8mm Forum: Heritage Films

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Posted by Marc Morris (Member # 3120) on May 31, 2012, 10:11 AM:

Hi All,

This is my first post here. I've been buying 8mm films on a off for the past few years but one company that still interests me is Pete Walker's Heritage Films. Does anybody have a list of all the titles this company issued, and roughly when they were active?

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on June 01, 2012, 12:37 AM:

I am curious where have you seen the name Pete Walker associated with Heritage films? I ask because there was a US company called Heritage films that released a number of Flicker Flashbacks shorts..

Posted by Marc Morris (Member # 3120) on June 01, 2012, 02:59 AM:

It must be a different Heritage Films - the one I'm referring to was based in the UK.

You can find out more about Pete Walker's early glamour career in the book "Making Mischief: The Cult Films of Pete Walker". In addition to this we produced DVD extras for the Anchor Bay Pete Walker DVD box set.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 01, 2012, 03:06 AM:

Heritage Films had a number of "Pin-Up" titles on standard 8 in the UK, probably around 1960 or so.

http://www.millersantiquesguide.com/items/29630/very-rare-boxed-heritage-films-8mm-home-movie-of-jane/

Posted by Marc Morris (Member # 3120) on June 01, 2012, 04:42 AM:

Yes, I have several myself including the Jayne Mansfield you linked to. I'm wondering just how many more glamour films were issued?

I'm kind of hoping that somebody has a printed catalogue of all their releases.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 01, 2012, 05:41 AM:

Just looked at Denis Gifford's "The Armchair Odeon" (Fountain Press - 1974). Under "Strip-Tease and Nudist Films" there is an entry for Heritage Films.

Dawn Grayson in "There Was An Old Lady"
Dawn Grayson in "The Burglar"
Dawn Grayson in "Dawn's Law"
Annette Johnson in "Dream of Annette"
Annette Johnson in "008 Stripped for Action"
Jayne Tracy in "Funny Customs"
Jayne Tracy in "Tricky Tricks"
Jayne Tracy & Anne Wilson in "The Secretary's Secret"
Anne Wilson in "Strange Illusion"
Martine Rice in "The Kindergarten Tutor"
Amber Topaz in "Typist's Error"

These were available in standard 8 and Super 8 silent in colour and running for 3 minutes.

There was also "Jayne Mansfield Uncensored", 5 minutes, silent, on std 8 and Super 8. This was outakes from her 1963 feature "Promises, Promises".

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on June 01, 2012, 03:48 PM:

Hi Maurice,I think that they might have been resonsible for that
little classic "The Nine Ages of Nakedness" and some of the
horrors that were put out by Mountain like "Monster of Piedras
Blancas" etc.Were we spoiled for choice or what! Never the less
they kept our projectors turning.Happy halcyon days,we were
a simple people then,stupid, but simple.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on June 01, 2012, 09:59 PM:

I have a number of Heritage Films from the UK that are all horror/sci-fi titles (Wasp Woman, Plan 9, Destination Moon, Beast from Haunted Cave, etc.) I always thought there was a connection with Mountain since some of their titles overlapped. But what has me intrigued is the Pete Walker connection. I have a numbe of his films on DVD (Schizo, The Comeback) but I never knew he was also involved in the 8mm business. Is it really the same man?

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on June 02, 2012, 04:00 AM:

As the original question seemed to relate to the glamour side of Heritage Films I didn't mention their release of Monster and SciFi films such as "Rocket To The Moon".

Heritage was an arm of Mountain Films as was Portland Films which issued the 70 minute version of "The Nine Ages of Nakedness".

Posted by Marc Morris (Member # 3120) on June 02, 2012, 04:34 AM:

Heritage may have simply just been distributed via Mountain - they were separate companies.

When home video began to take off, Heritage eventually ceased and Walker then set up the Home Video Supplies video label:

http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/search.php?t=Distributor&c=UK&id=215

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on June 02, 2012, 10:14 AM:

Actually Maurice,when std 8mm features were the norm,they
were released full length.For some reason best known to the penny pinchers,even the original length of the S/8 features which
usually clocked in at the 70 minute mark were shortened again.
A case in point being "Fiend Without a Face" that was complete
on STD 8 but cut down to 60 minutes on S/8,They did the same
with "Destination Inner Space" the colour version was shorter
than the B/W version I had.It must have been the policy with
Mountain Films at the time,whatever the length,we'll shorten it!
It makes my toes curl thinking about it.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on June 03, 2012, 09:57 PM:

Peter Walker did have a connection to the 8mm business and I'm sure it's no coincidence that a few of his films, plus several trailers, were released on Super 8. I heard about this a long time ago, probably via Derek Simmonds referring to it at Derann Open Days, and I vaguely recall hearing that Walker actually worked for a Super 8 distributor for a while. There was a biography or autobiography some years ago that might be a way of learning more. (This reminds me that I have a 400' version of one of his 'adult' features that I'd be happy to sell for a modest price, if anyone is interested.)

