8mm Forum: Questions about universal8 releases

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Posted by Andreas Eggeling (Member # 105) on September 16, 2003, 04:52 PM:

In Germany in 1981/82 were following titles released with a logo of universal eight films:

"Masada" (1981) (mini) TV series
...aka "Antagonists, The" (1981) (mini) (UK)
2 x 400 feet color sound

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
...aka Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again (1980) (UK)
2 x 400 feet color sound

Conquest of the Earth (1980) (TV)
...aka Galactica III: Conquest of the Earth (1980) (TV)
2 x 400 feet color sound

Xanadu (1980)
2 x 400 feet color sound

[Confused]

Now my question: Was any title above released on the english spoken market? Only Xanadu I´ve seen on a Derann used list some years ago.

Thank you in advance for any information.

Andreas Eggeling

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on September 16, 2003, 06:49 PM:

Universal also released Smokey and the Bandit Part 2 in the U.S. I have the "Xanadu" 800 footer. It was released at the same time with "Blues Brothers" 800 footer, and some other modern releases. I think one of the Cheech and Chong films were also released during this time. (Can anyone confirm this?)

About the Xanadu and Blues Brothers digests-

Niether one was up to the near-perfectly U-8 edited digests from a few years earlier like Jaws, The Sting, Dracula 1979, etc. But were not bad, really. Both were letterboxed nicely, and contained at least a few memerable music numbers. The Blues Brothers digest seemed to concentrate more on action scenes, like the police chases, so they cut out some of the great songs. You will never see Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, or Carrie Fisher, so be warned. Still in spite of this, its an enjoyable digest. Xanadu is not as good. I used a couple of scenes for short, self contained clips, like the "I'm Alive" number by E.L.O. (I plan to re-record it in stereo.)

The color on these two titles has held up much better than the earlier releases like Jaws. They may have been printed on better stock, since these were the last releases from Universal 8. Nick.

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