8mm Forum: Best Selling 400ft Digest

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on February 05, 2006, 01:04 PM:

Anybody know what the all time best selling 400ft digest was? I seem to remember reading in a newspaper many years ago that it was 'The Sound of Music'. Apparently the demand for that title was huge in many countries of the world and Ken Films made a fortune selling hundreds of thousands of prints. I also believe that there were several releases of this 400ft digest, with slight editing differences between them. I just screend mine, after several years, and I must say that it is a pretty good digest, capturing the essence of the movie, but as usual with Ken Films they really scrimped on footage- about 325 ft I reckon on a 400ft reel. Another 75 ft could have done a lot for this digest. That's what I liked about Columbia, you always got a full 400ft reel!

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on February 05, 2006, 01:11 PM:

Great question -- I'd be interested in the answer. I would have thought it might have been the STAR WARS digest but I don't have any facts to back that up.

I agree with you regarding the amount of footage in a "400 foot" digests. I always wondered why companies skimped on the footage to come up with 325 feet. Just like the later "800 foot" digests that could magically fit on a 600 foot reel!

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on February 05, 2006, 02:27 PM:

The walton, mountain and ivers were usually full, even over some of the Ivers, and I think most Deranns were OK too.
Best Mark.
PS some of the columbia voice overs were a bit serious though!!!
PPS Alien must be pretty well up there?

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on February 05, 2006, 02:37 PM:

I would think that it was the Ken releases of Star Wars. Shame they are probably all red now [Frown]

Kev.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on February 05, 2006, 06:27 PM:

Wasn't there a rumor that "Silver Streak" was actually Ken's best seller?

Doug

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on February 05, 2006, 08:40 PM:

Hi all,

I sometime found the FTG number (footage) of Blackhawk's more than 425, which meand they put 425 feet.

So, guys from the Old Days, can you tell me, was there any price different at that time if we purchased Ken (which was 325) and Columbia (which was always full)?

If there was no different in pricing, where was the consumer protection at that time?

thanks,

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on February 05, 2006, 11:17 PM:

I would also guess that Star Wars was the biggest seller, remember they released the second version a little later which hints to large demand for the original.

Here in Australia in 1979 the retail price for a 400ft digest was $59.00. That is the price that K-mart and Waltons sold them for at that time. The Eight Millimeter Film Centre, a store that had shelves and shelves full of 8mm titles, also sold them at that price at that time and most camera stores had them at that too.

All brands were the same price, Columbia, Ken, MGM, Castle (U8) etc. I recall that Disney however were often $65. I recall looking for Pluto's Playfull Pranks at $59 and could not find it at the lower price.

200ft digests and cartoons at the same time were $29.00. At this time the Australian dollar was about 10% stronger than the US dollar.

It only seems like yesterday that my local K-Mart had racks of Super 8's (mostly Castle) and nearby were racks of guns! Both are long gone from Australian K mart stores.

My Star Wars is still very good colour, shame some of my other Ken's are red.

David

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on February 06, 2006, 03:01 AM:

I have heard that "Silver Streak" was the best selling 'title' on 8mm of all time. Of course, there was a 200ft and a feature version as well as the 400ft. I do find it hard to believe that this out-sold the extracts from "Star Wars" though but I suppose it must have been out a year or so before the first "Star Wars" extract appeared. Having said that, my understanding is that "Star Wars" was responsible for the explosion of the Super 8 hobby in 1977/78. Perhaps those that got into it then also tended to purchase "Silver Streak" for something else to run on their new Super 8 equipment?

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on February 06, 2006, 03:14 AM:

Yes it's hard to believe, but "Silver Streak" is actually supposed to be the best selling 400ft of all time, and none other than good old Derek Simmonds told me that in his office one day. I think the reason "Star Wars" doesn't figure is that it came out in 77/78 and the peak period for 8mm was around 1979, and people who were buying new equipment bought titles that were new on the 8mm market at that time, or were suggested as a good film to start with (it was quite well edited).

