The earliest film made by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock has been discovered in the vaults of the New Zealand Film Archive. As reported by The Telegraph today, three reels of WHITE SHADOW (1923) were found, though another three are still missing. Altough Hitchcock didn’t serve as director on the film, he did write the concept, design sets, edit, and act as assistant director. He was only 24 at the time, and would go on to to reivent cinema as the master of suspense. Classic Hitchcock films include PSYCHO (1960), VERTIGO (1958), and REAR WINDOW (1954). WHITE SHADOW tells the story of twin sisters – both played by Betty Compson – one of whom is good and the other souless.
The surviving film has been attributed to Jack Murtagh, a projectionist and film collector. Following Murtagh’s death, his collection was moved to the national archive on account that early nitrate film is highly flammable. Copies of the film are to be processed and sent to the US, where it will be made available.A copy of John Ford’s UPSTREAM (1027) was also found.
Alfred Hithcock died in 1980 aged 80.
