1937 Fox vault fire

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Piles of ruined film cans outside the fire-damaged vault building

On July 9, 1937, a major fire broke out in the 20th Century-Fox film storage facility. Gases produced by decaying films combined with high temperatures and inadequate ventilation resulted in spontaneous combustion. This event resulted in the death of one person and two injuries, which also destroyed all the archived film in the vaults, resulting in the loss of all silent films produced by the Fox Film Corporation before 1932.

One death and two injuries resulted from the fire, which also destroyed all of the archived film in the vaults, resulting in the loss of most of the silent films produced by the Fox Film Corporation before 1932. Also destroyed were negatives from several other studios. The fire brought attention to the potential for decaying nitrate film to spontaneously ignite and changed the focus of film-preservation efforts to include a greater focus on fire safety.

List of the last known film copies are completely destroyed

1914

• The Thief (November 19)
• The Walls of Jericho (November 19)

1915

• The Celebrated Scandal (February 11)
• The Kreutzer Sonata (March 1)
• Anna Karenina (April 1)
• The Clemenceau Case (April 12)
• The Devil's Daughter (June 16)
• Lady Audley's Secret (August 4)
• Sin (October 3)
• The Soul of Broadway (October 18)
• The Little Gypsy (October 10)
• Carmen (November 1)
• The Galley Slave (November 28)
• Destruction (December 26)

1916

• The Green-Eyed Monster (January 2)
• The Eternal Sapho (May 7)
• The Battle of Hearts (May 22)
• Where Love Leads (June 12)
• Ambition (June 25)
• Daredevil Kate (August 21)
• The Fires of Conscience (September 25)
• Romeo and Juliet (October 22)
• Love and Hate (November, exact release date is unknown)
• Jealousy (November 20)
• The Straight Way (December 18)
• The Victim (December 25)

1917

• The Island of Desire (January 1)
• The Price of Silence (January 8)
• The New York Peacock (February 5)
• The Honor System (February 12)
• The Broncho Twister (March 13)
• Her Greatest Love (April 2)
• She (April 14)
• A Royal Romance (April 30)
• The Slave (June 3)
• The Broadway Sport (June 10)
• The Siren (July 1)
• Wife Number Two (July 29)
• The Conqueror (September 16)
• Camille (September 30)
• Cleopatra (October 14) [PF]
• A Rich Man's Plaything (November 30)
• Trouble Makers (December 9)
• Madame Du Barry (December 30)

1918

• Western Blood (April 14)
• The Soul of Buddha (April 21)
• Blue-Eyed Mary (June 2)
• Salomé (October 6) [PF]
• The She-Devil (November 10)

1919

• Gambling in Souls (March 9)
• The Love That Dares (April 20)
• When Fate Decides (June 1)
• A Woman There Was (June 1)
• My Little Sister (June 15)
• The Winning Stroke (September 7)
• The Feud (December 7)

1920

• Flames of the Flesh (January, exact release date is unknown)
• The Shark (January, exact release date is unknown)
• The Hell Ship (February, exact release date is unknown)
• Twins of Suffering Creek (June, exact release date is unknown)
• 3 Gold Coins (July 4)
• The White Moll (July 24)

1921

• The Queen of Sheba (April 10)
• Straight from the Shoulder (June 19)

1922

• The Fast Mail (August 20)
• My Friend the Devil (November 19)

1923

• The Net (December 2)

1924

• The Wolf Man (February 17)
• Against All Odds (July 27)
• That French Lady (August 17)
• Hearts of Oak (October 5)

1927

• The Wizard (October 27)

1928

• Daredevil's Reward (January 15)
• No Other Woman (June 10)
• Fleetwing (June 24)
• Me, Gangster (October 20)

1929

• The Diplomats (January 2)

Key

• [R] = Films are now rediscovered
• [PF] = Films are now partially found
• [PL] = Films are now partially lost
• [I] = Films are now incomplete
• [L] = Films are now completely lost