Because of the high cost of transport during this time and the flammability of the early film stock, most of the films were not shipped back to the United States, but were moved into government archives, destroyed,[4] or given or sold to private owners.
As a result, it was discovered that the archive held a large number of early American films.
[1] In order to export the films back to the United States, the movies had to be transported in U.N.-approved steel barrels in incremental shipments.
[9] It was also noted by the New York Times that many of the films that were recovered "underline the major contribution made by women to early cinema".
The Hitchcock film The White Shadow was discovered in the collection,[10] mislabeled as the movie Twin Sisters and lacked a title credit.