Two lost films from Peter Sellers’ early career have been found in a London skip and will be shown to the public for the very first time in 50 years at the Gala Opening of the 2014 Southend Film Festival.
Dearth of a Salesman and Insomnia is Good For You were both made in 1957 by the now defunct Park Lane Films and had been thought to be lost. They were discovered by Robert Farrow when the former film studio’s office building was being cleared out.
Mr Farrow, who lives in Thorpe Bay, Southend on Sea said: “As the building manager it was my job to oversee that each floor of the property was properly cleared prior to refurbishment back in 1996. I spotted 21 film cans in a skip outside the office block and thought they would be good for storing my Super 8 collection in. I took them home, put them in a cupboard and pretty much forgot about them. During a recent clear out I found them again and decided to see what the tins contained - it was then I realised they were two Sellers films including the negatives, titles, show prints, outtakes and the master print. It was amazing. I knew I had something, but it wasn’t until I called Paul Cotgrove from The White Bus, who organises the Southend Film Festival, that it dawned on me that I’d found something very special indeed.”
The intention is to have the films digitally restored and present them on the opening night of the Southend Film Festival, on 1st May 2014.
