8mm Forum: What was your FIRST EVER Super 8/Standard 8mm film?

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 05, 2006, 10:25 AM:

Here's a fun question, (at least, to me!) What was your very first super 8 or standard 8mm film that you bought or just got from someone else?

The first film I ever recieved was a Standard 8mm 100ft. Mickey Mouse cartoon. It was entitled "Touchdown Mickey", remember those beautiful Mickey Mouse boxes? Beautiful! I had always loved cartoons as it was and I treasured this.

The first Super 8mm film is a funny story. Someone had given me a really old crappy super 8 film projector, which I had no films for (it was a Sears Projector ... BOOO!), and I was 10 years old.

It was 1977 ...

... and there were these little "Kenner" STARWARS movie viewers, which you could buy these cassettes for. There were five in the series. I bought all of them, but ripped them all open to put all the film all on one reel, and it all fit on one 50ft. reel, (there was only 30 seconds of film in each cassette) without sound, (little did I know that Ken films had put out that 200ft. version by then).

So, these little Kenner STAR WARS cassettes were my first excursion into super 8. Gosh, just thinking back to those early childhood years really does make me misty eyed. So carefree.

I'd love to hear how far back folks like Doug Metzer and Kevin faulkners Super 8 standard 8 obsessions went back. Also, answer whether you started with super 8 or Standard 8mm.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on October 05, 2006, 11:08 AM:

My first std 8mm projector was a Kodak brownie, and I got a b&w 50ft of the Flintstones and Disney's "Dr Syn alias the Scarecrow" in glorious colours (a monstrous 200ft spool, which was the limited capacity of the projector).

Posted by Barry Johnson (Member # 84) on October 05, 2006, 01:06 PM:

First Std8 film was "The Perfect Lady" starring Charles Chaplin,that was in 1960.
The first Super8 was "On Safari" with Armand & Michaela Denis.That was in 1982.
I still collect but mainly Std8-a better choice of product!

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on October 05, 2006, 01:30 PM:

O.K., here's my story......

I had recently become obsessed with monster movies on T.V. when I was 6 years old around 1969, when the classic UNIVERSAL's were shown regularly on T.V. on Saturday nights (Creature Feature).

I was getting the monster magazines, and always marvelled at the page that advertised monster home movies in 8mm/super 8 that were advertised in the back of the magazine.

I begged and begged my parents for a projector and movies and finally, Christmas of 1972, I received my first projector- a dual 8 GAF, and a 50'foot silent "Dracula" (Castle Films).

I was soooooo excitited- I rushed to thread the movie up, and, then came the one-two punch:

Punch #1- This is NOT the whole complete movie- its only a meezly 5 minutes long- and SILENT (I knew nothing about digests or silent films, only what I saw on T.V.). Big dissapointment.

Punch #2- As the ending leader finally exited the rear of the projector and the film was slapping around.....I couldn't wait to rewind it and play it again...and again...and again! I was instantly hooked, and still am today.

Nick.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on October 05, 2006, 01:42 PM:

My memory is a bit fizzled on this, though about 1962 I discovered comic books, then a trip to the local camera store yielded a CASTLE FILMS catalog which the salesman gave me and I just went crazy going through every detail, memorizing and asking to buy something, it was a Std 8 of THE GREAT CHASE (WC Fields) 200', borrowed a viewer and so it began - That box of Fields' face "A Laugh Riot" stuck with me to find more box variations and so it evolved, still have that film - First Super 8 was A&C Comedies Riot On Ice (Silent) 1965 that was when they first released Super 8 - Wow - Shorty

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on October 05, 2006, 01:56 PM:

I had been using my dad's 9.5mm sound films throughout the 60's up to about 1969 even bought a couple out of my pocket money. Discovered 8mm sound films in 1972 and bought my first three from Dixons.
They were 'Challenge Of The Alps' 'The Perfect Day' (L&H) and 'The Eagles Nest' (Look at Life). All I needed then was a projector to screen them.......
Mal

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on October 05, 2006, 04:02 PM:

My first film on super8 was gorilla my dreams with bugs bunny.
I was totally hooked.My yelco was burned out with this cartoon.
Next was fox's two reeler from THE FRENCH CONNECTION.
The projector was a joy,it made me feel good.That was in 1976.
I was sorry when i left this brillant format in 1981.
Then i got a p.c;and thanks to ebay,this forum,and the dealers that
still do super8;i am back were i belong.Andy.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on October 05, 2006, 05:27 PM:

I was persuaded by my old boss to take up film making back in 1975, sounded a good idea at the time. First he says you need a camera which in itself took me months to pay of, next he says, you need a projector which he was selling, later on, you need an editor, which also, he just happend to selling, followed by the comments, of course you have to have a splicer to join it all. [Roll Eyes]

The hole exercise cost me a fortune, after shooting some Super8 I decided something better than my crummy home movies was needed so I bought my first film a Laurel and Hardy 200ft Walton Hog Wild, caught the film bug and been enjoying it ever since. [Smile]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 05, 2006, 05:31 PM:

First Super-8?

