Kodak Park, the main manufacturing center for film stock and the
Eastman Kodak Company’s headquarters in Rochester, New York, is the
setting for this combined animation and live-action documentary about
the company’s production of motion picture film. The opening animated
sequence makes the point that silent films were able to cross all language
barriers. In 1921, Kodak Park produced 147,000 miles of motion picture
film. Beginning with the arrival of cotton bales, the film documents the
step-by-step process of film production. It required 4,000,000 pounds of
raw cotton, 3 tons of pure silver bullion, and 12,000,000 gallons of water.
The restoration of A Movie Trip Through Filmland was a collaborative
effort between George Eastman House and the Eastman Kodak Company, supervised by Edward Stratmann with the assistance of Mike Champlin, Jim Hart, and the technicians at the Kodak laboratory. The restoration was derived from two original 35mm diacetate prints in the GEH collection, each with tinting and toning, but with different tinting schemes and of varying lengths. – CAROLINE YEAGER