Details
Before I go further, I'd like to say how gratified I am to see the attention this has been given.
My apologies to all. A mere ten minutes after I posted this thread, it disappeared. It appears now that another administrator restored it. In any event, I was unaware this thread endured and only became aware of its defiant perpetuation... um... three or four minutes ago.
In any event, that extraordinary claim was made at the Criterion Forum, a forum for discussion of Criterion Collection home video releases - that link will bring you immediately to the thread in question - and can be summarized thusly:
12-51-00's work engendered splitting time between Tokyo, Leeds, and Seattle. Whilst in Seattle, he made the acquaintance of a young woman who was researching a bridge collapse. 12-51-00 volunteers to escort the young woman to a meeting in Tacoma with a retired structural engineer. That structural engineer had in his collection newspapers or newspaper articles related to a fraudulent insurance policy sold the State of Washington and while the young woman was perusing those articles, 12-51-00 gets to talking with the engineer about his line of work. Hearing that the younger man was in some way connected to the film industry, the older man announces that he had a collection of older pictures - on film - on the second floor of his two-story wood shop out back. Perusing this collection, at a later date, 12-51-00 realizes he has found a picture thought lost. This picture is F.W. Murnau's 4 Devils. Apparently, 12-51-00 suggests to the engineer that he donate the print to preservationists. He declines. 12-51-00 agonizes over this for a spell before soliciting advice how best to proceed from the denizens of the Criterion Forum. Some back and forth dialog commences. On the third day of this back and forth, 12-51-00 posts his final message to the world and is never heard from - on that forum - again.
His announcement generated a great deal of interest and speculation among the sort of people who would be excited by that bit of news. Almost immediately, however, the disbelief set in. Within hours of 12-51-00's posting blackout, suspicion of a hoax began to consume the denizens of that forum. Within days, the claim was dismissed as a hoax and for several years thereafter, the denizens of that forum cursed his name at regular intervals.
Personally, I was already engaged in research related to 4 Devils, when I became appraised of this 'hoax' and Tacoma's role in it. Being as I am a resident of Tacoma, I had a different reaction to the details provided by 12-51-00. As a local, who had already invested some personal interest and time to the matter of the collapse of the first Narrows span, I recognized the bridge collapse and the story of the fraudulent insurance policy. While the first event is well known, the insurance scam not so much. In combination with other details, I found sufficient grounds to launch an investigation. After soliciting the input of interested parties, I learned no such attempt was made in 2007, though it was discussed.
In any case, I could expedite a resolution were I to touch base with 12-51-00. That being said, I have to deliberate for some time the best way to go about doing this. I'm a genealogist, actually, and I have to comport myself in a professional manner. Preserving this individual's anonymity is paramount, any compromise I would regard as a personal failure. Some of those people on the Criterion Forum believe this individual to be scum. Naturally, I do not. If he trolled them, I can begrudgingly admire his success. If he was being an honest broker, then he is to be commended. I am not interested in making him some kind of public whipping boy.
I was very reluctant to solicit information in so public a manner, and for the longest time I didn't regard 12-51-00's input as being all that important. After all, I had enough clues to confine an investigation to where I live. However, it has become all too apparent that the pool of candidates regarding the identity of the engineer runs in to the thousands. Time is of the essence. This man, if he is alive today, is somewhere around 85 years old. The films themselves are combustible and a fire hazard. A change in environment poses a risk to lives and property. Needless to say, my investigation - comprised as it is of one man: myself - requires taking shortcuts.
If you were to visit my profile, you'd see I signed up for this forum last year. I gave a great deal of thought to the idea of taking this step and only after I had exhausted other channels. I sought the opinion of an administrator of these forums before posting.
Before I go further, I'd like to say how gratified I am to see the attention this has been given.
By the way, everybody wants to know what this extraordinary claim is...
In any event, that extraordinary claim was made at the Criterion Forum, a forum for discussion of Criterion Collection home video releases - that link will bring you immediately to the thread in question - and can be summarized thusly:
12-51-00's work engendered splitting time between Tokyo, Leeds, and Seattle. Whilst in Seattle, he made the acquaintance of a young woman who was researching a bridge collapse. 12-51-00 volunteers to escort the young woman to a meeting in Tacoma with a retired structural engineer. That structural engineer had in his collection newspapers or newspaper articles related to a fraudulent insurance policy sold the State of Washington and while the young woman was perusing those articles, 12-51-00 gets to talking with the engineer about his line of work. Hearing that the younger man was in some way connected to the film industry, the older man announces that he had a collection of older pictures - on film - on the second floor of his two-story wood shop out back. Perusing this collection, at a later date, 12-51-00 realizes he has found a picture thought lost. This picture is F.W. Murnau's 4 Devils. Apparently, 12-51-00 suggests to the engineer that he donate the print to preservationists. He declines. 12-51-00 agonizes over this for a spell before soliciting advice how best to proceed from the denizens of the Criterion Forum. Some back and forth dialog commences. On the third day of this back and forth, 12-51-00 posts his final message to the world and is never heard from - on that forum - again.
His announcement generated a great deal of interest and speculation among the sort of people who would be excited by that bit of news. Almost immediately, however, the disbelief set in. Within hours of 12-51-00's posting blackout, suspicion of a hoax began to consume the denizens of that forum. Within days, the claim was dismissed as a hoax and for several years thereafter, the denizens of that forum cursed his name at regular intervals.
Personally, I was already engaged in research related to 4 Devils, when I became appraised of this 'hoax' and Tacoma's role in it. Being as I am a resident of Tacoma, I had a different reaction to the details provided by 12-51-00. As a local, who had already invested some personal interest and time to the matter of the collapse of the first Narrows span, I recognized the bridge collapse and the story of the fraudulent insurance policy. While the first event is well known, the insurance scam not so much. In combination with other details, I found sufficient grounds to launch an investigation. After soliciting the input of interested parties, I learned no such attempt was made in 2007, though it was discussed.
In any case, I could expedite a resolution were I to touch base with 12-51-00. That being said, I have to deliberate for some time the best way to go about doing this. I'm a genealogist, actually, and I have to comport myself in a professional manner. Preserving this individual's anonymity is paramount, any compromise I would regard as a personal failure. Some of those people on the Criterion Forum believe this individual to be scum. Naturally, I do not. If he trolled them, I can begrudgingly admire his success. If he was being an honest broker, then he is to be commended. I am not interested in making him some kind of public whipping boy.
I was very reluctant to solicit information in so public a manner, and for the longest time I didn't regard 12-51-00's input as being all that important. After all, I had enough clues to confine an investigation to where I live. However, it has become all too apparent that the pool of candidates regarding the identity of the engineer runs in to the thousands. Time is of the essence. This man, if he is alive today, is somewhere around 85 years old. The films themselves are combustible and a fire hazard. A change in environment poses a risk to lives and property. Needless to say, my investigation - comprised as it is of one man: myself - requires taking shortcuts.
If you were to visit my profile, you'd see I signed up for this forum last year. I gave a great deal of thought to the idea of taking this step and only after I had exhausted other channels. I sought the opinion of an administrator of these forums before posting.
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