A closer look
Henri Langlois was a cinematic obsessive who realized that early nitrate films were either decaying into explosive goo or being actively destroyed by invading German forces. During WWII, he aggressively smuggled countless banned film reels out of Paris, burying them in French country estates and hiding them in bathtubs. His glorious, illegal hoarding eventually formed the core of the Cinémathèque Française, single-handedly preserving masterworks that Hollywood studios were too lazy or cheap to protect themselves.
