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Update from Film Library -- HSM
20th Fox Responds To Outpour Of Anger: "We Are Passionate About Film History"
Do read the furious but also informative comments from Hollywood folks who say that, contrary to 20th Century Fox's claims, the studio's film research library was and is constantly in use by both Fox lot personnel and outsiders. I hear Clint Eastwood is unhappy, too, because research for his Flags Of Our Fathers was done there. Also, the comments have some very interesting background info about the history of studio film research libraries in general. See my, What A Damn Shame. Meanwhile, everyone should know that the Warner Bros Research Library is alive and well and open, and I'm told by co-manager Steven Bingen that the studio's "management here, in all honestly, has always been very supportive of what we do. I wish my friends at Fox could be so lucky."
UPDATE: Fox gave me this statement tonight: "Contrary to implications, we are passionate about film history and about our fox history in particular. That's why we maintain one of the best and most costly photo archive departments in the business and keep comprehensive prop, art and film item archives from our films. It's why we organized the benefit for the motion picture home a couple years ago with Swann curating even our old contracts. That, however, is not what the research library is. Rather, it contains a number of general reference, broad interest books and periodicals, like a public library. That collection will be donated to a proper, curated library at a university or a guild, etc., where the public will have even greater access than they do now. The material will be taken care of in a first-class manner. As to the nostalgia that people feel for the days when studios were in many such non-movie specific businesses, we share it, too, and wish the world were still that way, but it's a muddling of points to lump this change into laments about lost film history, as it's not what it is."
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