The year is 1896. Canadian residents have travelled to the indigenous area known as Yukon in search for gold. Indeed, that’s very much what they found, beginning a point in history known as the Klondike Gold Rush. It’s most immortalised in the classic Charlie Chaplin film, The Gold Rush, but to the native of Dawson City, it represents a fairy-tale story that met an ending more akin to a Hans Christian Andersen novel. Once the aspiring business owners struck gold, they settled in the city, setting up shops, banks and movie theatres. And while this seems like a perfect scenario, countless financial failures and multiple fires led the city to becoming just an inconsiquential little blip on the Yukon territory.
So, what relevance does this documentary have to the lost media I so enticingly advertised? People see those words and a rush of excitement that could level the Gold Rush that made this city what it was overcomes us. We are drawn to the mysteries of the world. Things that were once there but were lost to time. See, Dawson City was also home to numerous films. Those fires I mentioned were due to these very film reels catching fire. Film maker, Bill Morrison gives us a documentary that revisits the history of this city and the infamous moment once-lost media was unearthed in 1978. Film buffs and historians alike clash in this monumental recap. Take a step back in time to an era when film was as infantile as it was ground-breaking. This is Bill Morrison’s Dawson City: Frozen Time.
Usually, when I write these reviews, this would be the point where I outlie the plot. I’ve rarely ever touched upon documentaries, mainly because I don’t typically watch a lot of them, and my reviews have always been more geared towards story-centric fiction. I also don’t wish to spoil the finer details of the film’s “plot.” My goal here is to give people a little insight into what makes this era of film so fascinating to me. Not the 2016 release of this very documentary, but the 1890s-1920s era of film making, and how enticing much of it is.
For those who aren’t the most adept at film history, the medium was sparse before this time period. People had just barely scratched the surface, not understanding how to properly turn this into an artform comparable to the literature and theatre productions that had so much more life before it. In fact, many ridiculed the eve of cinema as a lesser alternative to theatre, as if it were beneath them. It’s wild to think so these days; film has completely overtaken theatre to the point where most popular musicals today are adaptations of famous films. But rarely has a film from this time captured the very patronising overtones than what’s been displayed here.
Morrison gives us innumerable snippets of footage from archived news to narrative-based films all throughout the film. Each little titbit is given new purpose within the narrative of the film. We see monumental pieces that capture points in history that are considered controversial in the inner circles of particular pastimes and political movements. One such major event was the infamous Black Sox cheating scandal in 1919. For the baseball fans out there, this was considered a turning point in the game’s sanctity. It was found that eight players had accepted a bribe to throw the game, losing 9-1. Among the recovered footage was exactly this game. Included in a news reel, we see a highlight of the game, unknowingly showcasing the corruption of sports of the time. This type of bribery was far more common during this time, but the bad press this particular game got lead to some major changes.
Surrounded within the retroactively humorous news reels, that would play at theatres-this was long before televisions were invented-we also get glimpses into the political landscape of the time. We see Communists being rallied up and sent on their way, financial crisis hitting the world with an unrelenting hammer and even get to see the birth of this bustling city that centres the documentary. One of the most alluring moments comes from the aforementioned moment of Communists being hoarded onto a boat. An activist of the time is one of the many who passes by the camera, looking at it with a perplexed expression. The report never makes mention of him. These little moments would’ve been nothing more than a momentary glance at the time, but are retrospectively made fascinating.
Included in the special features of the film’s physical release are just a small selection of restored (as best as they can) films. While there are a couple of short films from famed directors of the 1910’s like D.W. Griffith (The Birth of a Nation) and Tod Browning (Dracula), it’s the news reels that kept my mind rotating. It’s interesting to look back on these with the perspective of modern media and what these companies prioritise. News today drags our eyes over to the doom and gloom of the world, but these reels prioritise both the sunny stories and humorous gags to keep its audience in high spirits. A time of hopefulness and the with the ability to capture life as it was in a budding medium: it’s all so endearing.
It’s not just the films that Morrison wants to highlight. The history of the city as just as important, intertwining itself with this lost list of observations. Like any Western city or town, Dawson City was founded off the humble backs of indigenous people. Settlers came in and turned it into a literal gold mine. While that side of the story can make one feel irritated and downright furious, it’s important to note that this was a commonality for the time. Seeing the city flourish does almost make you forget this. Almost.
Despite its bustling community of rich, well-off families, there is a sense of unity. New and adventurous avenues are explored and cinema is given a humble home. The film also includes a little footnote of how the Trump family came to be: another example of how this captures points in history we take for granted. Natural disasters like flooding damages the city, and the artificial fires that came from the film stock led to the very reason this documentary exists. It’s honestly quite depressing to watch this city crumble into being nothing more than the average living place that you can get just about anywhere else in Canada. But that’s where we circle back to the lost media angle.
Pictured above is one of the many found films. These films were soiled by the countless layers of earth that was built over them. They were uncovered in a swimming pool that was seeing a removal, and was later screened at the Dawson City theatre in 1978. Being one of the first cases of lost media being found, you can see how this has had an effect on modern culture.
Like anyone, seeing a piece of lost media to do with film or television excites me. Whether it’s a banned episode of a children’s show or a rumoured snuff film that is sure to leave its audience feeling disturbed, the very idea that something like this could be out there leaves you in an investigative mood. Then you get the rare instances where that very piece of media finds its way out. Maybe there’s that rumoured episode of Dexter’s Laboratory that had the characters swearing their f***ing mouths off, or the uncovering of the very bizarre crossover Batman Dracula film. Whatever the case, these films have a mysticism behind them that are wrapped in the blanket of history.
Through creative uses of editing by having relevant lost films over the subject of the film, giving us glimpses of what they uncovered, Morrison understands this intrigue perfectly. To combine it with the troubled history of the city gives the whole thing an almost interdimensional feel. You add the water-damaged aesthetic of the damaged film, and it’s like we’re looking into a universe where everything is perpetually moving in this twenty-year period. Like finding the fossils of dinosaurs we never knew about, we have to explore further.
Saying anymore of this film would be to spoil it entirely. There’s still a lot of worthy surprises that many film buffs and historians alike can appreciate, so you’re better off experiencing it for the first time through actual footage and not just some writer explaining the scenes verbatim.
Dawson City: Frozen Time is a beautiful and somewhat abstract view of a time lost so long ago. It’s fantastical and enlightening and keeps you on your toes at every turn. Film and society has long-evolved since this infantile point in time, but in that comes a curiosity of just how different things were. It’s great to look forward, but never forget what came before.
Written review by Conor Johnson.
Conor's Corner of Criticism 