8mm Forum: Of Star Wars and Super 8

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 17, 2005, 11:01 PM:

Many kudo's to Rob Young for his nice little walk down memory lane concerning the Earlier Star Wars releases, (read it if you haven't yet, quite good.) It's inspired me to give a little of my film history ...

I remember exactly when I first fell in love with film. My Da was a projectionist part time on the Air Force Base where we lived and where I saw, in the projectionist booth, looking down, at
"Silent Running", and around the same time, "Robin Hood" (Disney animated version) It's no wonder that my first loves,genre wise, has been Sci-fi and animation. I was entranced with those flickering images, the clicking of the projector, those big reels turning around and around,

and I was maybe 5 or 6 years old at the time.

After that I remember buying every book of paper movie machines, flip books and such that I could get my hands on. My Da also had a , I believe Eumig P8, and he would show such silent classic as "Cinderella's Cinders (1922) and assorted Laurel and Hardy's.

Then .... the magical bolt out of the blue ...

Aw, that first sight of the rebel blockade runner coming down on the screen, only to be follawed by the immense and awe-striking Star Destroyer!!! Certianly, I had entered film vahalla and certianly, this was a new thing in the cinemas!

But, alas, I would only discover super 8 years later, but I remember seeing in a store, a little 200ft color sound copy of Star Wars, niavely wondering, "Wow, they got the whole movie on that little reel!!

And then, in 1987, I bought my first little projector, a very used super 8 sound Sears model, and at a flea market, I bought a 400ft. print of Star Wars. Of course, the color was just fine as of that point, and it was really scratchy, some green lines, but by God, the film I had fallen in love with, I could watch again and again. Mind you, even as late as 1987, Laserdiasc really hadn't caught on with people in general, nor had big screen LCD projector TV's, so being able to watch these magnificent films, at home, on the big screen, was STILL a rather novel thing at that time.

Mind you, I could buy, (and did) the vcr copy of it, but it didn't do the same thing as watching that little 400ft version on a BIG SCREEN!!! All at once, I was once again a little child, in that movie theater, awestruck again, and, as we all know, film collectors defintely suffer from a bad (good) case of Nolstalgia.

Then, when Derrann released Star Wars as a full feature, I BOUGHT IT!!! (and I had a lot less money then than I do now!)
and to REALLY see it as I had seen it in the theater ... in SCOPE!

Now, fast forward to 2003. I decided to start collecting again, (in my stupidity, I had sold my original collection in 1991 to move into laserdisc, yeah I know, stupid move!!!), and I went thru and nearly bought again, every film that I originally had, including Star Wars SCOPE.

and, in conclusion ....

The lights go down, the lamp beams bright, and that immense Star Destroyer roars down in all it's splendor ...

and there, in the middle of that ancient theater, (that looks suspiciously like my home) sits a 40 year old, snuggled down with his popcorn, who magically is 11 years old again, swept off his feet by the flickering image ....

the flickering image ...

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on August 18, 2005, 03:54 AM:

Nice one, Osi...

Back when SW and ESB were released the theaters, over here were "permanent", ie - the film (as well as a few trailers, a short of some sort and a bunch of ads) was being projected continuously from noon til midnight. I saw both films on their opening days, 5 times in a row, in a giant, 3000 seats art-deco beauty of a theatre...

On Xmas '78, I put all my pocket money together, (my dear Mom and some other members of the family added their contribution) and I bought a Silm S233 sound projector and the 400ft cut down of Star Wars... I just can't remember how many times I watched that film...

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on August 22, 2005, 02:06 AM:

A lovely story. My own experience with the Star Wars 400 foot extract has similarities. That release did more for Super 8 in its day than any other.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on August 22, 2005, 12:55 PM:

Osi, Jean-Marc & John,

Wonderful contributions, because there is something about SW that fills a gap in us about 'A place long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.'
It's that nostalgic charm that always brings us back. [Smile]

I remember watching my first 200' color silent version again and again and feeling completely satisfied especially when there were not any good films playing in the theatres and not a thing worthy of watching on TV.
Amazing on how a 200' silent digest can fill so much happiness.

