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Author
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Topic: A VISIT TO AMSTERDAM'S TOPFILM
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Brian Hendel
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 902
From: New York, New York
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted August 09, 2009 05:01 PM
Buried in the middle of Amsterdam’s charming streets and intertwining canals is a shop that any of us super 8 enthusiasts can appreciate: Topfilm. It’s a throwback to the heyday of super 8 package movies… a time I’m sure we all still fantasize about - a time when you could just pop into the local film shop to check out the latest releases and add to our growing collections. Well, times have changed and the fact that Topfilm still exists is an amazing feat on its own. The credit goes to the shop’s owner T.J. van de Kleut. But before you have the pleasure of meeting him, you first have to find the shop. It’s a bit tricky as I found out traveling down Marnixstraat. The numbers go this way and that way and just when you think you’ve found it, you’re lost again… but in time… there it was.
Seeing super 8 films in a shop window is still a rare and real thrill… but as you approach the window you realize the place has passed its prime. The windows don’t exactly shine… the films in the window are dusty and a bit tattered… Above the front door is a crumbling old 8mm projector (you can see it in the last photo)… and the huge large image of Mickey Mouse in the window smiling above the films is a little misleading. You may want to think twice about bringing kids here. There is no way to keep business going by just selling super 8 of course… so now there is porn everywhere. The fact that you are surrounded mostly by graphic images on the front of X-rated DVDs and tapes fades when Mr. van de Kleut greets you. He emerges from a backroom and is as warm and friendly as you can imagine. He the kind of older, grey-haired man anyone would want as a grandfather.
He sincerely seems happy to meet a fellow super 8 collector and is excited to show me his limited stock. 'How long have you had the shop,' I ask. “35 years… at the beginning it was all super 8,” he says as he gestures to the walls of shelves... “but now…” he doesn’t have to say any more. I can sense he is a little embarrassed that he has to sell porn to stay open. In fact, the people who come in to “shop” while I am there are, well, colorful to put it kindly. A very small man comes in and picks up a stack of DVD’s featuring very large women... Another looks like he crawled out from under a rock. But Mr. van der Kleut treats them with the utmost respect. “I hope you enjoy the videos,” he says with a smile no matter what he’s selling. As for me, I pick a few films from a lot he has just acquired from a collector in the UK. There’s not much left, but I’m happy to bring a couple of films home and support this great relic of a place. I can’t help but dream about being here 30 years ago. There is a fading Disney promo poster on the wall advertising the release of the Pete’s Dragon digest from the 70’s. To my left is a winding staircase up to an attic once, no doubt, packed with extra movie stock… cobwebs now hang from the light fixtures… another poster promotes a super 8 tour of Amsterdam put out by Topfilm I'm guessing many, many years ago. What it must have been like here during thriving super 8 times I can only imagine.
This has to be one of the last remaining shops of its kind in the world. Mr. van de Kleut, who also repairs projectors for the few local collectors still around, sends me and my friend off with sodas and promises to email me lists of films when he has them available. I was happy to make the pilgrimage here, and I hope any of you who go to Amsterdam will pay Topfilm a visit. We should support it for hanging in there and carrying the super 8 flag… porn and all.
[ August 13, 2009, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: Brian Hendel ]
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Adrian Winchester
Film God
Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted August 13, 2009 07:34 PM
Great report - I'd strongly recommend submitting it to Steve at Derann as it would make an excellent article for 'Film For The Collector. It's exactly the sort of well-written, Super 8-orientated material that the magazine needs.
My first visit to the shop was about 1988 and it still had a lot of new stock then. Tony even showed me shelves of it in a back room. There were numerous Top Film releases, Marketing prints, German releases (many were graphic zombie films), etc. There was also a lot of porn in those days too, however, except it was on Super 8 and video. The films I bought included the Amsterdam 400' release, which I still have. It's a pretty good travelogue, although a short section on Amsterdam nightlife makes it a film you might not show to all audiences.
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Adrian Winchester
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