Alfred Hitchcock Hated His Lost Movie That Officially Became the "Most Wanted Film in the World"

Alfred Hitchcock‘s film repertoire is legendary and largely beyond reproach. Look no further than Rotten Tomatoes, where, out of 51 films, only 5 are considered “rotten,” with 1930s Juno and the Paycock, the lowlight at 30%. The fact that those 51 films represent the totality of his work, especially given a career that started in the silent era, where as many as 75% of films have been lost, is impressive. It presents a full picture of his progression as a director, with nary a missing piece. Except that there is a missing piece: 1927’s The Mountain Eagle. The film stands as Hitchcock’s only lost film; a maddening, unclosed door that prompted the British Film Institute to cite The Mountain Eagle as “The Most Wanted Film in the World.”

The Story Behind Alfred Hitchcock’s “Most Wanted” Lost Film

The Mountain Eagle, at least what we know, is set in Kentucky, where the wife of J.P. Pettigrew (Bernhard Goetzke) dies after giving birth to their son, Edward (John F. Hamilton), who is born disabled. With his son now older, Pettigrew witnesses him and schoolteacher Beatrice (Nita Naldi) getting intimate, and confronts her about it. Confronts her, but then tries to take her for himself. Beatrice rejects him, but not before Edward sees it happen, sending him fleeing from the village.

Pettigrew is outraged at the rejection and the loss of his son and tries to have Beatrice arrested as a harlot. To his great chagrin, John ‘Fear O’ God’ Fulton (Malcolm Keen), a man he loathes for having been in love with Pettigrew’s wife, throws his plans into disarray by marrying Beatrice, where they fall in love. Only a vengeful Pettigrew has John thrown in prison for the murder of Edward.

John breaks out a year later and meets up with Beatrice and their child to flee as a family. Beatrice, sadly, falls ill, and John has to return to the village for a doctor. It works out pretty well, with Edward having reappeared in the meantime. John is freed from the murder charge, and Pettigrew is shot and wounded, ending the threat to John and his family.

The Mountain Eagle would have been Hitchcock’s second feature, following The Pleasure Garden. Critically, it earned plaudits for Hitchcock’s direction, but otherwise fell short, per The Standard, with an early review by Bioscope noting that, “in spite of skillful and at times brilliant direction, the story has an air of unreality.” Hitchcock himself, however, had a very different view of the film: he hated it.

In describing the film to François Truffaut, Hitchcock claimed the film was “awful” and a “very bad movie,” and had no regrets whatsoever that no prints had survived.

Where ‘The Mountain Eagle’ Might Be Hiding

But would Hitchcock have destroyed the prints himself? The previously cited The Standard argues that he could have, and he wouldn’t be the first director to loathe their own creation. It also seems a little odd that the film is the only one of his that’s been lost, building a mystery that, ironically, could have been dreamed up by Hitchcock himself. Pure speculation, of course, with the most likely reason being the same as other missing films from the era (per the previously cited Collider).

That said, hope isn’t entirely lost that a print still exists, bolstered by the discovery of 24 still photographs from the film in the possession of one of Hitchcock’s closest friends. Theories suggest that it could be in New Zealand, the typical endpoint for films in the 1920s worldwide distribution chain, possibly in Russia as part of the spoils of war (per The Guardian), or hiding in a closet or garage somewhere, waiting for the real-life equivalent of Indiana Jones to find it.

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Depending on one’s point of view, there is another lost film of Hitchcock’s, which would have been his first: Number Thirteen, a melodramatic comedy centered around the work of the Peabody Trust, a charitable housing association. Where Number Thirteen differs from The Mountain Eagle is that it was never actually completed, as far as anyone knows. Some production stills can be found, but given its status as incomplete, the surrounding fervor is far less than that of the latter. The Mountain Eagle is “the most wanted film in the world,” and until it’s found, we can’t begin to judge if Hitchcock was right about the film being awful or not. But to true cinephiles, it’s irrelevant. As Bryony Dixon, BFI’s silent-film curator, says, “Is it the great lost masterpiece? Probably not, but it’s a Hitchcock, isn’t it? So it would be sensational if it turned up.”