stuthehistoryguy wrote:
Good points.  Searching for lost films is such a fool's errand in most cases that funding an inquiry would be cost prohibitive--though I would hope that an interested institution (UCLA's Film School, AFI, etc.) would pay a preservationist's way to Zagreb if they got word that the CFI had a massive cache of prints that might fill in some film history gaps.  I've seen odder things funded.

    

Oh, they absolutely WOULD send an archivist, IF they knew/thought there was something worth checking out.     But, sadly, all archives are financially strapped, and they simply can't afford to follow up on every lead, or pay to send someone into the outback on a "hunch".