Interesting article in the NYT today about how Netflix is helping to save obscure older movies from complete extinction, as well as a quick overview on how the company has revolutionized the video rental industry in general.

Yet “The Conversation” was on its way to the movie graveyard just a few years ago. Since video stores have room for only a few thousands titles, some didn’t carry it, and it was slowly being buried under the ever growing pile of newer films at other stores. It would have been easy a decade ago to imagine a time when few people would ever watch “The Conversation” again.

Then came Netflix. The Internet company with the red envelopes stocks just about all of the 60,000 movies, television shows and how-to videos that are available on DVD (and that aren’t pornography). Just as important, for the sake of “The Conversation,” Netflix lets users rate movies on a one- to five-star scale and make online recommendations to their friends.

The result is a vast movie meritocracy that gives a film a second or third life simply because — get this — it’s good. Last year, “The Conversation” (average rating: four stars) was the 13th-most-watched movie from the early 1970’s on Netflix.

Full article online here.

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