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on February 06, 2006, 08:39 AM:

I don't know about best sellers.....Raiders of the lost Ark might have been up there. But the edit job on Silver Streak was , I thought, very very good. The feature tended to be episodic...so a lot could be skipped without affect plot or flow. It was a nice sharp print, too.

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on February 06, 2006, 12:27 PM:

"Raiders Of The Lost Ark" was a brilliant 400ft digest, but it came out too late for it to make much of an impact, this was virtually the last release from "Marketing International" based in N.Y., although the parent company "Marketing Films" of Germany carried on releasing 8mm in Germany only, for a while longer.

Posted by David Michael Leugers (Member # 166) on February 15, 2006, 10:24 PM:

I don't know, but it seems to me that "Silver Streak" if the all time best seller would be extremely common on eBay for sale. Based on what I have seen over the years, Star Wars and Sound of Music are much more available. I really like the Columbia films especially the B+W classics.

David M. Leugers

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on February 17, 2006, 12:41 PM:

hello everyone;according to bill davison bootlace cinema-STAR WARS part one is the best selling package movie of all time!.mined you the date was feb.1981.as kevin says its a same their all red/pink now.i always found the editing on those ken/fox releases very poor.what do other members think?.cheers andy.

Posted by Trevor Adams (Member # 42) on February 18, 2006, 04:43 AM:

Wouldn't mind betting everyone here has Ben Hur in digest or feature length....... [Smile]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on February 18, 2006, 09:51 AM:

Sorry, Trevor. That's one I don't have. Yet.

Doug

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on February 18, 2006, 10:07 AM:

Want one, Doug? I have a spare 400ft version. Let's trade [Big Grin]

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on September 13, 2009, 07:16 AM:

Well if Silver Streak was the most popular, they are tightly held. Since this was first posted I have been looking out for copies on ebay here in Australia, The US and UK.

There have been a few in the US, some in the UK and only one in Australia. In that time there have been many Star Wars and Sound Of Music copies. I would not put Silver Streak anywhere near the top 20 of 400ft titles from this basic research.(I should have done an actual count!)

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on September 13, 2009, 12:46 PM:

SILVER STREAK is pretty common on UK Ebay,usually pops up every couple of months and sells cheap too.

Keep your eyes peeled for it to pop up again.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 13, 2009, 12:49 PM:

I would agree that STAR WARS is probably the best seller. Perhaps at that time, "Silver Streak" may have been the biggest seller, but for longevity, I bet that Star Wars way outsold it.

Most of the American prints are faded, sadly, having been mostly put out on Eastman stock. However, the later or last printings were on Kodak SP, (these were in the plastic clamshells), and it is possible to find a good color copy of these.

On the other hand, I would suggest the German Marketing films version, (only a part 1 400ft and 200ft, which while very good, only go up to the end of the Tie Fighter Battle with the Mellenium Falcom ... gee, I've always liked that name for that ship!), as the color on this version has held up very well.

I have a copy of that German version of the complete digest and it is Kodak SP, and the color has the slightest hint of fade, and that's up to debate, as the space shots are still nice and black, but this German Marketing digest was also released in either Agfa or Fuji film stock, and these copies are pristine in color!

That, and the color is much richer in these German/Marketing printas, very saturated!

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on September 13, 2009, 01:31 PM:

The 200 ft of Star Was was the only digest ever to sell over a million prints!

Posted by Carter Bradley (Member # 984) on September 13, 2009, 05:16 PM:

I, too would assume "the Sound of Music" and/or "Star Wars" would be the best-selling titles, since these appear so often on US Ebay. On a related note, when Ken released the 200' "Patton speech" in addition to the already available "Patton" in both 200' and 400' versions, I wrote the company and asked if they planned to extend any other releases, such as "The Sound of Music" with perhaps the opening sequence. Their reply was no, that they were only licensed to release the current version. Also on a somewhat related note, I worked in the camera department of a local K-Mart when I was in high school, and the manager would allow me to discount super 8 films at any time in order to buy. Therefore, 400' Ken films cost me $36.88 and 200' $19.88! I was still working when super 8 made it's exit in the early 80s, and I have several films with a $4.88 K-Mart price tag!

