DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME – The Blu Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Dawson City, located in the Yukon Territory of Canada, is inextricably linked to the 1896 gold rush.  But the area had been an important seasonal fishing and hunting village for indigenous tribes for centuries before gold was discovered.  Once the gold ran out, the city nearly ceased to exist before making headlines again in 1978 for a find nearly as extraordinary as the gold nearly a century before.  This new discovery was of a cache of over 500 silent films from the earliest era of the movies, which had been buried for decades.  Dawson City: Frozen Time is an exploration of the complicated history of the town as told through clips and still shots from the films salvaged from the tundra.

This area had long been a seasonal hunting ground for the Tr’ondek Hwech’in tribe, important because of its location at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers.  Fish were plentiful as were many animals who came to drink or eat fish from the waters or graze in the fields.  These animals supplied food for the harsh winters as well as pelts with which to keep the people warm.  This all changed in 1896 with the first discovery of gold in one of the small tributaries that fed the larger rivers.  Within a year, 100,000 people would attempt to reach the Klondike, with only 30,000 actually making it.  One of those persons was the author Jack London, who stayed less than a year but milked his experience with a lifetime of novels.

By the spring of 1898 most of the miners who arrived found all the stakes claimed.  In just two years, the entire area had been overrun and there was actually little work to be found in the business of mining for gold.  But with their life savings spent and all their belongings in tow, many of these people elected to stay anyhow, building businesses in the new town of Dawson City so the miners would have something to spend their new-found wealth on.  There was more than one way for people to get their hands on Yukon gold….

Dawson City proper was founded and named in January 1897.  The indigenous people were moved across the river and Dawson City exploded into a Wild West city of 40,000 by 1898.  There were bars on every corner as well as several casinos.  Just about every form of entertainment could be had, including sex—Donald Trump’s grandfather began the Trump fortune by establishing several businesses, including at least one whorehouse.  But by 1899 the rush was over and only a few large companies remained. The population dipped to under 10,000.  Within a decade of the discovery of gold, industrial mining using dredges began automating the mining process and, by 1902, the population dropped to 5,000.  Even though the population continued to shrink the people who still lived there needed entertainment.  Several cinemas were built to capitalize on the new moving pictures and there was even a large athletic center with an indoor pool which doubled as a hockey rink in the winter.  The population continued to decrease until after WWII when the new highway bypassed Dawson City for Whitehorse.  By this time there were only a few hundred people hardy enough to remain in the dying town.

And so Dawson City continued to pass the decades in relative obscurity until 1978 when ground was broken for a new parking lot.  This new lot would be located over the old athletic center, long since destroyed.  Even the pool had been filled in and covered up decades ago.  And it was this pool that was being excavated for the new parking lot when earth moving equipment dug up something strange.  Exposed in the dirt and rubble was what looked like reels of old film.  Construction was halted and an investigation was pursued. Ultimately, over 500 films were unearthed, ranging from 1903 to 1929.  Apparently Dawson City was the end of the line for movies and, since it was more expensive to ship the movies back to Hollywood, they were simply stored at various locations in Dawson City.  But over decades so many dangerous nitrate film reels—which can spontaneously burst into flame as they degrade, even burning in water—were stored, the city literally ran out of room.  The decision was made to use them as fill for the old swimming pool so, along with dirt and other unwanted debris, hundreds of canisters of film were unceremoniously dumped into the old pool, covered over, built upon and forgotten.  So it was in 1978 that these films were accidentally uncovered and rediscovered.  Many were in such a state of decomposition that nothing could be done.  But the years of being frozen in the tundra also helped to preserve many of these films—some which had been lost for all time until uncovered in Dawson City.

It is estimated that as many as 90% of all silent films have been lost.  There have been numerous warehouse fires dating from the early 1900’s all the way to the 1960’s caused by the dangerous nitrate film stock used for these films.  Too, there have been wars and natural disasters that have destroyed many silent films.  Sometimes people mistake old film canisters as worthless and toss them into the garbage.  But many films in the early days of cinema were simply thrown away or recycled for the silver in the film stock.  During the first decades of film, cinema was not considered a visual art form.  Theater still ruled the day and many people looked down upon film as merely cheap entertainment.  There are examples of studios destroying their entire film catalog to save on expensive storage fees or to harvest the silver from the old films.  The reality is that, most unfortunately, between the flammable film stock and the dismissal of film as mere entertainment, the vast majority of silent films have been lost to all time.  And this is what makes the Dawson City discovery so remarkable.  There were literally hundreds of canisters of newsreels, shown before the main feature, that documents world history—remarkable footage that hasn’t been since since it was shown in the first three decades of the twentieth century.  This includes not just footage from WWI as well as other important historical events, but also footage from the 1919 World Series, famed as the Black Sox Series, when it was discovered several White Sox players took bribes to throw the Series.  And not just rare footage of the series itself, but the actual muffed double play that raised the suspicions of some reporters.  That one play, more than any other, was what exposed the scheme, and now has been saved for posterity in a remarkable decision made decades ago by the town elders.  Early films from the likes of D.W. Griffith and Tod Browning were also among the debris discovered in the excavation.

Dawson City, perhaps more than most cities or towns, has ebbed and flowed over time.  The story of Dawson City—as well as the story of early cinema—is fascinating.  Director Bill Morrison is perhaps known best for his well-regarded Decasia from 2002, another film using snippets from the Dawson City discovery.  But whereas Decasia perhaps comments on loss and death, Dawson City: Frozen Time tells the history of Dawson City, its life cycles, its tragedies and triumphs, through the use of still photographs and brief snippets of silent film from the cache of films discovered within the town itself.  Though many would describe Dawson City as dead—or at least dying—this story is one of life.  It is vibrant and colorful, though the images may be black-and-white, filled with stories of near disaster as well as full-on disaster, of quaint and charming characters as well as characters who are larger than life.  It is a story of environmental disaster and of pristine yet wild beauty.

Morrison tells the Dawson City story deftly and with generous samples of actual stills from the period as well as clips from many of the silent films discovered in Dawson City.  Much of what was discovered were newsreels which allows Morrison to place Dawson City’s history alongside world events occurring simultaneously.  This serves to allow the viewer less sense of isolation and greater global context which was, of course, the original purpose of the footage to begin with.  Just as these films gave townspeople the only visual contact they had with the outside world, these same, century-old films allow the viewer to place the story of Dawson City in the larger context of world events of 100 years ago.  Alex Somers created the musical score which is, quite simply, remarkable.  It is subtle, unique, and haunting, and fits perfectly with the images on screen.

At 120 minutes this mostly silent film could have been dangerously close to being bloated and boring.  But the combination of Morrison’s direction and selection of images with Somers’ masterful score, along with the fascinating story of Dawson City as told through century-old photos and film footage, rollicks along and mesmerizes the viewer.  I was actually disappointed the film ended. Kino-Lorber, the company that has released this new Blu-Ray, has added some significant extras including a short interview with director Morrison, the film’s trailer, and about 45 minutes of footage from some of the film cache from Dawson City, including pieces of the aforementioned Tod Browning and D.W. Griffith films as well as numerous newsreels—also including the 1919 World Series footage.  The disc also comes with a very nice, 21-page booklet that adds additional context to the film as well as the Dawson City discovery.  Even if you aren’t a documentary fan, I would encourage you to see this film.  It can be purchased directly through Kino-Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.