Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Archivists compare copies frame by frame and fill gaps from another source. The figure is taken from Cinematheque francaise, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a movies & tv fact?

Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Restorations combine the best pieces of many prints

Archivists compare copies frame by frame and fill gaps from another source No single surviving print of an old film is usually complete or clean, so restorers gather several copies from different archives and choose the best frame from each. Missing sections may be rebuilt from a lower-quality copy, and the result is often credited as a reconstruction rather than an original. Digital tools have made the frame-by-frame work far easier. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Cinematheque francaise

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Movies & Television trivia Technology trivia

More facts like this

Audio restoration lifts speech out of hissEngineers sample the noise between words and subtract that pattern from the track Film scanners copy a frame at a timeA sensor behind the lens records each picture while pins hold it in place The Prelinger Archives collects everyday filmIts stock footage shows streets, work and travel rather than stars Archives keep projectors for long dead formatsA print in 9.5mm or 28mm is unplayable without a machine built for it Digital masters need copying every few yearsDrives fail and file formats go obsolete, so archives rewrite their holdings Safety film replaced nitrate in the 1950sAcetate stock burned slowly, though it decayed into vinegar over time

Tags: restoration, archives, technique

Restorations combine the best pieces of many prints: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Archivists compare copies frame by frame and fill gaps from another source. The figure is taken from Cinematheque francaise, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a movies & tv fact?: Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.