Tom MacDonald, assistant foreman of the San Francisco Chronicle pressroom, is passed over for the post of foreman in favor of a younger man. He gains satisfaction, though, when his son, Ray, obtains a good job in the district attorney’s office. Reporter Clarence Walker, in love with MacDonald’s daughter, Polly, is sent to obtain evidence against notorious bootlegger Sam Blotz, who is protected by Assistant District Attorney Gerald Fuller. Blotz and Fuller frame Ray to put Walker off their track. Although his conscience bothers him, Walker reports the story in time for the last edition. MacDonald attempts to stop the presses, and when Blotz’s henchman, “Red” Moran, blows up the building, MacDonald is blamed and put in jail with his son. Walker eventually uncovers evidence exonerating the father and son, MacDonald is made foreman, and a new newspaper plant is built. (AFI Catalog)
Early in 2012 the Silent Film Festival learned that the EYE Film Instituut Netherlands holds in their collection the only known surviving print of The Last Edition. This restoration posed a unique challenge to the team, as no other documentation for the film, scripts, continuity, or otherwise, survived. In particular, the English intertitles had to be translated from Old Dutch. The Dutch titles, in this case, were literal translations from the original English as evidenced by the presence of numerous American colloquialisms, making it somewhat easier. The original tinting and toning of the film was determined by careful examination of the original nitrate print and then re-created in the new prints, which are fully tinted and toned. Recipient of the 2013 Silent Film Festival Fellowship, Simon Manton Milne tracked the progress of the restoration, details of which can be found at thelasteditionfilm.com.
