8mm Forum: Major 8 Movies

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Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 20, 2007, 05:21 AM:

Hi Guys,Do any of you have any titbits or stories on this late 70's UK based 8mm company? They released mainly horror/sexploitation titles thru there deal with Alpha/Target distributors,I remember paying 30 quid to a very nice young lady at an 8mm convention in South Kensington for a pre-release digest of David Cronenberg's excellent SHIVERS aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN,then had to wait a further 6/8 months for it to be delivered!!!

I even remember calling round to there swish London office to see where my print was!!

Here's a list of the 400FT digest titles they released..

KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE
FISTFUL OF YEN-ENTER THE DRAGON SPOOF FROM THE ABOVE.
SHIVERS
RABID
THE BROOD
21 HOURS AT MUNICH-FRANCO NERO
UNDER THE DOCTOR-BARRY EVANS
ADVENTURES OF A TAXI DRIVER-BARRY EVANS
ADVENTURES OF A PLUMBERS MATE
LETS GET LAID-ROBIN ASQUITH
JUSTINE
CAIN'S CUTTHROATS AKA CAIN'S WAY-JOHN CARRADINE

There may also be a few promo's or trailers floating around.

Cheers Mark W

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 20, 2007, 11:05 AM:

I've certianly heard of some of those titles, (love to have Kentucky Fried Movie), but know nothing about the company.

Sorry dude.

OSI

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 20, 2007, 12:43 PM:

Osi,

I,m not surprised as they didnt last long on the Super8 scene,the quality of there prints was usually very good though,mostly printed by Buck labs here in the UK.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on June 20, 2007, 02:07 PM:

with the KFM i have both parts but the main sketch part as opposed the a fistful of yen, was soft in focus although very watchable, at the time i wrote to Major 8 who explained that this was the same with all prints of that title, the Brood,(which irecently sold) was also good but fading was evident.
Not sure about the company (i do know it was headed by a Lady) details or if any catalouges existed.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 20, 2007, 02:12 PM:

Thanx Tom,I used to have copies of both parts of KFM too and they were pretty good quality.
I also forgot to mention that Major8 released CRUEL PASSION too,which starred KOO STARK & MARTIN POTTER.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on June 20, 2007, 03:15 PM:

Patricia Hamilton was the woman who ran Major 8 movies!Andy.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 20, 2007, 04:20 PM:

Cheers Andy!
Now that name does ring a bell.
Also just remembered that they released a digest of the controversal at the time THE BLACK PANTHER starring Donald Sumpter based on a very nasty kidnapping/murder in the UK,the film was made only a few months after the end of the actual court case,far too soon in my opion.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 21, 2007, 06:25 AM:

Barry,

Have you ever come across any other Major8 titles??

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on June 21, 2007, 11:15 AM:

Mark,

Yes the 2 extracts from "Kentucky Fried Movie" comes up quite often, as does "The Brood" & "Squirm". I think these were there best sellers, as these come up quite often, but I've only ever had a couple of there "Adventures of" series. Quality was pretty good on all Major 8 titles, although the editing was a little choppy on a couple of the titles, nice boxes though. I think the trouble was they were raiding the independent distributors, and a lot of the titles available to them would,nt sell on 8mm, you can't come up with titles like "The Brood" every day.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 21, 2007, 02:08 PM:

Cheers Barry! they don't appear to turn up often these days though,I did spot a copy of LETS GET LAID on EBAY a few weeks back but it sold very quicky.
PS-SQUIRM was actually releaed by AIP on the Ken label,now that does turn up quite often,though most of the prints are faded now.

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on June 22, 2007, 03:14 AM:

Mark,

I was thinking of "Shivers" and wrote "Squirm", I think old age is fast approaching!

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 22, 2007, 04:22 AM:

Barry,
LOL!! I have the same problem and both films feature nasty worms so its easy to mix em up.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 22, 2007, 11:05 AM:

Did this company ever release any cartoon shorts? Any scope titles?

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on June 22, 2007, 12:20 PM:

Osi,

No all their releases I came accross were 400' editions, but they were only around for about 2 years or so before going out of business, none in scope.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on June 23, 2007, 04:48 PM:

Barry, where were they based. There was a company down the road from me in Romford and I cant remember their name?

Kev.

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on June 24, 2007, 03:11 AM:

Kevin,

That was "Quality Products" who specialised in sports films, they also did a hire library, and I hired my first film from them ("She Wore a Yellow Ribbon") back in 1978. I'm not sure where Major 8 were based, I don't think I have one of their films in stock at the moment, so I can't look on a box.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on June 24, 2007, 03:14 AM:

Kevin,was that Quailty Products Romford ltd?.There address was
43victoria rd,romford,essex.Andy.
Major 8 movies address was 17-25 Prochester Place,London W2 2PE!.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 24, 2007, 07:39 AM:

And very plush offices they were too!!

I have just been reminded of another title ADVENTURES OF A PRIVATE EYE with Harry H Corbett,now how could I forget that gem!!!

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on June 24, 2007, 06:33 PM:

"I also forgot to mention that Major8 released CRUEL PASSION too,which starred KOO STARK & MARTIN POTTER."

Mark - you did in fact have this in your original list, as for some reason the release was titled JUSTINE. I have a print and it even has a basic opening title saying this instead of the proper main title. Perhaps they thought customers would be too embarrassed to ask for 'Cruel Passion'!

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 25, 2007, 02:46 AM:

Thanx for the info Adrian.

These titles changes are always very confusing,I bet it saved the punter a look of embarresment when he went into his local 8mm dealer amd asked for some reels of CRUEL PASSION please-LOL!!!

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on June 25, 2007, 06:18 AM:

Yes it was Quality products. Thanks Barry and Andy. They were enough to me when I worked at Ilfords that I was able to pop along during my lunch breaks.....those were the days [Smile]

Kev.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on June 25, 2007, 09:55 AM:

Kevin,did you not think that Quailty products were a bit more expensive than any were else at that time?.Andy.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on June 26, 2007, 07:49 AM:

Not especially. I always found that they had special offers for shop customers and bought quite a lot off them for the years they were in existence. Even though they specialised in Sport films they always kept stocks of the current releases of the time.

What I also liked was that they specialised in promos and trailers especially from the USA.

Kev.

Posted by Dave Alligan (Member # 800) on June 26, 2007, 09:14 AM:

I remember getting a trailer for ET from Quality products before the film came out at the cinema, when I showed it to the family they couldnt believe that i had a trailer for such an up to date film like that.

Dave

Posted by Steve Ellison (Member # 658) on August 02, 2007, 07:15 AM:

The 'nice young lady' mentioned by the original poster was Patricia Hamilton...who worked for the legendary Stan Long and ran Major 8 Movies from her penthouse in Paddington. I knew Pat quite well in those days and she was a lovely lady. Once had tea with her at the Grosvenor House, and Anthony Newley was on the next table ! I well remember the event at the Commonwealth Institute...in fact I exhibited there(Phoenix Films).Those were the days !

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on August 02, 2007, 10:07 AM:

Steve,
Thanks for posting your comments,yes she was a very classy lady indeed!!

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