Rescuing the first century of American cinema, frame by frame.
Biograph's pictures survived two world wars, a studio collapse and a hundred years of nitrate decay. The Restoration Lab is where that backlog is brought back — and where the audience that grew up without it gets a way to own a piece of it.
The Process · Five Stages
Inspection
Every reel arrives at the lab in a climate-controlled case. Splices, perforations and shrinkage are logged frame by frame before anything touches a scanner.
Wet-gate 4K scan
A solvent bath fills surface scratches as the film passes the gate, so the optics read the image, not the wear. Each frame is captured at 4K, 16-bit log.
Digital restoration
Dust, tears, mould and chemical decay are removed by a combination of model-assisted tools and human eyes. Nothing is invented; missing frames are noted, not painted in.
Grade & sound
Tints are matched to surviving release prints. New scores are recorded with period instrumentation, or original cue sheets are honoured where they survive.
Release
Each restoration premieres on Planet Legends, with a fractional offering at $25 minimum so the audience that watches the film can also own a share of it.
On the Bench · Active Slate
Updated quarterlyThe Musketeers of Pig Alley
4K wet-gate scan from a surviving 35mm nitrate print. Hand-graded to match the original tinted release.
A Corner in Wheat
Stabilized, dust-busted and re-scored. Restored intertitles reset from Griffith's original continuity.
The Lonely Villa
Two incomplete prints being conformed into a single edition; cross-cut sequence reassembled shot for shot.
The Unseen Enemy
Gish-sisters debut. Color decay reversed in the night exteriors; dialogue cards retypeset from period sources.
Judith of Bethulia
Biograph's first feature. Negotiating elements from three archives for a definitive 4-reel reconstruction.
Those Awful Hats
Two-minute comic short. Scheduled for inclusion in the first Biograph shorts collection on Planet Legends.
How Restoration Gets Paid For
Each restoration is offered as a fractional title on Planet Legends — minimum stake $25. The audience that watches the film helps fund the next one, and shares in the revenue it earns.
"A film that nobody can see is a film that doesn't exist. The lab's job is to make sure Biograph's first century exists in the second one."