Box of old movies recovered from Eaton’s store in 1940s contains ‘lost’ film
TORONTO — As a kid in Winnipeg, Richard Scott used to huddle in the basement with his family and watch 1920s-era silent films projected onto a bedsheet hung up with clothespins.
His dad, who worked at Eaton’s, acquired the 16-millimetre films when the local department store discontinued its rental service and got rid of its stock in the late 1940s.
“We had piles of these movie tins,” Scott recalled. “In total there were 15 feature movies, but none of them were the big-name actors of the time. They weren’t Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.”
Still, one of them has turned out to be a gem.