The films you will never get to see

These are the films of folklore, the unfinished, the ruined, the rare and the weird. These are not likely to be shown down at the Ritzy or the Odeon. Seeking them out could be a life's work. Or maybe just a waste of time. Behold, the films you'll (most likely) never see...

Where Is Parsifal? (1983)
Where indeed. This British comedy, made by director Henri Helman, has disappeared without trace, despite having a star-studded – if slightly odd – cast. Tony Curtis starred as the barely pronounceable Parsifal Katzenellenbogen, alongside Rat Packer Peter Lawford in his last role before he died, 'Oliver!' star Ron Moody, Donald Pleasance, Orson Welles and Erik Estrada. Yes, Ponch from 'CHiPs'. It features on the British Film Institute's 75 Most Wanted list, the missing films that it is seeking for the National Archive.

The Diamond (1954)
The resurgence of 3D filmmaking in recent years makes this missing link in the chain particularly apt. The first-ever British feature film to be made in 3D, 'The Diamond' was a thriller in which a US treasury agent teams up with Scotland Yard to investigate a counterfeit diamond ring. The UK was at the cutting edge of 3D film in the 50s, with 3D technology having been used in the Telecinema on the South Bank, built for the Festival of Britain in 1951. No copies are known to exist and it's another film on the BFI Most Wanted list.

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Ingagi (1930)
‘Ingagi’ was purported to be a documentary directed by William Campbell of the exploits of explorer Sir Hubert Winstead of London. In a precursor to 'King Kong', the footage was of an expedition to Africa, which unearthed incredible creatures and a tribe culture which offered up women as sex slaves to giant gorillas. When one of the tribeswomen was recognised as an extra another movie, the story began to unravel.

It soon emerged that Hubert Winstead was a work of fiction, much of the footage had been shot in Los Angeles, and that one of the creatures, the terrifying and venomous 'tortadillo', was just a tortoise with scales and wings stuck onto it. The Hays Office, which dealt with motion picture production code at that time, banned it, but then backtracked, allowing it to be shown. It made a staggering $4 million before it was slapped with a cease and desist order from the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association, but by then it had been played out and disappeared from circulation. A print is thought to exist in the US film archives, and it's said that 'King Kong' was green lit on the back of its success.

The Other Side Of The Wind (1972)

This Orson Welles-directed critique on the Hollywood system has remained unfinished since 1976, and has passed into movie-making legend as a potential lost classic. It stars the likes of John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar and Dennis Hopper, and although finished, it has never been fully edited and thanks to labyrinthine legal issues over who owns it, it may never see a proper release. Cable network Showtime has offered to pay to have it finished, however, so it may still happen.

In God's Hands (2004)
Director Lodge Kerrigan made the film 'Keane' in 2004, about a man whose child is abducted without trace, and who consequently loses his mind. But the idea that spawned it also became a film, 'In God's Hands', produced by Steven Soderbergh and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard. But depending on what you read, the entire film was either ruined when the negatives were being processed in the lab, or was shot out of focus due to a camera fault. Either way, it's not likely you'll be seeing it at the multiplex.

The Day the Clown Cried (1972)
Jerry Lewis directed and starred in 'The Day The Clown Cried', about a clown called Helmut Doork who is arrested and sent to a Nazi concentration camp. It was a delicate story, and Lewis was initially reticent about joining the project, but did so because he deemed the subject matter to be important. But a breakdown in production, and arguments over money, left it in disarray. Though said to be roughly finished, and though there have been talks of remaking it since, it's thought that Lewis owns the only copy, on a VHS kept locked in his office.

Hu-Man (1975)
In which an actor (Terrence Stamp, who is playing himself) is put through a variety of dangerous situations (hanging out of a helicopter, walking alongside an active volcano) which are then broadcast on TV. The emotions of the audience then determine whether he will be sent to the future or to the past. Nope, us neither. Director Jérôme Laperrousaz won a gong at the Trieste Festival of Science Fiction for it, but no known prints of the film now exist.