8mm Forum: Tommy

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Posted by Steve Carter (Member # 4821) on May 29, 2015, 01:14 PM:

Has any-one got the 800ft version made out of the Iver and Columbia prints, if so how does it flow, does the cuts mess with the music. There was one on E-bay the other week I missed it, went for £22 a steal I think...Ken Russell at his best, I must have seen it 5 times when it first came out, and the Odeon was playing the 'Quintaphonic' sound-track, my senses were never the same again, I heard they got through a few prints when it played first time 'round...When I saw it months later at our local cinema the sound was awful, it was like seeing and hearing a completely different film...Tommy always has a place in my heart...

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on May 30, 2015, 08:04 AM:

I currently have the Iver version which was taken from an original 35mm master and the sound was much better than the Columbia version, however, I also owned the Columbia version which had a fair bit of extra footage with much of it different to the Iver version. I sold the Columbia version because I didn't want to bother hacking up the two and then having to constantly re adjust sound and focus. They would both stand well on there own. I only wish my Iver version wasn't starting to fade. [Frown]

Posted by Andreas Chmielewski (Member # 2208) on June 01, 2015, 05:58 AM:

From Tommy gives two one Reeler, one from Columbia and one from Iver Films, you can cut them to a longer Version, but is rare

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on June 01, 2015, 06:49 AM:

I'm sure I remember that Iver also had a promo reel for Tommy that they distributed. Whilst having a lot of duplication with the others it was supposed to have shots not in either extract - I'll have to look up reviews in old magazines to check

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 01, 2015, 06:52 AM:

Iver did two trailer reels for this film, one was approx 50ft the other which we have was extended by approx another minute and was supplied on a 100ft spool. [Wink]

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on June 02, 2015, 11:33 AM:

Brian and Tom,I believe that eventually you are talking about the same reel. I bought the 100 ft promo from Umit, the day before the BFCC, and it is actually a long trailer rather than a promo.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on May 01, 2019, 02:37 PM:

OK, here is a defined explanation, Years ago i purchased what i thought was the only Iver 400ft version of this movie. It was supplied brand new from Iver and came in a hard plastic case, however the footage was only around 330ft. This was the one that Bill Davidson has reviewed and to honest the quality of both the image and the sound blew me away. The sound in particular is fantastic, booming clear sound with every word sung crystal clear. The columbia version was pretty good but i sold it as the quality was too variable against this Iver version to splice to a longer cut.

Roll onto this week and Paul Foster had another 400ft cut of Tommy on his list. I was hoping to simply replace mine as it has now faded so i enquired to Paul as to the colours but also if it was the Iver or Columbia version. He explained that colours were very good but it was also a very full 400ft reel and was the Iver release.
I have read on here, (this thread) that Iver put out two cut downs so i was hoping it was this other Iver release & not the a mix of the Iver & Columbia versions.
The idea was that i would sell on my fading version and keep the new one. Well, what a surprise,
This one is indeed the rare Iver full 450ft cut and the two are chalk and cheese.
There is mega more content in this longer version, The image is first class as is the colour, the sound however, while good, is not a patch on the 330ft version. It is good though.
While the cut of the 330ft version runs really smooth throughout, this longer cut does have two poor edits but one of them will be remedied. Let me explain, the final song is "Listening to you". The Columbia version has the longest and full version of this song, my original Iver 330ft version has 90% of it with stunning soundtrack and this 450ft version has a very poor cut and only plays out the last 10 seconds or so. It this edit that will allow me to take this song from my 330 version and edit it into this longer version, it will make it a better edit. So now i have both the Iver versions in my collection, (one to edit the last song for the new one) and also the full 100ft trailer.
To be able to get this one re-recorded would be great but the edit would make it a nightmare for the hardened enthusiast.

For those who may be interested, within the next week or so i will do a full review of both and hopefully put up the running order of the edits.
[Wink]

Posted by Leon Norris (Member # 3151) on May 01, 2019, 02:59 PM:

It sounds like a good one ! I myself never seen it! And I have not seen it popup for sale! That makes this hobby so much fun in searching for hard to find titles!

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on May 01, 2019, 10:27 PM:

I could be wrong but I think this subject may have also been discussed in another thread. I believe the explanation for the two different Iver 400' versions is that the longer version is a cut down that Iver edited, while the shorter version is an official promo that I think was produced for the Cannes Film Festival. This would also explain why the shorter one flows smoothly throughout, while the longer one has more jarring cuts. It's unfortunate that they didn't differentiate between the two, when it comes to the box artwork.

So that we cover every 'Tommy' release here, I'll add that I have a US trailer that Jeff Films released, and this is very different to both the trailers that Iver released.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on May 02, 2019, 12:51 AM:

That explains it very well Adrian. Thank you. [Wink]

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