Restored classics to be shown at cinemas

Some classic movies will be returned to cinema screens after being restored by the British Film Institute.

Some classic movies will be returned to cinema screens after being restored by the British Film Institute.

While the films are not exactly "lost", as they are shown regularly on television and are in many video collections, there are no useable copies that can be shown in cinemas.

The four films to be re-released in the first year of the project are Some Like It Hot (1959), Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961), Alfie (1966) and Don't Look Now (1973), which are often requested by film festivals around the world.

The intention is to use the latest technology to create brand new prints of the films and have new "premiÿres" to announce their return. The project will bring popular old films to new audiences. It will run over two years with eight classic films being re-released.

Jon Teckman, the institute's director, said: "Film deteriorates naturally over time, especially if heavily used. There are no useable copies of any of these films in our collections, so we cannot offer them to cinemagoers anywhere."