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on June 04, 2012, 12:33 AM:

How modest? Since it is an adult film I would expect not very modest [Wink]

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on June 04, 2012, 06:05 AM:

Hi Marc

Welcome to the forum!!

Some very interesting facts on the late great Heritage Films.

Adrian-What is the 400ft you are selling?

Regards Mark W

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on June 04, 2012, 10:46 AM:

I've just checked and the 'adult' film I referred to is 'School for Sex' (1969). But I'm using the term 'adult' to indicate what the makers were trying to imply at the time; in reality the film is a 'sex comedy' with some mild nudity.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on June 09, 2012, 02:17 PM:

All Mountain 4x400 features clocked at a maximum of 70 minutes. That meaning that longer features were trimmed but shorter ones were intact. For example,THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE (72 mins)lacks about two minutes of footage,this being the women appearing in the film,one of them being the delectable Joi Lansing.BUFFALO BILL IN TOMAHAWK TERRITORY (66 mins) is complete, as are REG'LAR FELLERS (65 mins) and MISBEHAVING HUSBANDS (65 mins)

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on June 09, 2012, 03:33 PM:

I think you'll find that the std 8mm features were intact,my copy
of "Fiend Without A Face" runs for 75 mins as opposed to the 60
minutes on S/8.My print of "Babes in Toyland" comes in at 77 mins
which is longer than the S/8 version.This I believe would be due to
the smaller frame,allowing more footage to be stored on the spool.
The same being true where Derann was concerned,the std 8mm
features being full length rather than the Procrustian method
applied to the ubiquitous 70 min 4x400 for S/8

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on June 10, 2012, 02:32 AM:

I forgot to mention that my ATOMIC SUBMARINE is in std 8.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on June 10, 2012, 04:01 AM:

The point I am making Panayotis is that the std 8mm features
were more or less intact as opposed to the S/8s.My copy of
"Demon Doctor" was 9 reels in length and supplied on 5x400'
spools on std 8mm, It was on 4x4 for S/8."Retreat Hell" was a
10 reel release,but cut to 4x4 for S/8.My copy of "Hideous Sun
Demon" (Blood on His Lips) is a brim full 4x4 on std 8 and only
has one scene removed,the infamous rat scene.As far as I'm
aware this didn't make it to S/8,I can't think of any of the
S/8 releases from Mountain/Heritage that were

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on June 10, 2012, 07:28 AM:

As far as I'm aware I can't think of any of the Mountain/Heritage
that were any longer than 4x4 excluding the "Victory at Sea"
feature.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on June 10, 2012, 07:29 AM:

In general,of course I agree with you! I have the complete 10 reel RUN OF THE ARROW (super 8) and the complete 12 reel LAST COMMAND (std 8),both in color, and the complete CITIZEN KANE and KING KONG (both super 8 in 12 reels) Nowadays,you only find them in 4x400,often,the 400 ft reels containing only about 16 minutes of footage (and the color ones in black & white).My point is that even the std 8 copies did not escape the massacre. Mountain,first released them intact (in fewer copies I presume) and then rereleased them in 4x400 totalling from 60 to 70 minutes maximum.Several longer films did't fare better.A STOLEN LIFE and A TALE OF TWO CITIES (both super 8),are in 12 reels but total about 90 minutes in running time.I believe those two were never released complete. And so on ..

Posted by Joe McAllister (Member # 825) on June 12, 2012, 12:30 PM:

Pete Walker was Heritage Films until he sold the rights to Mountain in the late 1960's as far as I recall. Also from memory I remember the films were available from Quality Products and Supersound both with addresses in Romford and I believe they were shell companies/names for Mr Walker.
Walker made many glamour films. I presume that he gave it up when his feature film activities took off.

Posted by Marc Morris (Member # 3120) on June 12, 2012, 12:38 PM:

Not sure about selling rights to Mountain - he retained his company name even when he went into feature film production. All are copyrighted imdb: Pete Walker (Heritage) Ltd

Posted by Joe McAllister (Member # 825) on August 17, 2013, 12:12 PM:

Peter Walker raised money for his theatrical features by making and distributing glamour films a business that expanded to include distributing short and feature length films on 8mm, including the RKO library and the well known horror titles. When his feature career took off he sold his 8mm rights, but not his entire Heritage company, to Mountain aka /Portland/MovieMatic/Elysium etc. Mountain took over the back catalogue of many 8mm labels including Capitol Kamera and latterly Columbia among others often retaining the original companies name on the box. Thus the films from Walker were still sold as Heritage titles even after Mountain acquired them. Also some of Peter Walkers glamour titles were taken over by a company called LGP who distributed them on 9.5.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on September 12, 2013, 10:09 AM:

[ September 13, 2013, 02:07 AM: Message edited by: David Ollerearnshaw ]

Posted by Marc Morris (Member # 3120) on September 12, 2013, 10:10 AM:

That's my website forum [Wink]

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