Buffalo Movies: Faust reviews “Dawson City: Frozen Time” as it shows in Hamburg Palace Theater on Wednesday, Jan. 14.

By M. Faust

Dawson City: Frozen Time is as unique a film experience as you’re likely to encounter. It is, on the surface, a history of the Canadian city that was at the heart of the great Yukon gold rush at the end of the 19^th century.

The gold rush literally built Dawson, which went from a First Nations camp (from which the aboriginals were given the bum’s rush) to a city of 40,000 in two years, though by the time it was incorporated four years after that the population was down to under 5,000. 

Stories like that are inherently fascinating, but director Bill Morrison is up to far more than a simple history. Dawson was the last stop on a distribution chain for movies, at the time a new form of entertainment.

Because the city was so remote and there was no place after that wanted films, they were simply destroyed. A large cache of them were buried as garbage; preserved in the permafrost, they were still in good condition where they were dug up as part of a land clearance project in the late 1970s.

It was a find of enormous importance given that it contained features that had been presumed lost (like 75% of all silent movies). But this treasure trove also contained stuff that seemed more mundane at the time—travelogues, ethnographic material—that now shows us sights long unseen. 

Recreating this long-dead world with actual footage of the era, Morrison goes on to concoct a fascinatingly alternate history of the early 20^th century, far too complex to recount here. It’s all made even more compelling for being presented with no voice-overs, only a mesmerizing score from Alex Somers of Sigur Ros.

At two hours, the film is overlong, yet you can understand Morrison’s almost drunken fascination with the material.

It will be shown Wednesday evening at 7 pm at the Hamburg Palace Theater as part of it’s 100^th anniversary celebration.