More here --
http://variety.com/2013/film/news/keatons-lost-blacksmith-forges-new-path-in-lyon-1200736454/Well, whether work print or final cut, it is a fascinating find, admittedly much more so than I anticipated!
So is, not unexpectedly of course, TOO MUCH JOHNSON. Now this is, obviously, a work print full of alternate takes, rushes basically, so it much needed and benefited from the live commentary (eloquently presented, in Pordenone, by Paolo Cherchi Usai) with the historical background, location info and tribute to this film's preservation history and the field in general. And if someone would ever try to make a 'conjectural' final cut, say, the way Munich Filmmuseum's Stefan Droessler beautifully did with material from that archive's Welles collection, it would still be confusing, missing the references to the stage play. So presenting it as found (and beautifully, photo-chemically-only, preserved, no digital intervention at all) is clearly the way to go. It looks like Welles, and with the lost-and-found stories, the detective work and the open question that remain, it felt quite ...Arkadian. An extra treat, and equally fascinating, was another short find at the end of the show, a just-rediscovered home movie of JOHNSON's shooting, showing whimsical Welles himself directing. I do hope all the media attention that it rightfully got will help not only the general cause of film preservation, but also encourage archival efforts to investigate and gauge the Welles materials that must still be scattered all over Europe.
Now, you didn't ask about
Polis Paulus' påskasmäll ...
Uli