8mm Forum: Nostalga Time Again

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Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on August 16, 2014, 04:56 PM:

Still sorting though of loads stuff and I thought these would be of interest.

The Duchess And Dirtwater Fox

I rented most of the titles from FDA (Film Distributors Associated). I would say that the quality was fantastic. Remember at that time about 1977 ish the titles you could buy were mainly abridged features, and some were also 'B' movies and even 'C' or 'Z' titles.

I used to have a fortnightly show at Green Park care home, and it made a great change for the residents to see a film on the big screen.

FDA were the 20th Century Fox & UA for 16mm. Rank and Columbia/Warner also had super 8 for hire.

Officially that price was for ONE screening, but I used to book them for Friday night to return on Monday. I did get more than than one screening in.

Did any of the 16mm distributors in other countries do the same?

I have a few more scans to put up later.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on August 17, 2014, 02:45 AM:

I ran a 16mm film society in the 60s and 70s and we always included many films from F.D.A.
Their prints were of the highest standard quality, single showings then were approx. £10 - £12 as I recall.
Louis Malle's "Viva Maria!" (1965) with Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau was a bit hit with our members.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on August 17, 2014, 04:12 AM:

I never hired any 16mm I was super 8 only at that time. But looking back to the fantastic prints I hired on 8mm, 16mm must have been awesome.

Off to Sutton On Sea soon, guess who's shop's on the way? Not get to it till Tuesday though.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 17, 2014, 01:22 PM:

I'm really astonished by this! It seems amazing that a distributor would be printing and hiring out Std prints - and NOT Super 8 - of a 1976 feature like "The Duchess...'. I wasn't collecting at the time but I'd be interested to know if people who bought or hired sound films on 8mm in 1976-77 feel that there was more demand for Std 8 than Super 8. I thought Super 8 was dominating the market by then.

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on August 17, 2014, 05:51 PM:

Adrian, I'm pretty sure that 'standard' referred to the print ratio. They used the terms scope and standard meaning 'flat' throughout the catalogue.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on August 18, 2014, 06:38 AM:

Yes from the format there are 2 hire code numbers for 16mm (scope and flat) then it mentions 8mm with another number for that.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on August 19, 2014, 02:22 PM:

All the 8mm were super 8 and were flat. None were in scope, but they were stunning prints. The cat number was different for scope in 16mm, but the flat just had 8/ in from of the number

I hired quite a few from FDA they only did films from Fox, they also had a Movietone 200ft B/W for sale.

Ah sheer bliss

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 19, 2014, 02:45 PM:

Thanks for pointing out my error - I suspect the combination of the word "Standard" and the lack of references to Super 8 may have caused one or two other people to have become confused at the time.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on August 19, 2014, 03:48 PM:

I think they did cause a little confusion in the catalogues. Their advertisements always mentioned them as super 8 though.

Although they were listed in the main 16mm catalogues they were hard to find, they did print an insert listing.

The funny thing I don't think they did enough to promote the super 8 titles. I have wondered, both how many were printed and how many times they were actually hired out.

Here we have one from Columbia

Posted by Timothy Ramzyk (Member # 718) on August 21, 2014, 11:50 PM:

Did people actually rent Super 8 for public screenings? I remember many 16mm companies in the US like Kit-Parker-Films, Films Incorporated, and Sawnk, but I don't remember any 8mm offerings, though they did offer Castle Films digests in 16mm.

I never attended any 8mm screening (to the public) that didn't consist of public-domain titles.

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on August 22, 2014, 03:25 AM:

I don't think 8mm prints were available for public screenings. The resolution does matter.

8mm is for home use only (for certain cases it was expanded to airline use, which is obviously public, but has home screen size)

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on August 22, 2014, 05:09 AM:

Here are Columbia/Warner terms

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on August 22, 2014, 06:20 AM:

Most 16mm libraries had special terms for public exhibition, usually discussed with one of their representatives, as I did when doing public exhibition in the 50s.

My terms were less than the private hire fees listed in the catalogues!

One advantage of exhibiting for public shows was the availability to have 16mm prints not long after their release on 35mm, the one important caveat was that your hall had to be over two miles away from the nearest 35mm cinema.

If the feature ran under two hours you could have shorts included in the fee to make up a two-hour programme. Indeed, MGM had special two hour programmes already made up for public exhibition with their new feature releases.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 22, 2014, 10:19 AM:

I remember in the UK, back in the 1950's, there were high street photo shops and chemists in almost every town that had 9.5mm film libraries. I used to rent 9.5mm films most weekends, and I do not remember any restrictions at all on public showings of any of the films from Pathescopes vast 9.5mm catalogue.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on August 22, 2014, 01:36 PM:

A few more that were available on super 8

I recall when these releases came from all three companies, I couldn't believe how good super 8 could be. I would say they were the very best prints from that time (late 70's). It took Derann to match the quality in the mid to late 90's.

I would like to know if anyone other than me hired any the these titles. In super 8 of course.

[ August 22, 2014, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: David Ollerearnshaw ]

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