Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted March 26, 2009 11:22 PM
When I saw this title on ebay, I didn't know what to expect. Red Fox did put out some TV commercial reels and so I thought I'd bid on it. I was surprised to get it for a mere 10.00 dollars, and seeing that it was a 400ft reel, I didn't think it would be a total loss, at least not for 10.00.
Boy, was this a great surprise!
First off, this was NEVER intended for TV! This was a gag reel put out for the "TV Advisory Board". I'm assuming that this was the censorship board.
It is hosted by James Arness, (Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke, and it is filmed on that set.)
Matt Dillon talks about the different types of goof-ups that will never have to be censored, as they will never make it to TV. We then get a series of actors flubbing lines and using many a "colorful metaphor". The actors in this section include Kehinn Wynn, Rod Serling flubbing Twilight Zone intro's, and Bert Lahr (of "Cowardly Lion" (Wizard of OZ) fame), and Richard Boone, in his Magidan western TV days.
The next section consists of animals and props that refuse to operate right. A Lot of the same actors in this part.
The biggest surprise and great to see, is a deleted live gag sequence from the Red Skelton show, with a live cow on stage, relieving itself, and continuing to "pile" it on. Incredibly funny!
Next up, to make this even funnier, they took a whole bunch of scenes from assorted shows and made a fake commercial for "Old Happiness" alcohol, which runs two minutes and is fall down hilarious, ending with another great Rod Serling flub.
The reel ends with Matt Dillon thanking all thoswe nifty editora and sound technicians that make his job so easy. We then have the sound editor purposefully adding every improper sound effect to Matt drinking a glass of "Old Happiness" and then staggering away without any pants on. (He has underwear on, though).
This ends with the NBC logo from the early 60's.
As stated earlier, this was never meant to be seen by the common TV audience, and was only intended for a select few, so the very fact that it would end up on Super 8 is even more amazing.
This is a black and white reel. The film is Agfa 3S black and white stock, so no fears of fading colors. The reel runs 16 minutes.
The source negative for this was a somewhat grainy 16MM, much like the commercial reels produced by Red Fox.
The sound is not great, it comes and goes in quality, but you can understand all of it, but turn the "treble" all the way up.
The sharpness isn't great, but it's definitely in the tolerable range.
This one of those novelty reels that Red Fox and other companies didn't put out too many of. The most famous set of blooper reels were the Star Trek ones, but for sure rarities, this one is a hilarious gem.
Good hunting for this!
Long Live Super 8!!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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