A print of Sunday River Productions "Two Foot Gauge in Maine" in 1978. It is a silent showing 1930s action on a narrow gauge railroad that I really was and still am interested in.

I saw an ad. for it in a railroad magazine and just had to see it! I rode up to the bank on my bike and got a money order and sent it off to Sunday River. Two weeks later I had this film I was desperate to see: Excellent! Problem: No projector! So I unreeled enough to cover my bed and looked at the frames! A week or so later my neighbor projected it for me and I saw a railroad vanished since 1936 alive and well! Magic!

That Christmas my parents bought me a Kodak Moviedeck which still runs like new. These days it is in semi retirement: mostly as a previewer of 50 footers back from the lab.

Posted by Gordon Hunter (Member # 679) on October 05, 2006, 06:18 PM:

My first film was a 50 foot Walton title purchased way back in 1961. It was a digest version of "London to Brighton in 4 Minutes". There is also a sequence of travelling through the London streets at the same speed!
The film which really started me collecting package films, was a Std. 8mm "Peak" film called "Keystone Railroads". This starts with an excerpt from "The Iron Mule" and the print is actually reversed!
These two films are still somewhere in my collection of some 480 titles and I need more storage space!

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on October 05, 2006, 06:43 PM:

Osi,

What a great question! I believe the year was 1972 (I was twelve) and I was walking with my folks in Times Square. We stopped to look inside one of the many camera stores in that area and I saw a bin of 200' Atlas Standard 8mm films, each in their generic red and white "Classic Adventures" box. The titles were stamped on the bottom and I picked up "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman". Mom was nice enough to shell out the $5.95. Once we got home, Dad showed me how to thread the Bell & Howell 254 and he turned it on. The 500 watt lamp came to life, and the projector made an incredible roar and the hand drawn Atlas title appeared on the screen, followed by the words "Dawn.....in the ruins of Frankenstein's castle". Larry Talbot wakes up in the castle and finds the monster encased in ice. That was it for me. I was totally transfixed. In fact the projector noise was a big part of that great experience.

A few films later (Ken's "Ghidrah Battles" and "Godzilla vs. the Thing" were next) and my Dad decided to replace the loud B&H with a quiet Ricoh Dual 88. My first Super 8mm? I'm not sure...I think I have it written down somewhere. My first Super 8mm sound? Abbott and Costello in "Pardon My Sarong".

Doug

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on October 06, 2006, 07:21 AM:

This is a part cut and paste from my entry in the Walton/Mountain Films topic..........

The first films I ever bought were Mountain Films and they were brand new Std 8mm in the late 1970's; I only had a Std 8 projector! Purchased from the Eight Millimeter Film Centre in Carlton who had their walls lined with every film imaginable from just about every distributor.

I bought a 50 footer called Victim Of The Devil and a 2 x 200 footer called Walter Finds A Father. I ran them countless times and still have both of them.

Does anyone know what films they are from or who stars in them? Walter Finds A Father looks like an original silent two reeler and Victim Of The Devil is a cutdown of a horror film. I am not really up on my classic horrors so I don't recognise it. The cover art on this one is excellent.

My first Std 8 sound was Stooges Go West by Walton, I only ever saw it silent though! I did buy a Super 8 sound version years later, but I had almost worked it all out by lip reading by then.

My first Super 8 were two Laurel & Hardy titles from IE International and a Popeye in colour all 50 footers in about 1979.

First Super 8 Sound was T & J in Jerry and Jumbo by Walton. They were all run dozens of times often 2 - 3 times per week.

David

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on October 06, 2006, 08:51 AM:

1958----ninth birthday....a Brumberger hand cranked stand. 8 projector....50 foot capacity. It came with a 25 foot cartoon, Three Little Kittens. I also was allowed to buy that same night, Castle 50 footers , Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and Have Badge Will Chase. I ran those on that machine until there were more scratches than image on the films.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 06, 2006, 10:01 AM:

This is awesome! (Kevin, we still haven't heard from you!), I didn't list my first super 8 sound film.

