8mm Forum: Stagecoach,a question

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 10, 2015, 02:49 PM:

Tonight we put on our full feature version of the classic John Wayne western Stagecoach.Its been years since i sat through it, (its my Brothers, not really my cup of tea).
This is a full feature and i'm sure its not from Walton so i am trying to find out a couple of things because this is a good but strange print, let me explain,
The actual film came on 5 x 400 foot spools, plain white boxes.
The actual condition of our print is 100% good, no scratches and only two or three very good splices which i am sure are lab splices.
We have it mounted on an 800 foot spool, (quite full) & 2 very full 600 foot spools.
The sound is good, the picture is like the MGM's, ever so slightly soft, almost perfect on close ups.
However, it is what i would call a dark print, perfectly acceptable but clearly a little dark.
Does anyone know who,apart from Walton, released this full length feature, and does anyone own what we would call a really good pin sharp crisp copy?

Posted by Mike Newell (Member # 23) on September 10, 2015, 03:01 PM:

DCR Films released it as a full feature. Derann also printed feature prints using DCR negatives. Both these releases tended to be sharper than the Walton prints and had a bluish tint.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 10, 2015, 03:09 PM:

Thanks Mike. [Wink]

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on September 10, 2015, 09:07 PM:

In the U.S. it was released by Hollywood Film Exchange. That's what my copy is and it originally came in individual plain white boxes. I haven't watched it in about 10 years but I don't recall it being too dark.

Posted by Luis Caramelo (Member # 2430) on September 11, 2015, 06:40 AM:

hi! Tom, i do have the full lenght of stagecoach.gil 5x400,my print it,s from red fox american print in polyestar stock a good print endeed,i guess like any title available in super 8,they
good prints and others not so good,i had once a version from walton films in 4x400ft abridge vesion,the black and white was very good also a little bit dark only in some scenes,but it,s only a question a luck,,,

best:
luis caramelo

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on September 11, 2015, 06:59 AM:

You have the one to have there Luis. The Red Fox features are simply beautiful with their wonderful saturated rich colours.
A feast for the eyes!

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 11, 2015, 12:19 PM:

Strangely enough, this was also an optical sound super 8 feature, but since all super 8 optical sounds were pretty much printed on color stock, this one is no exception, except that it was purposefully given a sepia color to the film.

Unfortunately, it was not an LPP film stock for this optical sound print, so the sepia has more of a reddish quality, but this is one film where using a cyan filter doesn't hurt it at all, in fact, making it look better, as there is no fear of color loss.

It's a pretty darned sharp print, but I have also noted that it seems slightly dark as well, especially during the beginning credits, so it might just be that nearly all prints struck, whether magnetic or optical sound, have this slightly dark quality.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on October 14, 2018, 09:00 PM:

Osi,

Can you define the improvement using the cyan filter and how is the sound from the optical soundtrack?

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 15, 2018, 12:08 PM:

The sound from the optical track is probably not quite a good as the magnetic soundtrack (I'm just assuming that), but it is a pretty good mono, just the same.

With the cyan filter on it, it has a nice dark brwon quality which, being that it is a western, that nice sepia-tone does the film a credit, in my opinion.

I once sold a black and white print of this and I carefully looked at both print together and found the optical sound print to be sharper, but, being so many companies having put this out, i don't know which company put out that print on black and white film stock, so I can't for a fact that it's better than any black and white super 8 print.

I wonder, was this put out by derann films on super 8? If so, I would wager that THAT print would be the sharpest. [Smile]

Posted by Will Trenfield (Member # 5321) on October 15, 2018, 02:49 PM:

The original negative was lost or destroyed apparently and the available prints had suffered over the years. It wasn't until 1996 that the film was restored using a new negative made from an un-projected print.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on October 15, 2018, 06:15 PM:

Is anyone familiar with the Hollywood Film Exchange release of Stagecoach? I am unsure if their release is slightly edited; perhaps by roughly five, or ten minutes?

I was told that HFE typically had the best Super 8mm prints from the existing Hollywood materials that was available at the time. I have their A Star Is Born from 1937 and it's mounted on six 400' reels. The quality is terrific, it's only that the color has faded.

Here's HFE's release of Stagecoach and it's mounted on five reels, and currently on eBay:

Stagecoach on eBay

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