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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on December 31, 2013, 05:41 AM:
 
I have just bought the 2-reeler Mountain release of "Two Tickets To Broadway", on the reverse of the box is a list of 78 full-length features released by Mountain.
If members are interested, I will add to this Topic the list of titles.
 
Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on December 31, 2013, 12:25 PM:
 
All full length, as opposed to the 4x400' versions? I never would have guessed there were so many.
 
Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on December 31, 2013, 01:24 PM:
 
Yes, Maurice I am interested in the list of titles...please list them!

Bill [Smile]
 
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on December 31, 2013, 01:29 PM:
 
78? Like Adrian, I'm surprised. Yes please, Maurice.
 
Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on January 01, 2014, 04:47 AM:
 
The back of the box just says "Mountain Films - Full Length Features". There is no mention of reels, running time or anything else. Just reading the titles gives the impression that not all are actually features in the accepted sense.

For instance, I have "Big Band Sound" on 3 x 400'. There is no mention of Mountain on the boxes, only the title which is "The Big Band Sound", there is no part number so perhaps there may be more than three. The only difference is the colour of the title! The film is actually a collection of (very good) RKO musical shorts, Frankie Carle, etc.

So, here are the 78 titles which I have re-arranged into alphabetical order for ease of reference.

Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd
The Atomic Submarine
Babes In Toyland
Beast From The Haunted Cave
Belle Bare and Beautiful
Bengazi
Big Band Sound
The Big Switch
Blood Devils
Blood Of Dracula's Castle
Body And Soul
Buffalo Bill In Tomahawk Territory
Bundle Of Joy
Citizen Kane
Clash By Night
Creatures Of Evil
Cry Danger
The Day Of The Triffids
Destination Inner Space
Destination Moon
Demon Doctor
The Devil Bat
Dolphins Dragons And Crocodiles
A Double Life
The Fabulous Dorseys
Fiend Without A Face
Flying Deuces
Flying Down To Rio
For Men Only
Gangs Incorporated
Gas House Kids
The Girl Most Likely
The Great Diamond Chase
The Great Rupert
Grip Of The Strangler
The History Of Hollywood
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Hungry For Sex
I Killed Geronimo
I Married A Woman (CinemaScope)
King Kong
Love Happy
The Lusty Men
Macbeth
Magic Town
Man Of Violence
Mighty Joe Young
Monster Maker
Monster Of Piedras Blanches
Musical Moments
The Naked And The Dead
The Naked World Of Harrison Marks
A Night In Casablanca
Nightmare In Wax
The 9 Ages Of Nakedness
North West Stampede
Oh Carol
On The Side
The Outlaw
The Pit And The Pendulum
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Rancho Notorious
Run Of The Arrow
School For Sex
The Second World War
Skill Brains And Guts
Slaughter Of The Vampires
Some Like It Cool
Son Of Sinbad
Stromboli
Tension At Table Rock
Tiger Fangs
Top Hat
Unsatisfied Virgins
Victory At Sea
The Wasp Woman
Wild Harvest
The Years Of Laughter
 
Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on January 01, 2014, 08:55 AM:
 
I've got 35 of those Mountain features. No wonder I've got no space. I'm desperate for the 4X400ft "The Demon Doctor" on super 8 though but I've never seen a print for sale.
 
Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on January 01, 2014, 10:24 AM:
 
What IS "Demon Doctor?"
 
Posted by Clyde Miles (Member # 4032) on January 01, 2014, 10:31 AM:
 
i think i was jess franco's film 'the awful dr orloff' with howerd vernon.
 
Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on January 01, 2014, 10:43 AM:
 
Correct Clyde, from 1962.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056040/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
 
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on January 01, 2014, 12:42 PM:
 
Paul,

What's the quality like on these?
 
Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on January 01, 2014, 02:36 PM:
 
The Day Of The Triffids. I have this in scope 4x400ft The colour is quite poor, it was like this when I bought it. Due to a poor master.
The Fabulous Dorseys. Just got this 3x400ft edited to just keep the music. Not by me.
Fiend Without A Face. 4x400ft Almost full length mine is a good print.
King Kong. 6x400ft Bought new a good print.
Mighty Joe Young. A mixed print edited to make almost full version
The Naked And The Dead. B/W only 4x400ft mine was ex-library very bad state.

I also have 'Son Of Kong' which they released. in 4x400ft.
 
Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on January 02, 2014, 08:51 AM:
 
Mountain Films quality was variable as they used different labs to produce their titles in order to keep production costs as low as possible. They were the cheapest of the producers in their day and probably sold the most titles through their chain of London shops, their popular mail order division and other dealers stores. Therefore you can get different prints of the same title depending on the print run and some would be soft, some would be bleached out and some would be great. Sound quality was often variable as well. To their credit they always replaced faulty prints so most of the time you are ok with used prints bought from reputable sellers, but be aware that the odd print found in the attic might be bad. I had to buy three different prints of "Cat People" to get a good one. I only buy the black and white Mountain features so whilst the colour scope version of "Triffids" is awful, the flat black and white feature is a nice print. Their library boasted some great old titles from RKO and wonderful vintage horror films from PRC. Some features like "Wasp Woman", "Beast from the Haunted Cave", "Monster of Piedras Blancas" and of course "Plan Nine" are quite hard to find now, but good prints are out there so it's always worth searching.
 
Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on January 02, 2014, 09:58 AM:
 
Were Mountain releases cheaper like-for-like compared with other distributors? Has the colour held up on their colour prints?
 
Posted by Christian Bjorgen (Member # 1780) on January 02, 2014, 12:28 PM:
 
I have a 5x400' Mountain Features copy of "Bonnie Scotland" with L&H. Good picture, nice constrast, but the sound is a bit wobbly.
 
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 02, 2014, 01:04 PM:
 
They tended to have pretty good print quality. I have "A Night In Casablanca", slightly edited Marx Brothers feature, but they edited out nearly all the romantic subplot (thankfully) and made it a much better feature to enjoy!
 
Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on January 02, 2014, 11:26 PM:
 
I don't have any of the colour prints so I 'm not sure how good they are, but I've heard that prints of "The Pit and the Pendulum" aka "The Blood Demon" with Christopher Lee and Lex Barker have excellent colour but as far as I know they were all printed on Eastman stock. They also released Val Lewton's "The Ghost Ship", "The Body Snatcher" and John Ford's "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". All 12 chapters of "Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe" along with the edited serial feature releases of "Mars Attacks the World" and "Rocketship". "Casbah" with Peter Lorre and "The Sword of Monte Cristo" with George Montgomery were also released by them. There's probably many more that I've forgotten as they had a lot of titles.
 
Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on January 03, 2014, 04:18 AM:
 
Mountain were also the UK agents for digests from Ken Films Fox titles and Columbia. They also had the rights to RKO.

The comments regarding their colour releases seems right, most I have seen were not the best.

On price I would say they were at the lower end for price. When you look at the old UK magazines. The pricing of the companies at the time I would put in this order.

The top three always seemed to be about £10 more on a 8 reeler.
How I miss those days.
 
Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on January 03, 2014, 04:25 AM:
 
hristian,"Bonnie Scotland" is not a
Mountain release.
The only films that are uncut are those originally under 70 minutes ("Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory","Tiger Fangs" etc
"The Atomic Submarine" (72mins) is cut by two minutes.I have a complete 6x400 color print of "Run of the Arrow".Nowadays you can find it only in 4x400 bw.Perhaps you can find "Citizen Kane" and "King Kong" in 6x400 but try to find "Macbeth" 5x400 or "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" 6x400. etc etc etc
 
Posted by Christian Bjorgen (Member # 1780) on January 03, 2014, 06:00 AM:
 
Hello, Panayotis. I based my assumption on the boxes it came in. I will check the boxes and leaders and put out some pictures :-) Would be interesting to know where it comes from [Smile]
 
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on January 03, 2014, 12:59 PM:
 
Am I correct in saying that Mailmaster Films was Mountain's mail order dept.?
 
Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on January 03, 2014, 02:18 PM:
 
I think so. Mailmaster

Portland Films were also part of them. Looking back in the old magazines a company called Peak Films seemed to be the predecessor of Mountain Films. I suppose it follows the names have the same meaning.

They had at least 2 shops 55 Shaftesbury Avenue, London & 45 New Oxford Street

Plus on the last link if you just go down the side street. What do you find? West Central Street the home of Mountain Films.

One other thing I found a Portland Films advert for Laural & Hardy in 16mm.

Starline, Heritage Films, and others were also in the Mountain line-up.
 
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on January 03, 2014, 02:33 PM:
 
What was at that first address, David - the one with the Mailmaster link in your post?
 
Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on January 03, 2014, 02:56 PM:
 
Sorry, for some reason cut 'n' paste miss this bit off.
Mailmaster Film Productions 69 Long Lane London who I think were part of Mountain Films.
 
Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on January 03, 2014, 02:58 PM:
 
Great. Thanks.
 
Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on January 04, 2014, 02:20 PM:
 
I found the time to do some digging in my older Mountain etc catalogues and can add the following:
One dated September 1979 lists all the 78 titles as 4x400 except "King Kong" 6x400,"Babes in Toyland" 5x400 and "Skill Brains and Guts"6x400 and adds "The Fall Guy"
"Magic Town"
"Misbehaving Husbands"
"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon",also in color as
also,"Run of the Arrow","Great Diamond Chase","Blood of Drac's Castle","Creatures of Evil","Nightmare in Wax","Pit and the Pendulum","On the Side","Hungry for Sex","Destination Inner Space".
Another undated (older one) adds:
"Casbah"
"Miracle of the Bells"
"Last Days of Pompeii"
"Boy With Green Hair",also in color
"Fort Apache"
"Restless Breed"
"Higher and Higher"
"Sword of Monte Christo"
"Blackbeard the Pirate"
and "Top Hat", 5x400
Still another undated one adds color versions of:"Day Of the Triffids","Unsatisfied Virgins","Invaders from Mars","Destination Inner Space","Nine Ages of Nakedness","Bundle of Joy","Girl Most Likely".
BUT ... an even older one lists the following COMPLETE versions,in standard 8 only:
"Demon Doctor" 9 reels
"Blood on his Lips" 9 reels
"Slaughter of Vampires" 9 reels
"Bugles in the Afternoon" 9 reels
"Murder Inc" 9 reels
"Federal Man" 7 reels
"Cattle Queen" 8 reels
"The Hoodlum" 7 reels
"Border Outlaws" 6 reels
"The Fighting Stallion" 7 reels
"Some Like it Cool" 6 reels
"Wild Harvest" 9 reels
"Retreat Hell" 9 reels
which unfortunately were abandoned when super 8 took over.
 
Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on January 05, 2014, 06:41 AM:
 
I believe the Val Lewton productions came later.They were released complete for a time and then replaced with shortened versions (2x400, etc)
Mind you,my copy of "A Double Life", super 8,6x400,is incomplete.The reels fill each with about 15 minutes of film making it a total of 90 minutes,instead of the original 104 minute running time.
 
Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on August 30, 2016, 04:31 PM:
 
 -
 
Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on August 31, 2016, 02:44 AM:
 
Just to add that the colour on my copies of the 2 extracts from The Girls Most Likely has held up very well.
 
Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on September 05, 2016, 03:07 PM:
 
I had one from Portland Films about the size of a business card. And one from Marketing Films in America.
 
Posted by Steve Ellison (Member # 658) on October 28, 2016, 07:39 AM:
 
Fascinating to read the various comments about Mountain Films. When I bought Regent Films(Blackpool) from Les Siddall, he was importing Ken Films direct from a source in the USA, and the prints were considerably better than most Mountain reprints, which were produced by a lab in Soho. Peter Burt of Mountain became a firm friend of mine and we sort of wandered into the video age together! Anyone who needs any further information about the golden period of 8mm, just ask!! Steve Ellison(former owner,Phoenix Film Services,Wigan)
 
Posted by Ali Hipperson (Member # 5643) on November 03, 2016, 09:24 AM:
 
Hi Paul.

Do you have in your collection:

A Night in Casablanca and Top Hat?

Ali.
 
Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on November 04, 2016, 10:04 AM:
 
Hi Ali,
yes I have both. The Mountain prints for "Top Hat" were really very nice, and "A night in Casablanca" is a pretty good print as well. It may not be one of the best Marx Brothers comedies but it is much better than "Love Happy".
 
Posted by Stuart Reid (Member # 1460) on November 04, 2016, 10:23 AM:
 
Weren't Mountain also responsible for the very good 4x400 of Invaders From Mars?
 
Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on November 04, 2016, 02:28 PM:
 
They were that Stuart, we had the colour 400ft version this, we could only ever find the b/w 4 x 400ft but i believe there was also a rare colour feature version as well. [Wink]
 
Posted by Stuart Reid (Member # 1460) on November 04, 2016, 03:57 PM:
 
I had the colour 4x400 version for years Tom. Picked it up in a junk shop in Frankfort Gate donkeys years ago, sad to say it had a thick green emulsion scratch down the middle on the first and last reels. I played that film to death, can still recite it word for word when I see it, would dearly love another print.
 
