The following is a list of notable films that are incomplete or partially lost. For films for which no footage (including trailers) is known to have survived, see List of lost films. For films that were never completed in the first place, see List of abandoned and unfinished films.
Films restored from different sources Sometimes a film can be patched together from multiple sources to present the movie as intended.
In the case of horror films made in the 1980s, much of the gore was removed from the negatives and would only be retained on VHS tapes that chose to retain it. When restoring these films as intended, the VHS source mixed with 4K Ultra HD does not match well, and can never be re-watched in their optimal form. On this matter David Gregory, founder of the distribution company Severin Films, said: "When we find that an original camera negative has been cut for censorship, it’s gutting, because rarely are those cuts saved. If they’re cutting the [negative], then for whatever reason the producers decided that this was the version they wanted to survive into the future. With 1980s films, it was often because the censorship climate changed, favouring less violence and gore as the decade went on."
Silent films
1890s Year Film Director Cast Notes 1894 Leonard–Cushing Fight W. K. L. Dickson Mike Leonard, Jack Cushing A 37 second long piece of fragment remains of a round. Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph W. K. L. Dickson, William Heise James J. Corbett, Peter Courtney An exhibition fight filmed in the Edison Black Maria studio in 1894. Originally six one-minute rounds were filmed and shown on individual Kinetoscopes. Only two rounds survive. 1896 Le Coucher de la Mariée Léar (Albert Kirchner) One of the first erotic films (or "stag party films") made. Only two minutes of the film have survived. 1897 The Corbett–Fitzsimmons Fight Enoch J. Rector James J. Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons A fight film shot outdoors in a widescreen process. Originally over 70 minutes, a 20-minute fragment survives. 1899 The Jeffries-Sharkey Contest William A. Brady, Tom O'Rourke Jim Jeffries, Tom Sharkey American Mutoscope and Biograph film of 25-round heavyweight championship bout, 135 minutes in length. First film shot in artificial light, which was so hot that it singed the boxers' hair. A few minutes of degraded footage exists of this fight.
1900s YearFilm Director Cast Notes 1903 Alice in Wonderland Cecil Hepworth,Percy Stow May Clark The first film adaption of Lewis Carroll's book originally ran about 12 minutes, according to the British Film Institute. The Institute's restoration is nine minutes and 35 seconds long. 1905 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes J. Stuart Blackton H. Kyrle Bellew, J. Barney Sherry First dramatic Sherlock Holmes adaptation on film and second overall Holmes film, the first one being the 30-second film Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900). All that exists are short strips of scenes deposited for copyright purposes in the Library of Congress. 1906 The Story of the Kelly Gang Charles Tait Frank Mills Only 17 minutes of this 70-minute feature survive; it is often considered to be the world's first feature-length motion picture. It was thought to be a lost film until fragments were found in 1976, with further fragments in 1978, 1980 and 2006. 1908 A Grandmother's Story Georges Méliès André Méliès (Georges' seven-year-old son) Fragments of this short film are known to survive; some scenes in the middle of the film are presumed lost.
1910s