It was "The Band Concert" There was a clearance bin at this department store in San Francisco, and they must have been getting rid of thier film collection there. It was part of that Disney Masterworks collection. Actually I bought two, that one and "The Old Mill". Both films were outstanding color, (still are, but incredibly scratched up!), and that beautiful flickering image! I had never seen the uncut cartoons before, and they were lovely on that big screen!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 06, 2006, 12:12 PM:

My first ever Super-8 sound film was a 200 Footer of Frank Sinatra in "Von Ryan's Express" in 2002.

I bought it for these reasons:

1) I just bought my first sound projector and I wanted to try it out.

2) It was on E-bay, dirt cheap.

3) There's a train in it. (see above)

"Ol' Frank" still sits on the shelf with the many, many sound films I have purchased since then. He usually gets screen time when I have a projector I need to try out which just may eat the film, so in the long term he is doomed! (A brave soldier puts his life on the line for his comrades!)

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on October 07, 2006, 06:50 AM:

This is good stuff! [Smile]

Steve- Wow! Your first sound movie in 2002? I thought you were one of the old time collectors [Wink]

Doug- Did Atlas films release their own digest of Frankenstien Meets the Wolfman?? Or was it actually the Castle release.

Nick.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 07, 2006, 09:15 AM:

No, No!

I first started about 25-30 years ago in my teens, but I was out of film as a regular thing while I was going to college and chasing women around. After I got married I got back into it for silents only, and started to get a little bugged about all the films I couldn't buy because I didn't have a sound projector. Then I made the leap...

The funny part is the explosion of my collection since I got sound. In the four years since I did my total screen time is up by a factor of about 8 times!

It's a great hobby: Many, many aspects so there is something new to try and even avoid some if they aren't your thing. Very hard to become bored!

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on October 07, 2006, 10:02 AM:

Did Atlas films release their own digest of Frankenstien Meets the Wolfman?? Or was it actually the Castle release.

Nick,

Somehow Atlas got away with releasing a number of excerpts from "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman", most probably without obtaining any rights whatsoever. That first 200' I mentioned starts in the ruins of the castle and finishes with the monster's appearance during the festival. Since then I've found some others, one that includes the opening graveyard scene (as does the Castle version) and continues on with Talbot in the hospital. The titles only hint at what the film actually is ("Moon-Killer", "Beast of Vasaria", etc.) I'm curious how many Atlas excerpts from the feature there are out there.

Doug

[ October 07, 2006, 06:50 PM: Message edited by: Douglas Meltzer ]

Posted by Douglas W. Warren (Member # 2159) on August 15, 2010, 04:13 PM:

I'm rather late to the party but would like to comment. The first package/digest film I remember was "Midget Car Maniacs" and it was the only commercial film my father ever owned.This was back in the mid 60's and every time when we sit down to watch the old home movies(once or twice a year),that reel was ran.

The first movies I bought with my own money would have been in the summer of 1978.I purchased a new B&H Dual 8mm silent projector and two movies: Universal 8's 200' B&W silent "Frankenstein" and "House of Frankenstein." Shortly after that I started ordering Ken Films.

A relative would bring by films checked out from the library to watch which,more often than not were in really poor shape. Overall it was a fun time and I have many pleasant memories.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on August 17, 2010, 08:08 AM:

hi, Douglas...Glad to see another collector/enthusiast in Va. I'm in Manassas. Also glad you added to the thread. I had forgotten this thread and enjoyed going back to it and reading the entries.

Posted by Douglas W. Warren (Member # 2159) on August 22, 2010, 10:19 PM:

Hi Gary,
I'm getting the collecting bug once again but going to take it slowly. Of course eBay can be very dangerous to ones wallet!

Cheers,
Douglas [Smile]

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on August 23, 2010, 12:00 AM:

My first ines were Knights of the Bath and Cops and Watches

Posted by William Mouroukas (Member # 2764) on October 23, 2011, 06:37 AM:

Probably late 1967 or early '68 (I was 10). A Walt Disney Mickey Mouse short, Hawaiian Holiday B&W silent. I was surprised to see studio produced films available. I remember looking out for a TV screening of this cartoon during Disneyland and eventually I recorded the audio on my sister's reel to reel tape recorder (mic next to TV speaker) thinking I could project the pictures on my silent Eumig Mark 8 and play sound of the tape. Not only did I learn about the problems of sync but the TV version was cut. Ah well...points for trying.