Posted by Ali Hipperson (Member # 5643) on November 05, 2016, 07:41 AM:
 
Hi Paul - lucky you!

I really liked the printed cardboard sleeve that often came with their 4x400' edited features ☺

Don't suppose you want to make a bit of space by selling either of those two films? 😉

Ali.
 
Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on November 05, 2016, 08:34 AM:
 
Hi Ali,

I like both these films so much that I couldn't let them go. But both of these titles tend to come up for sale on ebay fairly regularly.

Paul.
 
Posted by Mike Newell (Member # 23) on November 05, 2016, 08:38 AM:
 
I remember my later print of Invaders from Mars having green scratch marks as well. Maybe it was negative damage. Derann reprinted some of the Mountain negatives for awhile and I think Invaders could be bought from them if you asked.
 
Posted by Ali Hipperson (Member # 5643) on November 08, 2016, 03:43 AM:
 
Morning Paul - I don't blame you!

I will keep my eyes peeled.

Btw - you may well be, geographically, the closest member to me - I'm in South Woodford.

Ali.
 
Posted by Stuart Reid (Member # 1460) on November 08, 2016, 05:35 AM:
 
Al, I'm literally down the road in Walthamstow (until January anyway)
 
Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on November 08, 2016, 06:38 PM:
 
How Derann could ever feature 4th out of a list of 5 here, is quite beyond me?????

I'd like to think they were just a little better than one up from the Mountain releases based on what I've had from both of these companies!!

Just a bit!!

Whereabouts do Red Fox or Kempski prints feature in this list here David, 6th & 7th???

On price alone, I doubt any of these companies were the cheapest or fourth cheapest ever.
 
Posted by Ali Hipperson (Member # 5643) on November 09, 2016, 01:50 PM:
 
Hi Stuart - small world!

Maybe we should meet-up sometime for a beer and a chat on our wonderful pastime?

You too Paul.

Ali.
 
Posted by Shaqui Le Vesconte (Member # 6490) on June 08, 2018, 04:34 AM:
 
Would anyone know the release dates of the four Space Patrol 8mm films? They would have been in a box with art saying Mystery on the Moon (though the actual episode title would have been on the side!).

The four titles were:

The Swamps of Jupiter
Mystery on the Moon
Robot Revolution
Miracle Tree of Saturn

The series was made circa 1962-63, and it would seem they were probably released later in the decade but hoping for some more concrete confirmation if possible? [Big Grin]

 -
 
Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on June 08, 2018, 09:03 AM:
 
I recently unearthed th ebox from my first Mountain Films purchase (a 50ft extract from Easy Street). Their address on that is Mountain Films Limited, 39 Hillside, LONDON, N.W.10 - the price was pre-decimal currency 19/6.
 
Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on June 08, 2018, 09:09 AM:
 
I recently unearthed the box from my first Mountain Films purchase (a 50ft extract from Chaplin's Easy Street) and the address on that is 39, Hillside, London, NW 10. It must be an old box as the price was in pre-decimal currency - 19/6d!! I wonder how long they were based there.
 
Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on June 08, 2018, 10:22 AM:
 
That was expensive; I think the first 50ft film I bought, made by Arrow films, cost me 3 shillings in 1967; I later sold it and got 1/6d.
 
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 08, 2018, 11:52 AM:
 
I didn't realize that "The Girl Most Likely" was a Mountain Release! That one is a 4X400ft and it was printed on low fade stock and the color and sharpness are actually really, though a bit grainy.

It sounds like Mountain films was like the "Niles" films of the U.S. Hit or miss on quality but of course, were happy that they did what they did!
 
Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on June 08, 2018, 12:39 PM:
 
Andrew Woodcock old post I did. The list was not for the quality of prints, but for the price they were sold at. Walton and Powell always seemed to be about £10 dearer for features than Derann.

For the actual quality of prints, that's a really hard one. I've had some really good prints from Mountain mainly black and white releases. I had one from Derann that was bleached out. They all sadly had some hits and misses with prints.

Still miss those releases from those great companies.
 
Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on June 09, 2018, 04:51 AM:
 
It was hit and miss Osi; I've had some first class films from Mountain, then others that were grey instead of good B&W, and a couple where the sound was out of sync. The risky ones were those sold under the Heritage Films label.
 
Posted by Allan Broadfield (Member # 2298) on June 09, 2018, 06:56 AM:
 
I still treasure my mountain 6x400 King Kong which I bought new from the proceeds of the sale of several films.
 


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