8mm Forum: R8 Had the most choice

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Topic: R8 Had the most choice

Barry Johnson
Master Film Handler

Posts: 358
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Jul 2003

posted November 08, 2005 08:17 AM

Having managed to purchase many gems of the silver screen from various sources,I have found that the Regular8 system had a wider choice of films than Super8.
This was,in the main,due to the fact that it drew on the vast back library of the silent cinema.Before the advent of R8 sound,there were subjects being issued that covered everything and almost without exception,all the periods of silent cinema.

Why In remember well the excitement engendered when D.W.Griffiths "Birth Of A nation" became available in a 3x200 footer version in the early 1960's.What with that and the plethora of old time silents with every conceivable comedian you could think of appeared on film for you to rent or buy.The likes of Larry Semon,Chester Conklin Buster Keaton et al.It was magic.
Full egnth feature films started to appear,"The Eagle","Son Of The Sheik","The Misletoe Bough","The Lost World","Covered Wagon"-the list goes on forever!
Then the arrival of Regular8 Sound.Less of a choice here,mostly Laurel & Hardy two reelers and very interesting shorts from The Film Office in France,some in colour too.Amongst the first (if not thefirst colour sound feature was "Tiara Tahiti" running to 6x400 foot reels-what a revelation that was!Back to the plot,right up to and beyond the introduction of Super8,the old Regular8 films were being issued but were gently laid to rest when more up to date items started to appear in abundance on the new gauge.Good (and bad)as they were,the golden age of amateur film collecting would never be the same.
It still isn't! [Cool]

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Standard8 rules!!

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted November 08, 2005 11:27 AM

I'm not quite sure I fully agree that there was a wider assortment in Standard 8 than Super 8....almost every release silent and otherwise was made available in the newer format...plus all those 400 ft digests...and then all the features..recent and classic....trailers like never before. I'm sure that if you listed every Super 8 title released...and beside it every standard release...I'm sure there'd be no comparison....the super 8 list would be far longer. The one thing standard 8 had going was the fact that it started back in the 30's....so there was a large backlog of material that had been made available before Super 8 made its brief , but glorious run. I purchased many many shorts and features in reg 8 when I started collecting....in the late 50's..but I haven't found any of those titles that were not later printed in super 8. I must say that somne of the those older standard 8 prints are of better quality..due to the greater care that was taken.

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Barry Johnson
Master Film Handler

Posts: 358
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Jul 2003

posted November 08, 2005 01:51 PM

Obviously film distribution your side of the pond had a more massive release/impact than over here.However I can assure you,that some of the Std8 titles I have in my collection have never appeared on Super8 here,primarily because Super8 here meant sound- and that what the public wanted,hence the influx of more up to date material.They were no longer interested in the old order.A state that was so typical of collectors in those days.Newer signalled better.But this was not always the case! [Frown]

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Standard8 rules!!

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Tim Christian
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 219
From: Norfolk, UK
Registered: Jun 2003

posted November 08, 2005 04:03 PM

There were quite a lot of R8 sound titles - look at Paul Foster's list for examples - and they continued to be issued after S8 came along.

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Tim

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted November 08, 2005 05:16 PM

I agree with much that has been said, that and there are definitely some titles, (early classics) that have still (and never will) be released on sandard 8mm.

That, and, in ma ny cases, the standard 8mm copies actually ave a higher print quality than many of the same titles in super 8.

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Jonathan Sanders
Film Handler

Posts: 82
From: Bath, England
Registered: Oct 2005

posted November 09, 2005 12:15 PM

Yes, I agree that for the silent film collector in Britain Standard 8 had the most choice. Collectors Club issued Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS only in Std.8 for some reason. And there were many interesting silent titles in the Perry's catalogue that I don't think they ever issued in Super 8. I recently picked up one - Clarence Brown's THE GOOSE WOMAN with Louise Dresser, a fine film in an unexpectedly nice print (probably from a Kodascope). I don't recall this being released by anybody else - and it hasn't even made it to DVD yet!

Jonathan

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Dimitrios Kremalis
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 129
From: Athens - Greece
Registered: Oct 2004

posted November 09, 2005 02:43 PM

Jonathan,
As regards to Fritz Lang's film, it was also released by Blackhawk as well as Atlas in Super8 format.

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Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted November 09, 2005 09:35 PM

One interesting point that may be news to some is that in situations where a film was released in 200' Std/Super 8 silent versions, the Std 8 version would generally be something like 15-20 seconds longer, so that the amount of filmstock was about the same. I recently projected 2 titles, that I have in both formats, side by side and identified the differences. In both cases, I'll keep the Std 8 versions and sell the Super 8 versions, as the Std ones are better prints as well being longer.

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Adrian Winchester

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Jonathan Sanders
Film Handler

Posts: 82
From: Bath, England
Registered: Oct 2005

posted November 10, 2005 01:38 AM

Yes, I'm sure there were Super 8 editions of METROPOLIS worldwide. I was just speaking of the UK Collectors Club edition, which was all I could afford as a boy, especially as they allowed you to buy a "reel-a-month".

Collectors Club also issued Chaplin's GOLD RUSH (original 1925 version of course) and I think that was probably Standard 8 only as it was withdrawn after a while, perhaps due to legal threats.

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