Bret Wood

Against the Grain

A glimpse at how genre film-focused home video companies have taken the charge in preserving, restoring, and releasing so many works which otherwise might have been lost to time.

Pioneers of African-American Cinema: About the Restoration

"About the Restoration" provides an overview of the recovery effort, hosted by Bret Wood. Also of interest are examples of movie making mistakes that remain in the pictures, with disc producers resisting the urge to correct these admittedly humorous issues.

The Paleface... And Other Titles

A discussion on restoring title cards to English from foreign source prints.

Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films

This film covers the early history of post World War II educational films, especially those involving traffic safety by the Highway Safety Foundation under direction of Richard Wayman. In the name of promoting safe driving in teenagers, these films became notorious for their gory depiction of accidents to shock their audiences to make their point. The film also covers the role of safety films of this era, their effect on North American teenage culture, the struggle between idealism and lurid exploitation and how they reflected the larger society concerns of the time that adults projected onto their youth.