8mm Forum: Viacom a Question

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Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on June 23, 2003, 11:39 AM:

On ebay there is a film for sale which is a Viacom release and the vendor claims the quality of Viacom to be superior to any others. This is I suspect a little subjective.
Now I know that Derran and Marketing films produce(d) many s8 titles but I have little knowledge of the other film producers and the relative quality and the degree to which the films have stood the test of time.
Does anyone have this sort of information to hand? It would be good to know.

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on June 23, 2003, 02:33 PM:

Hey Tony, I recently bought a VIACOM print of the Elvis feature "Roustabout" from Paul Foster, and the color and sound quality are still excellent(the original box, however, shows the wear and tear of about 25 years, and gives away the age of the print!).

Posted by Mike Newell (Member # 23) on June 23, 2003, 04:00 PM:

Hi Tony

Elvis Viacom prints tend to be superior than Derann
in terms of sharpness and colour.

Derann prints like Blue Hawaii and King Creole
tend to be soft (crap) and scratched. They were
guilty on the first count collectors on the second.

Of course that was a long time ago before they
became the perfect super 8 dealer (just in case Duncan is reading).

Derann did import some new viacom features prints in
Italian in the late 1980s (Blue Hawaii,Roustabout,Paradise Hawaiian Style, Girls Girls Girls and Fun in Acapulco)which
were re recorded into English by them or could be done by yourself. Old Film for Collector will give details somewhere between Issue 1-10 I think.

Roustabout was the best print of the 5 features available.

These titles are always from some dealer at any time( a bit like The Rose. Try Perrys or Paul Foster.

Don't know about Ken releasing these titles Im not aware of it.

By the way the ebay print went to Germany!!!

All the best

Mike

Posted by Heinz-Juergen Schachner (Member # 32) on June 24, 2003, 12:34 AM:

Hi,

I am the one who has bought the VIACOM print of the Elvis feature "Blue Hawaii" at Ebay.
I have seen the DERANN print of this title and it is really disappointing. The colours are not very good and the print has many negative marks in it. The VIACOM print of "Girls! Girls! Girls!" which I have seen recently is much, much better in both, colours and focus. I have just sold the VIACOM print of "Roustabout", because my print has many scratches and running marks in it. The colours and focus of this print are really very nice - not to compare with any of the newer DERANN prints. If someone has ever seen a print of "The three Musketeers" with Gene Kelly on KODAK prestriped polyester, you will know what I am talking of. "The Three Musketeers" is on of the finest prints I have ever seen, together with "Jack the Giant Killer" (on KODAK). These features have colours and focus, which are really unbelievable and show the EXCELLENT quality which DERANN is capable of.

Best Wishes

Heinz-Juergen Schachner

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