Posted by John Skujins (Member # 1515) on September 13, 2009, 09:34 PM:

I contributed to the Star Wars 200-ft popularity at the time. I bought the 200-ft color silent version, but it had a blank soundtrack on it, so my two brothers and I recorded our own soundtrack with funny dialog, music and sound effects.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on September 13, 2009, 10:25 PM:

I remember bringing my 200' color sound STAR WARS digest to my sleepaway summer camp (along with my Kodak sound projector) back in 1977. The movie had just come out and we were all bussed to the local town to see it. Afterwards we all watched the digest over and over and over again... I remember it made me very popular!

Posted by Greg Marshall (Member # 1268) on September 13, 2009, 10:44 PM:

Isn't 'The Rose' in there somewhere????? [Big Grin]

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on September 14, 2009, 02:15 AM:

Yes, it sold 10 copies upon release LOL!!

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on February 23, 2013, 04:24 PM:

As this as been brought to my attention "Silver Steak" is one I bought on super 8 400ft I also have on 16mm sadly fading away. One of my favs. It was the Royal film in the UK when released.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on February 23, 2013, 04:54 PM:

I was just reading the excellent article by Derann's Ged Jones on
the "Star Wars" releases, and I believe that they were the fastest
selling releases of all time, Mountain Films alone sold over 10,000
prints alone, DFS sold 4500 making "Star Wars" the biggest selling package movie in history.That doesn't include the other distributors, I remember trying to buy the 400' edition when
first released, only to be told the first shipment that arrived by 'plane had all been pre sold.That was unheard of .

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on February 23, 2013, 06:05 PM:

I bought "Star Wars" when it came out, it was huge hit at the time. Up to that point if I remember right, getting the latest cinema blockbuster onto Super8 so quick was unheard of.

The quality of picture/sound and editing was excellent. It was a huge boost to home cinema and Super8 collecting, it was really something. Sad those prints have faded, [Frown]

they looked great at the time.

Graham.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on February 23, 2013, 06:33 PM:

I thought that too Graham until I bought the Marketing version
to splice in, it made like comparing S/8 to 16MM, the difference
was evident.

Posted by Christian Bjorgen (Member # 1780) on February 24, 2013, 12:44 PM:

Well, out of the ones you've listed I have all 400' except for "Silver Streak", so I think you're on to something ;-)

I have the Ken Films 2x400 of both Star Wars and Empire, both with some fade but looks more than OK with a cyan filter. The only exceptions are the outdoor scenes in the first 200' of the film (when the Skywalkers buy C3PO and R2D2), which is very reddish/orange due to the original colour of the scene in addition to fade.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on February 24, 2013, 01:28 PM:

The problem with the 200' Chris, was that it was farmed out to various labs to cope with demand,therefore creating differing
print quality.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on February 25, 2013, 12:30 AM:

Back in 1978 this one was released....it must also have been a big seller at the time [Roll Eyes]

"its timeless" and still good to watch. [Smile]

The colour has held up really well over the last 34 years.

Graham.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on February 25, 2013, 09:46 AM:

Most of the U-8 Horror editions

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on February 25, 2013, 04:39 PM:

In a time long long ago it would have been the 200ft of Star Wars which came out prior to the 400. I also joined a que to buy it at the time way back when.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on February 25, 2013, 04:55 PM:

OMG! What? Can it be? Breaking news! Doug does NOT have a copy of Ben Hur? I'll bet he does have one tucked somewhere that he forgot about. This is surely shocking news. I have to take a heart pill and calm down. [Eek!]

But I bet he has the box art for it [Big Grin]

PatD

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on February 25, 2013, 06:30 PM:

Pat,

That post is over six years old! I now have that digest, along with the the scope 3x400' version.

Doug

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