8mm Forum: Were any Editors Ever Credited for the Super-8 Digests?

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Topic: Were any Editors Ever Credited for the Super-8 Digests?

Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted October 24, 2010 10:27 PM

I was curious....

Personally, I like features, but I do have 5 400-ft. cutdowns from the golden age:
"Alien"
"The Excorcist"
"Show Boat"
"Fun in Acapulco"
"The Black Hole"

Having watched "Alien" and "The Excorcist" tonight, I was very impressed (again) with the editing; the ability to make a feature riveting in about 16 minutes of well-chosen edits/sound cuts.
I was wondering if anyone had ever profiled the people who did these edits? Were they the same folks who cut trailers for a living in 35mm? It would seem a natural fit, as they would have the chops for condensing a tale down to the essence.

It could perhaps make for a nice little documentary; talking to the people who had a job now long gone, but which fell somewhere between "coming attractions" and "a feature in 20mins."

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

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

posted October 25, 2010 09:28 AM

I often wished that there was some way to contact the editors of some of the digests...particularly the person who did the wonderfully clever job on Castle's original Frankenstein. Just to congratulate them. It was obvious that the editor cared for the film and appreciated it. Some editors, however...not so much. Castle gave its editors more budget and better facilities to make wipes, fades, other opticals.....sound manipulations...new titles, etc...whereas some had only a work print and a splicer...and just had to cut scenes together.

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Brad Kimball
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1171
From: Highland Mills, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 25, 2010 10:02 AM

I agree. Working as a Castle editor must have been nice work and very rewarding. I can imagine a conversation such as "...Hey Tom, here's your assignment for the week...Frankenstein. Spare no expense to make it look good. Now, take good care of her, she's a true gem. Make us proud." And at Ken...."Hey Porcupine, edit this down to 8 minutes and make it snappy (SLAP)."

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John Clancy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1954
From: Cornwall
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 25, 2010 03:23 PM

The 'Men Behind the Movies' DVD's over here answer all the questions with regards to the UK releases.

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British Film Collectors Convention home page www.bfcc.biz. The site is for the whole of the film collecting hobby and not just the BFCC.

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James N. Savage 3
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1375
From: Washington, DC
Registered: Jul 2003

posted October 26, 2010 06:50 AM

Yes, some of the digests from the 70's were incredibly well-edited.

The most skillfully edited KEN digest, in my opinion, was the 16 minute digest to "The Omen". They took some creative liberties in that one and it worked so perfectly. I wouldn't have changed a thing (adding extra scenes from the German digest would interupt the perfect flow).

I've always thought that these editors should be credited for some of the fantastic, skillfull work that was done. Maybe some day.

James.

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Ted Wilby
Junior
Posts: 6
From: Spring City, Pa USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted October 29, 2010 11:11 AM

My Favorite was The Godfather. I think it was a Marketing 400ft digest. I should never have sold it, but it was turning.

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Thanks Ted

Ted The Fiddler
www.tfiddler.com

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Marshall Crist
Master Film Handler

Posts: 300
From: San Pedro, CA USA
Registered: Oct 2008

posted October 29, 2010 11:24 AM

Wasn't it advertised that Spielberg edited or supervised the edit of the 400' reel of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS?

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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator

Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 29, 2010 01:26 PM

On the UK side, Keith Wilton has done simply amazing work on many of the Derann UA cutdowns, especially considering some of the contractual edit limitations imposed by the studio.
I'm forever grateful to Ken Locke for his brilliant Raise the Titanic 600' edit.

Doug

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 29, 2010 01:36 PM

One of the best digests that I have is the Universal 8 The Sting. In its 2 x 400ft form it really is very well edited and manages to convey the full story without any obtrusive cutting. The superb Busby Berkeley digests put out by Derann in the UK, were I believe personally edited by Derek Simmonds and Keith Wilton - and what a superb job they did.

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John Clancy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1954
From: Cornwall
Registered: Jun 2003

posted October 30, 2010 02:51 AM

The Derann United Artist releases were done by Keith Wilton, and Ken Locke. Alan Martin did many of the Mountain releases (recruited by Mr. Wilton) and David Billingham did many of the PM releases. All were film editors at the BBC.

Ken Locke's finest moment had to be Don Coscarelli's 'Phantasm'.

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British Film Collectors Convention home page www.bfcc.biz. The site is for the whole of the film collecting hobby and not just the BFCC.

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