The Old Dark House (1932)
The Old Dark House is an older example of why keeping copies of physical media is important. Although it was not a big hit when it was released and also fell flat with critics this movie, directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff between the making Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein , is one of the earliest examples of a horror comedy. Based on the novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley it has a largely English cast and was an example of how quickly sound film was developing in its first few years. Even more important is that it is pre-Code, which meant Whale and screenwriters Benn W. Levy and R.C. Sheriff could get away with a bit more. The problem came in 1963. Universal lost the rights to the novel and they eventually went to producer and director William Castle who decided to remake the film as more of a straight comedy. In the process the original movie was withdrawn from distribution and Universal, not making any money off of it, destroyed most of the copies. Recon