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Author
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Topic: Films of the Golden Age
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted August 11, 2013 11:40 AM
In the current edition of the superb national magazine Films Of The Golden Age, 'reel' film collecting gets some real print space in terms of a great 7 page article by editor Bob King.
In his article, Mr. King describes his search, and eventual success, at getting hold of a 16mm print of Home Sweet Homicide, which stars Randolph Scott and Peggy Ann Garner, and is directed by LLoyd Bacon.
The print he eventually got was far from perfect, in fact it did not want to run through his projector at first. But he persisted and eventually was able to run the whole film.
He goes on to describe the "magic of film projection", and says there is nothing quite like it.
Here is the superb final paragraph of his articel:
And, finally, let me try to expalin why I am willing to put up with all the miseries of showing 16mm film. This may be like trying to explain the unexplainable, but I believe that film has a secret ingredient that no one ever talks about. Within that very thin and very fragile layer of light sensitive chemicals they call the film emulsion, there exists something precious. When cinematographer John Seitz set up his camera in front of LLoyd Bacon's house back in the spring of 1946, he caught this thing on film. I know he caught it because I can see it when the Carstairs kids step out into the bright sunlight of Mr. Bacon's San Fernando neighborhood. For some strange reason, you never see this thing on any other movie format- it appears only on film. Somehow the transfer of a photographic image to digital format kills it. I can't prove this, any more than I can tell you what it is. All I know is that it is a living thing and it is real, and I can see it on my film screen, radiating from the faces of people who are no longer with us. I can't explain it, except to say that it is something within the emulsion and it seems to have been created by the light that fell upon the earth that day.
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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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