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Topic: Why I Love Super 8mm Digests
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Laksmi Breathwaite
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 771
From: Las Vegas
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted January 26, 2012 05:05 PM
Yes that is another plus for digest. It must've been nice to be able to buy these back in the day when features were not as readily available as they are now on DVD, etc.
That makes them even more special. I would go out on the streets, parks,beaches,school,and homes. I would show it on walls and sheets to people who could only see them on a small TV or theatre. Some times I would show them out in places where people could not see movies at all. Like in the far away spots like mountains,Islands, deserts,and boats at sea. And at that time you did not have the time or situation to see a whole feature. Plus I get tired and lazy taking all those reels on and of. It is a hassle waiting for reels to rewind on those feature films . And maybe I just wanted to watch a few good killer scenes.
[ January 26, 2012, 06:29 PM: Message edited by: Laksmi Breathwaite ]
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" Faster then a speeding bullet, more powerful then a Locomotive "."Look up in the sky it's a bird it's a plane it's SUPERMAN"
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 27, 2012 09:34 AM
Some digests are great, others are awful, and in many cases rhe boxes are far better than the film inside! I think the most successful digests are those of musical films where the songs and production numbers can be presented in their entirety. The Derann Busby Berkeley double album releases such as 42nd Street and Goldiggers of 1933 were particularly well edited, and the MGM musicals all made wonderful digests. One of the best digests is Universal's Physco, and one of the worst is MGM's Dr Zhyvago.
Today, nearly all my color digests have faded badly. What a shame, because they could have lasted a lifetime (or more) if they had been printed with stable dyes.
Like Mal, I like to sometimes insert a digest into a show. They are great to put people in the mood of the classic cinema.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 27, 2012 11:10 AM
I think you really had to be around in the 50's, 60's and 70's to really appreciate the impact that the super 8 digest movies had. Up until the 1960's all we had for the home cinema were 200ft silent reels from Castle Films. True, some people had 9.5mm and 16mm sound, but they were in the minority. When the major studios started to release 400ft color sound digests in the 1970's it was just incredibly exciting. Remember that video recording was not yet on the scene, so the idea that you could see say 20 minutes from The King and Ion a big screen in your own home was magical and really captured peoples imagination. Super 8 sound projectors and racks of sound digests were on display everywhere - Kmart, Sears, Montgomery Ward. Once a month a thick catalogue would arrive in the mail from Blackhawk, literally crammed with hundreds of sound titles available for purchase. Columbia, MGM, Paramount, and Warners, printed up lavish full color catalogues of their super 8 titles. Movies Unlimited started their business in the USA, and became the mail order warehouse for any super 8 titles on the planet. It was an amazing time for the film collector, which sadly lasted only for too short a period.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Steve Klare
Film Guy
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 27, 2012 12:15 PM
I remember those days, but from afar.
When I was 10 years old and less we used to go to a department store and there were always these wire spin-around racks of Castle digests in the photo department.
I was intrigued, but I'm the first person I knew that had a sound machine, and that happened in 2002! The lady across the street had movies, but she was strictly family films, and silent ones at that.
Oddly enough, I have package films in my blood. When I was growing up my Mom had a job at Universal on Park Avenue, processing shipments of Castle films using IBM keypunch equipment. A couple of years ago I got a Castle newsreel, and invited her out. I thought it was about time she actually got to see one of them.
A few years back when Derann was short staffed, I offered Gary Brocklehurst my Mom to help out...but only if he took (and kept!) my Mother in Law too!
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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
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Gerald Santana
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1060
From: Cottage Grove OR
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted January 27, 2012 04:06 PM
My introduction to 8mm was through a Fisher Price Movie Viewer that cranked "Lonsome Ghosts" on one cartridge. My mother must have purchased it at a garage sale because that's where we usually shopped for neat stuff on the weekends.
I remember looking though the viewfinder and cranking the picture, going forward and rewinding it. I would often play it in reverse and look at the titles on a still. Then, crank it just enough so that you see in between the wipe from one scene into another.
I never saw anything like this on television since, I was a kid in the 80's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv1hLNM7N7E
But wonder if there were any advertisements made for Castle Films, Columbia, or Ken Films. Anyway, that cartoon in the Fisher Price toy was sort of like an advertisement for the film, in a way it is a little digest. And I love digests because, they make me feel like a kid again, most of the digests in my collection are meant for children and for the family.
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http://lostandoutofprintfilms.blogspot.com/
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![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
but digests that are well edited with the padding removed are just right for most folk.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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