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on October 23, 2011, 05:46 PM:

.....first ever Super 8: an Italian Zorro film called 'Zorro vincintore' lost during a move-and which am still looking for btw)...
....first ever Std 8: a German tourist souvenir from Greece shot in 1965-bought from ebay...

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on October 23, 2011, 06:31 PM:

My grandpa gave me a 200' reel (#2 of 2) of MAX UND MORITZ with German intertitles. Can't remember if that was before or after I bought the 200' REVENGE OF THE CREATURE.

Posted by David M. Ballew (Member # 1818) on October 24, 2011, 12:14 AM:

The first digest I ever saw would have been in October of '77, at a church Harvest Festival (Halloween carnival). For a dime or maybe a quarter, you could go in a little room in the church basement where they were showing the 200-foot digest "The Giant Behemoth." (They used the brief mention of an animal called Behemoth in the book of Job as a pretext to show a monster flick at church.)

In February of '78, for my seventh birthday, my parents let me buy "War of the Planets" from Captain Company. I would have chosen a different film, but the only Warren magazine I could find on short notice was one of their "Star Wars" special editions, not an ordinary issue of "Famous Monsters." This particular magazine listed only a handful of 8mm science fiction pictures, and "War of the Planets" seemed the best choice at the time.

Eventually, my granddad gave me his old Mansfield 8mm projector, and we must have watched that one digest forty or fifty times before it completely wore out. But over the next five years or so, Captain Company (and later Blackhawk) got a lot of my business, that's for sure!

Posted by Grant Fitzgerald (Member # 2796) on November 10, 2011, 01:23 PM:

Corny Concerto! Super 8mm

Posted by Gerald Santana (Member # 2362) on November 10, 2011, 02:38 PM:

I found "From Horse Car to Subway" a silent Blackhawk release about three years ago at a thrift store, a year later I found a sound projector at a thrift store. It was like magic on my wall before my eyes. Most of the thrill came from the feeling of projecting an old silent film that I found waiting for me at that store. A new hobby was born, my excitement to find more films led to this great Forum.

It took a while before I bought a sound film, needless to say I found it here on Forum! The first sound film was "Pinnochio Comes to Life" WDHM 200', I must have seen it five times that night with a couple others.

Posted by Laksmi Breathwaite (Member # 2320) on November 10, 2011, 08:49 PM:

Super 8 didn't have any of those hassles and provided great image quality, revolutionizing the amateur film genre in the process. Kodak launched Super 8 mm film in May 1965, along with two cameras, the M2 and M4. Super 8 was cheaper and more convenient than the previous, cumbersome Normal 8 format, since all you had to do was pop the film cassette into the camera, take it out after recording and turn it in for processing.The advent of the Super 8 cassetted film really helped spawn the home movie rage in the '60s and '70s was an easy to use and affordable option for consumers."

To get an idea of what Super 8 movies looked like, recall the opening credits of the late-1980s and early '90s TV show, "The Wonder Years." Each Super 8 cassette packed only enough film to create three minutes of colorful, soft and somewhat grainy footage, but it was enough time for amateur filmmakers to pan around their living rooms or back yards while everyone waved at the camera.

Watch "The Wonder Years" Super 8 film-style opening:
I was that little kid in the show. I started useing Super 8 in my family movies with no sound on my daddy's camera. And my first Hollywood film on a 50 foot reel was The Creature from the Black Lagoon. And it was a wind up projector my dad bought me in 1965. My next film was silent and was Mighty Joe Young 200 feet. Wow! I fell in love with Ray Harryhausen after that.

Posted by Chris Fries (Member # 2719) on November 11, 2011, 03:53 AM:

The first non-home movie I remember watching as a kid was super 8 film that came from several damaged Fisher Price Movie cartridges. They were spliced together on a small reel. We also had the Kenner Star Wars cartridges. They also broke and were put on a reel. I wish I knew were those went. Then there was a great film viewer toy in the early 1980's. I'm not sure but I think it was made by View-Master. It was motorized. A trigger was pressed and the film ran through a plastic cartridge. Each cartridge had two different movies. There were titles like Dracula/Son of Frankenstein, animated Batman/Superman , Scooby-Doo and some other Hanna-Barbara shorts. Unfortunately, they are also long gone.

My very first actual film purchase was in 1982. It was a silent 2 min. souvenir film from Walt Disney World. "The Haunted Mansion". I still have it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hqUjs7DiOQ

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