8mm Forum: Rupert & The Frog Song. 400ft Colour Sound CHC

This is topic Rupert & The Frog Song. 400ft Colour Sound CHC in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on November 23, 2018, 03:09 PM:

I recently viewed this lovely 400ft reel from CHC. I bought this one many years ago an to date i think i can only recall seeing it appear on second hand lists once.
This print is like new with excellent colours and good sound. This one often gets screened with our Christmas films each year but also a few times in between. Dont ask me why, but i do feel like this one is good for a Christmas show even though there is nothing in this short that has anything to do with Christmas.
With the help of wiki, here is the short plot of this film which is voiced by Paul McCartney (voice) – Rupert, Bill, Boy Frog, June Whitfield (voice) – Rupert's Mother and Windsor Davies (voice) – Rupert's Father, Edward, Father Frog.
Rupert decides to head off for a walk on the hills. With his Mother's blessing he sets off for a jolly trip, encountering his friends Edward Elephant and Bill Badger along the way, who are too busy to join him. As Rupert reaches a hill he props himself up against the trunk of an oak tree and enjoys the glory of the countryside. Suddenly he finds himself enveloped by a rainbow cloud of butterflies previously masquerading as leaves on the oak tree, and all of them swarm away from the leafless tree towards a rocky outcrop; Rupert cannot resist following them. As he leaves, a large white barn owl and two black cats decide to follow him.
Upon the rocks, Rupert finds a large number of multicoloured frogs. He walks into a cave behind a waterfall and sees three signs: "Frogs only beyond this point", "Everything except frogs must be kept on a lead", and "Guard frogs operating". He sneaks into the palace, trying to avoid getting caught by the frog guards. There, he witnesses the Frog Song, an event that occurs only once in a few hundred years in which various frogs of all shapes and sizes come together and sing "We All Stand Together". Around the end, the frog King and Queen rise out of the water before the crowd to finish off the song. After a thunderous applause from the frogs, the owl, who had followed Rupert to find out where the frogs were hiding, launches itself for an attack on the royals, but Rupert manages to warn the frogs in time and they all quickly retreat, leaving the owl and the cats empty-handed and the palace completely empty. After hearing his mother call him, Rupert excitedly rushes home to tell his family about what he saw.

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on November 23, 2018, 03:58 PM:

I also have this one Tom,bought it new from CHC,rerecorded it in stereo and sounds superb,Mark

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on November 23, 2018, 04:23 PM:

i bet it does too, the standard sound is fine but not one of the best, if i didn't put it through a stereo amp it would only be mediocre sound at best.

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on November 23, 2018, 04:28 PM:

The stripes on this take a great recording,well worth doing,Mark.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on November 23, 2018, 04:37 PM:

believe me Mark, if i could i would, unfortunately i dont have the right equipment for it.

Posted by Graham Sinden (Member # 431) on November 23, 2018, 07:05 PM:

I also have this and like it but its a shame its edited. For a start the ending is cut but during the song there is a whole sequence cut (but I cant remember where at the moment). Phil obviously did this to make it fit a 400ft reel and bring the price down but its a shame its not full length. Still great though to have it on 8.

Graham S

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on November 24, 2018, 02:13 AM:

Graham i do agree with you, on youtube the whole item is just short of 14 minutes. The start shows Paul McCartney finding an old Rupert book in a dusty old box and it has His old Liverpool address, (This book belongs to PM, 12, Ardwick road), he opens the first page which shows the title, this is where this reel starts, there are little snippets which are also cut and the other scene with McCartney at the end is also cut. Looking at the end title sequence on this reel, this is where a fade could have been used as the titles run for two or three minutes so a lot of wasted opportunity. However, it is still a very good and quite a rare reel. A complete one on 16mm would be great to have [Wink]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 24, 2018, 11:45 AM:

That sounds like a neat find! Thanks for sharing there, Tom!

Shame that they cut out all the McCartney footage, probably for copyright reasons?

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on November 24, 2018, 12:53 PM:

I wondered if that may have been the case, i guess we will never know

Posted by Matthieu van der Sluis (Member # 6040) on January 17, 2019, 04:19 PM:

Nice to see a review of this film.
I have bought this film from the marketplace for I think €20.
As a kid I really loved it, and was amazed by seeing it on Super8.
Of course, this was before I found this forum an d heared about Derann.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on January 18, 2019, 07:02 AM:

Matthieu, that was a very good price.
I'd love to get the full version on 16mm but cant say i have ever seen it come up.

Posted by Philip Sheard (Member # 6884) on April 05, 2019, 09:08 AM:

this was not cut. the print was as shown at cinema in uk

Posted by Leon Norris (Member # 3151) on April 05, 2019, 11:52 AM:

Nice screen shots on this cartoon! It looks like a good one!

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