THE NEW NON-PROFIT
VANISHING SHADOWS
LOST CINEMA RESTORATION PROJECT
lostcinema.org / vanishingshadows.org / daughtersofdaring.org
https://www.serialsquadron.com/lostcinema/index.html
MISSION STATEMENT
Our goal is to discover, recover, restore and preserve rare and previously “lost” media—feature films, cliffhanger serials, pre-code horror, theatrical dramas, historical books, radio programs and additional items unseen for decades and produce related works with social/historical value. Our fund raising will be put toward preserving these rare materials and making them accessible to the public and institutions, on physical media, in live presentations, and on a free streaming channel.
This non-profit is a new 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to recovering, restoring and preserving rare films from around the world and making them available to the public in high-quality archival editions on physical media and online streaming. As a nonprofit, we prioritize under-appreciated films that would otherwise be unlikely to receive high-quality archival restorations. Some of our favorite types of films are long-thought-lost silent cinema, the pioneering works of Black filmmakers from the 1920s and 30s, pre-code horror, westerns, and cliffhanger serials, the unseen treasures of global genre film—and far beyond!
Additional information on our first restoration projects will be posted shortly here, and on affiliate sites The Serial Squadron, Vanishing Shadows, Daughters of Daring and upcoming Cliffhanger Channel sites. Until then, if you want to support our mission of film preservation, you are welcome to make a fully tax-deductible donation at a link when it appears below. Your generous donations will contribute to a vibrant and eclectic physical media culture and ensure that rare films will not only be preserved for posterity but can truly find their audience once more--on cinema screens and in your living room.
(Winter 2026):
THE RETURN OF CHANDU
Serial Restoration from 3 original prints.
Blu-Ray complete.
Endorsed by the Lost Cinema Restoration Project
Produced and Restored by Eric Stedman and Drew Caldwell
(Spring 2026):
ADVENTURES OF TARZAN
Serial Restoration from 35mm originals & feature version.
Blu-Ray complete.
Endorsed by the Lost Cinema Restoration Project
Produced by Eric Stedman and Robert Panzarella
MOVIE SERIALS & FEATURES APPROVED FOR FUNDING AND RESTORATION BY CODY LABORATORIES
THE GIRL AND THE GAME
featuring Helen Holmes
The groundbreaking "railroad girl" and star of 60 episodes of The Hazards of Helen explodes on the movie screen scene with action and stunts galore, in her first of a number of additional serials.
Transfers from original 35mm reels/Restoration cost: $1000-4000
SOURCE: Transfer from original 35mm negative
THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU
INCLUDING
16 1923 SERIAL EPISODES,
THE 1950s TV PILOT WITH JOHN CARRADINE
and RELATED FEATURES
Produced by William Patrick Maynard with additional funding from William Barclay
Restored by Eric Stedman
A two or three Blu-Ray mega-set, with commentary, extras, and reconstructions of 2 missing reels.
A preview chapter from this project is now running on the CHAPTERS Channel and additional episodes will be posted as they are restored. Then the Blu-Rays will ship when it is complete.
Transfers from original 35mm reels / Restoration & Replication cost: $12,000
SOURCE: Transfers from original 35mm negatives
THE EVIL EYE Produced by Drew Caldwell
Restored by Eric Stedman
Preorders are currently being taken for a Blu-Ray version of this "lost" 1920 serial featuring champion boxer Benny Leonard vs. the fiendish and hideous “Money Spider,” played by a British Lon Chaney-style makeup master.
. It's been voted that the Non-Profit will help fund it as well.
Transfers from original 35mm reels/Restoration cost: $2000-5000
Chapters from this title are now running on the CHAPTERS Channel with 14 Chapters posted as they are restored. Then the Blu-Rays will ship when it is complete.
THE VOICE FROM THE SKY
Featuring Neva Gerber and Hal Taliaferro
The first sound serial, produced by Ben Wilson of The Trail of the Octopus fame and featuring his favorite actress Neva Gerber.
A scientist discovers "the secret of the air," which allows him to broadcast his voice from the clouds all across the Earth. A crooked gang decides they want it and a young agent of the Secret Service protects the secret as well as the Scientist's daughter. A phantom in black who calls himself the "Man from Nowhere" appears also sometimes to defend the duo and the secret, but who is he?
We have the existing reels of the serial which are partly transferred. And need another $2500 or so for their cleaning and final transfer.
Production/Restoration cost for Blu-Ray, Book and Audio Recording: $6000
This restoration will include a book of the full script with illustrations AND an audio drama version of the entire serial, which had very limited release in only a few theaters due to difficulties with the synch-sound system used to project it.
RESTORATION TEAM / OFFICERS vanishingshadows.org / lostcinema.org / daughtersofdaring.org
Film Archivist
DREW CALDWELL
Drew is a lifelong film and memorabilia collector who has generously provided source material for a variety of film restorations, many of which have been preserved and released by the Serial Squadron Cliffhanger Library.
ERIC STEDMAN (The Serial Squadron, Daughters of Daring, Storyland Theatre & Vanishing Shadows sites) Comfortable with working on creative projects in any medium, Eric, director of the Serial Squadron Cliffhanger Library for 23 years, has brought many long-thought “lost” serials and features back to life from film originals and made them viewable again, including The Lone Ranger (1938) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929), as well as the recent restorations of The Galloping Ghost, The Wolf Dog, Mystery Mountain and Holt of the Secret Service, as shown on TCM. He has years of experience in theatre, music and art, wrote the first musical version of Beauty and the Beast, published books and photonovels based on lost silent serials including The Mysteries of Myra, and staged the first production of the 1930 Frankenstein script which was the basis of the 1931 Karloff film. He also provides musical accompaniment for some silent restoration projects in person and on video.
