Early movie film could catch fire — and burn underwater
For decades, the world's films were printed on a plastic so dangerous it can burn without air and is almost impossible to extinguish.
From cinema’s early years until around 1950, most film was printed on cellulose nitrate — chemically a close cousin of guncotton, the explosive. It produced beautifully sharp, luminous images, but it carried a deadly flaw.
Nitrate film is highly flammable. As it ages it releases its own oxygen as it burns, so once alight it is almost impossible to put out — deteriorated nitrate can even burn under water. A burning reel pours out toxic, lethal gases, and film sealed in a can as it decays can build pressure until it ignites or explodes.
The danger was not theoretical. Projection-booth fires killed audiences in cinema’s early decades, and in 1978 a vault fire destroyed millions of feet of irreplaceable American newsreel footage.
Archives now store surviving nitrate frozen and isolated, racing to copy it onto stable “safety” film before it decays beyond saving.
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