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Clip from KSC Film Archives Appears at SAG Awards

Ernest Borgnine has been a screen and TV star longer than most of us have been watching movies. The 94-year-old actor’s great contribution to his craft was recognized at this year’s Screen Actors’ Guild Awards on Sunday, January 30, when he was given the Life Achievement Award.

And the film retrospective that SAG did on Borgnine’s life would not have been complete without a clip from NH film producer Louis de Rochemont’s 1951 movie, The Whistle at Eaton Falls , in which Borgnine made his first major film appearance.

And guess where that film clip came from? Due to their friendship with Professor Emeritus or Film Studies Larry Benaquist, the de Rochemont family donated the maverick filmmaker’s entire collection to the Keene State College Film Archives, where the only known print of The Whistle at Eaton Falls now resides.

Responding to a request from the SAG for a clip from the film just a few days before the awards ceremony, Dr. Benaquist scrambled to make that happen. He sent the 16mm print to Gary Anderson at the NH Film Archive in Deerfield. Anderson transferred the black and white clip of Borgnine via telecine and shipped it to LA as a digital file. And that was the excerpt that appeared in the retrospective of Borgnine’s career.

Visit Newsline to watch the clip. Louis de Rochemont’s films often dealt with social issues, and The Whistle at Eaton Falls focuses on an explosive wildcat strike in a small NH town when automation threatens to cut the workforce in the local plastics factory in half. Borgnine plays Bill Street, a union member and coworker of union leader Brad Adams, played by Lloyd Bridges. Adams is appointed president of the company just as the new automation machinery arrives, sparking labor unrest and straining longstanding relationships.

Preserving films like this one “is very important for future generations, for people in the Internet Age who are always looking for historically significant footage to back up facts. It’s a wonderful gift and a wonderful way for Keene State to be connected to Hollywood and the industry,” said Roger C. Memos ‘79, a Hollywood freelancer who researches rights and clearances for music, photos, and clips from TV and film for documentaries, talk shows, and film-tribute awards. Memos is currently directing a feature documentary on his friend, blacklisted actress/social-activist Marsha Hunt.

If you’d like to see The Whistle at Eaton Falls and other gems from our collection, stay tuned: The KSC Film Department has big plans for the great treasures it holds in its archives. To be continued. …

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