digital technologies. Much of the manufacturing process you see in A Movie Trip Through Filmland is already gone. Kodak significantly reduced its production of still-image film products in 2004 as a response to the increasing demand for digital imaging. The laboratory in Building 69 where the restoration of this film was carried out has since been closed.

George Eastman House collaborated with the Eastman Kodak laboratory in Rochester to restore A Movie Trip Through Filmland. Special thanks to Mike Champlin, Jim Hart, and the technicians at the Kodak laboratory for their assistance on this project. This restoration was derived from two 35mm diacetate prints in the GEH collection, each with color, but with different tinting schemes and of varying lengths.

Caroline Yeager, George Eastman House