Michael

Posted by Colin Robert Hunt (Member # 433) on August 22, 2005, 01:58 PM:

If my memory is correct the 200ft colour sound print was available before Star Wars was shown in London. I remember seeing the film running in the Portland Films shop at a price.
It took me a long while to get tickets when it was in London. I do remember seeing the film at the Odeon Marble arch in 70mm on there Demention 150 screen. It's a shame they converted it now into a multiplex. Saw some gret restorations and Close Encounters there. The Science museum in London had a Star Wars exhibition with some of the costumes and props and that 200ft extract showing in one of the displays. I was a member of the National Film theatre in London and they had a 2 hour lecture with John Williams the films music composer. I remember this was very interesting and contained much of the composers film work of the 70's with Speilberg, and of course tales about Star Wars. I got talking to someone at the NFT on a earlier visit. He said that he was mixing down the soundtrack at Elstree. Tried to get a visit but no luck. Would have been interesting to experience that.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 25, 2005, 03:05 PM:

Star Wars itself really was a cultural milestone.It was a milestone technically, (the special effects, for the most part, STILL look pretty darn good today). I'm always kind of sad when todays people, who are engulfed in special effects movies and quick whiz bang smash them ups, react with little care about Star Wars.

Not that it was god-like or anything like that, but it's hard for people of today to imagine a film that had people wrapped all the way around the block not just once but a number of times.

The film was a real shot in the arm. With inflation and such and growing woes on all sides, this film was a welcome relief with a positive message. Looking back, so many of the 70's movies were more reactionary and pollitically motivated, and here comes this wonderful fantasy! The next year brought us Close Encounters of the Third kind. That film, unlike so many alien movies, told us that aliens were something to fear, but friends.

This topic deals with Star Wars, however. Wow, to think that the super 8 version was actually out before the film in England! I wouldn't be suprised if just woning a piece of Star Wars on super 8 actually launched a num ber of people into super 8 collecting. It did that for me!

I still remember looking at the space battle scenes, frame by frame on an editor, and then made animated flip-books, page by page, I guess paying homage to these films, (complete with laser-blasts and such!)

I think my first actual experience with Star Wars was the little "Kenner" movie viewer, so either way, whether 200ft version or Kenner, I experienced super 8 before going to the theater.

It's just crept back into my mind that I took that footage out of the little cassettes and projected it on my first little projector!

Star Wars will always hold a stranglehold on my memories~!

Posted by Kurt Gardner (Member # 440) on August 25, 2005, 03:25 PM:

Kmart had a whole corrugated display of the Ken Films 200' version in sound, silent, color and black and white. It was a teaser for the theatrical release, available maybe a month beforehand. I bought it not only because it looked cool but because it was only $14.95 at a time when 200' color sound releases were $29.95. When I watched it I felt as if I was having my own private world premiere, because here was a film not yet in theatres unspooling before my eyes. Very cool.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 27, 2005, 12:50 PM:

You know, I actually remember that very display you are talking about, at K-mart (boy, that sure dates us!!) Ah, that was the golden age of super 8mm collecting. (I think that were in the "coda" these days).

I think the other great bombshell of Star Wars, was when they released the part 2 in scope!!! Wow!! it was one thing to see the last battle on super 8, but in SCOPE!!! I bought a mint condition (color and otherwise) copy of this title, and it holds a prominent place in my "vintage super 8" (before features) collection.

Even to this day, there really is a difference to what we see on DVD and the original scope. As I'm sure you well know, the actual SCOPE image is a good deal wider than the image on the new special edition DVD collection of STAR WARS!! I was just watching that again, (last night), and I was impressed with this all over again. Especially when we get to the last battle trench sequences, where you get much more of a feeling of vertigo.

Although the DERRANN feature of Star Wars has better sharpness and color/sound, that 400ft. part 2 scope version is still "The Cat's Meow" as far as I'm concerned!

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