Channel Queen
HOLLY ZUELLE
Co-Owner, Ovnio Network
Holly is an actor, writer and the administrator of a new video streaming channel. She can be seen as a performer in new films and produced “Justice for Jeannette,” a true crime documentary recently for the Disney/Hulu series Crimes of the Paranormal.
JOHN R. ELLIS Filmmaker and special effects director John Ellis, with many years experience in all aspects of genre films, rediscovered and restored the complete Steve Canyon television series (here) and has advised on restorations produced by the Serial Squadron Cliffhanger Library. John is excited to bring his expertise to the new non-profit Lost Cinema restoration collective.
Mike is a New York-based journalist, editor and photographer. He was formerly editor of the film/TV production journal Millimeter and of Videoplay Magazine and has curated numerous film festivals on a variety of topics related to global film history. He says “My purpose as a screening host has been to preserve and promote the experience of genuine cinema, which is fundamentally different from watching a film at home on TV. It is a ceremonial experience, where we gather as a community in a darkened room to share a bigger-than-life dream. That huge image provides a quality of grand spectacle, like the theater that Aristotle describes in his Poetics, that speaks directly to the heart!”
Mary is a Maine-based Tom Tyler historian/archivist/writer and owner of Aventuras de Tom Tyler (https://triggertomblog.blogspot.com/). Her interest in Tyler started when she viewed the Republic Pictures serial ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL for the first time over the Thanksgiving 2014 holiday. She is excited to bring her expertise on Tom Tyler to the new non-profit Lost Cinema restoration collective.
Video Archivist / Shipping Manager RICHARD DAVENPORT
Richard is a Texas-based cinema archivist with a particular interest in the cliffhanger serial form. He is always seeking out more rare content and will ensure the preservation of all restoration projects produced by the new non-profit film restoration collective.
OTHER WORKS BEING CONSIDERED FOR FUNDING AND RESTORATION
New Discovery!
THE FIRST SOUND WESTERN
OVERLAND BOUND
with Leo Maloney
The first sound Western, long thought lost, from 35mm.
Trying to trick Ma (Lydia Knott) and Mary Winters (Allene Ray) into selling their rundown ranch, which will be in the path of a future railroad, Underwood (Charles K.French) hires Keno Creager (Albert Smith) to impersonate Jimmy Winters, not seen by his mother and sister for many years. Lucky Lorimer (Leo Maloney), a horsetrading drifter, and Larry Withers, a waiter (Jack Perrin) in the saloon of Boss Wheeler (William Dyer), discover the plot. Larry reveals he is Jimmy, and they both head for the Winters' ranch. They find Creager already there but Lucky, via a fake murder charge on Jimmy Winters, tricks Creager into denying he is Jimmy.
PIONEERS OF
THE WEST
featuring Tom Tyler
One of several other long-unseen Tyler Western features, from 35mm
CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED
featuring Tom Tyler
THE COMPLETE SERIAL
ADVENTURES OF HARRY HOUDINI
Audio Serial By Greg Gick
Harry Houdini, his assistant "Ape" O'Connell and his wife Bess, with the assistance of a mystical scholar, investigate a Lovecraftian mystery.
THE MYSTERY MIND
Audio Serial
(The real) Adrian Booth, star of PERILS OF NYOKA, CAPTAIN AMERICA and DAUGHTER OF DON Q in her final serial appearance. Audio drama based on wild and adventurous 1920 occult/horror serial
Adrian recorded her part as Vera "the Snake" a few years ago and the full length drama has yet to be edited.
THE DAUGHTERS OF DARING
The First Action Heroes of the Movies!
Read more about this project
Multi-part series presenting rare and previously unseen footage from cliffhanger serials featuring their original action heroes -- all female. From Mary Fuller in WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY, to the “railroad girl” Helen Holmes, star of THE HAZARDS OF HELEN and additional serials, the “mystery women,” Mollie King, Neva Gerber, Jean Sothern, and Grace Darmond of THE HOPE DIAMOND MYSTERY, the “investigators,” Ruth Roland, Grace Darling and Ann Little, the crime-serial stars Cleo Madison and Grace Cunard, the ubiquitous Pearl White, star of THE PERILS OF PAULINE, Juanita Hansen and others who fought desperate super-villains, and world adventurers including Kathlyn Williams and Marie Walcamp, star of THE RED ACE -- surviving footage of which is presented for the first time in this series. With a celebrity narrator and others included giving reactions and reviews. This project includes partial or complete restorations of a great deal of content never before on video.
BOOKS IN CONSIDERATION FOR PUBLICATION
THE ROCKETMAN ARCHIVE
An amazing, comprehensive collection of hundreds of stills from the Rocketman/Commando Cody serials
THE COMPLETE PERILS OF PAULINE
ALL 20 episodes, narrative and photos; not just the few that are in the video or common novelization.
THE REPUBLIC SERIALS
A handy guide to the fan-favorite 66 serials from the 1930s to the 1950s
THE SQUADRON GUIDE TO MOVIE SERIALS
ALL 20 episodes, narrative and photos; not just the few that are in the video or common novelization.
CAPTAIN MARVEL IN THE COMICS AND THE MOVIES
Like the SPY SMASHER Book, all you wanted to know about the movie serial with lots of production photos, chapter summaries, all that good stuff
THE MASKED RIDER BOOK
History of the production of THE MASKED RIDER in 1919 in San Antonio, Texas. Unique and rare history and stills from private collections of cast members and cameramen! And bios of all concerned and the history of the Shamrock studio, where it was filmed.