Reels of film and the Hollywood stars who fill them share one common enemy: aging. But while an actor can go under the knife or get a bit of filler in an effort to stay young, it's a one-way street for film, which eventually starts to break down into its original — rather prosaic — ingredients. "Film base is actually wood pulp and acetic acid in its simplest form," says Tim Knapp of California-based film preservation specialists Pro-Tek Vaults.
"Acetic acid over time produces what is called 'vinegar syndrome' which degrades the base of the film...
and prevents it from being used." And no film star wants to end up like that. Movie-making has gone through a number of evolutions as directors sought a way to immortalize their leading men and women.
When the industry was born at the start of the 20th century, pioneers like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were captured on nitrate film, a medium capable of capturing deep blacks, infinite shades and sharp lines. But studios quickly noticed a significant drawback: nitrate is highly flammable. Projection rooms had to be fireproofed in an effort to avoid the kind of blazes that killed dozens of cinema-goers in the 1920s.
Even when not in use, nitrate film was not safe -- with a relatively low flashpoint, it could ignite if the room it was stored in became too hot. Huge fires at film storage sites in 1914 incinerated much of America's early cinematic history. - Acetate - The introduction of acetate film in the 1950s was a cause for.
