8mm Forum: Black and White Niles Films

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Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on March 29, 2016, 06:16 PM:

I have read in the forum that Niles film prints tend to be really muddy yukky low quality colour, most notably their release of The Magical Mystery Tour.
I was just wondering what the quality of their black and white releases are like, not having got any. Are they sharp? Is the sound okay? Do they have any characteristics to look out for?

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 29, 2016, 06:30 PM:

I haven't seen many, but the ones I have seen were pretty poor in contrast, more "dark gray and light gray" than really "black and white".

My favorite is my Niles "This is the Army", with "In Technicolor" title...printed in grainy Black and White.

-at least they had a sense of humor!

My feeling is if you want the title and the price is right, give it a shot: they have been known to make some nice prints too.

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on March 29, 2016, 07:05 PM:

I've had some of the Sherlock Holmes 4X400' B&W features and they were good with pretty good contrast IMO. I also had Hannah, Queen of the Vampires and House of 7 Corpses color features that were grainy but sharp, only problem was some color fade...
Grainy seems to be a constant with many of their prints...

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on March 30, 2016, 06:26 AM:

Melvin.... The quality of Niles releases varies GREATLY. Some of he best prints I've had (Invisible Ghost, Meeting at Midnight and the Sherlock Holmes films) came from Niles. Some of the WORST prints I've even had came from Niles.(White Zombie, My Man Godfrey).
It all depended on what they used for source material. There are some prints that are middle of the road.

They tended to print from whatever was at hand or duped others to make negatives.

If you are considering buying Niles product, you should probably post a question asking what others have found with that particular print.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 30, 2016, 11:43 AM:

yeah, I have "Godfrey" as well and if it wasn't one of my all-time favorite films, I'd toss it, good grey tones, but not too nice on the sharpness level, very marginal.

I have heard that they're "It's A Wonderful LIfe" print was actually pretty good.

Niles was nice in that, good quality or not, they tended to release some rare stuff that no one else would touch.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on March 30, 2016, 02:20 PM:

I have almost all of the Rathbone Holmes films from Niles and the quality is excellent.

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on March 30, 2016, 02:38 PM:

Back in the late 1970s, I bought one short from Niles. It was so washed out, you literally couldn't make out what was happening on the screen. I first thought it was a defective print, but then found out this was somewhat par for the course for Niles. Never bought another film from them.

I for one am glad those days are long gone in terms of holding one's breath regarding the print and sound quality when projecting a just-purchased print for the first time. Unfortunately I found it to be a crap shoot involving sizable amounts of money for a new print. Never understood why collectors would continue to keep going back to that expensive well....

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on March 30, 2016, 03:04 PM:

GOLF SPECIALIST is 1st-rate, so was their DENTIST and FATAL GLASS OF BEER, to an extent - Still, Niles did their best with what they could get - Blackhawk rules - Shorty

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on March 30, 2016, 04:41 PM:

Joe - It appears so...... just don't tell Mr.Walton!!

Gary - That is probably the most sensible advice regarding Niles, being so "touch and go." I will bear this in mind for the future. Thanks!

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on March 30, 2016, 09:00 PM:

I had the same experience as John. I purchased a 400 ft W.C.Fields from Niles and the print quality was atrocious. It said 'Black and White' on the box, but it turned out to be light grey and dark grey! And very soft focus too.
That was the last Niles print I ever purchased.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on March 31, 2016, 01:52 AM:

For Niles,beware of their silent titles.I had bought a number of Our Gang silents which were from bad to atrocious.Their Buster Keatons,also.Their sound b^w prints,all public domain,in general are good (Bluebeard,Blue Angel,It's A Wonderful Life,Flying Deuces,etc).A few are abysmal,(like White Zombie and b^w prints coming from color originals).When later they obtained exclusive rights from several companies,(The Sherlock Holmes series,the Benedict Bogeaus color features),and worked more or less from original elements,the results were fine. Unfortunately,the color films today have turned reddish.But that is another story!

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on March 31, 2016, 02:51 AM:

Eventually worked through all the issues of Golf Specialist and found Niles also to be the best [Cool]

Posted by Patrick Feuerstein (Member # 5293) on March 31, 2016, 03:03 AM:

I've many prints from Niles, specially all Sherlock Holmes films (B.Rathbone). They are good except "In Wash." which have grain. Also a print of the entertaining "Private Buckaroo" (my all time favorite) which is excellent for such a product.
You must know that the quality of our Super8 prints depends of the original material furnished by the owners of the rights who have not, generally, the first rate prints which will serve to make an internegative for printing Super8. Niles generally used TV prints which were "grey" according for the telecine system which were not, at that time, "digital".
Derann and Ken Films managed to have Interneg from the Interpositive element (i.e. 3 Musketeers, Barkleys of Broadway, Strike up the Band, Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy), 1st rate quality also for "Fall of Roman Empire". The cost was high but in these years there were enough customers to cover it.
Last exemples from Red Fox : "Jungle Book" and "Gorgo" (another favorite) of which the interneg were made from redish 16mm prints with corrections.
Another thing: interneg, or neg material, have is positive film stock. Unfortunaltely when the neg is a little bit too old there's not adapted positive because film stock makers ceased to furnish. For exemple, Derann printed films from the Coll.Club catalog (i.e. "Carve her name with pride") and the result was not the same that original C.C. ones.

That's all (for the moment)
A former film restorer (retired)

[ March 31, 2016, 10:33 AM: Message edited by: Patrick Feuerstein ]

Posted by Douglas Warren (Member # 1047) on March 31, 2016, 10:46 AM:

I had their 400' digest of "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" and it was really bad.Washed out and the contrast was so bad it looked like it was filmed through a frosted sheet of glass.At least the sound was good,really nice and booming.

Posted by Patrick Feuerstein (Member # 5293) on March 31, 2016, 01:21 PM:

Another thing: some companies (and the best!) sold faulty prints by the labs. It could be soft focus, mirror image and more (the list is long). These are because the lab's technician did'nt threaded correctly the neg in the machine or did'nt adjust it according the sense of the "reading" which can be "matt" (emulsion) or brilliant (film). This problem causes the picture out of focus or like in the fog.
As the prints were made by four the two on the sides are less good than the ones in the center. Later two prints were made at the same time, then separated (as the 4x). It was better but increased the price.

That's all (?)

[ April 02, 2016, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: Patrick Feuerstein ]

Posted by Luis Caramelo (Member # 2430) on March 31, 2016, 04:57 PM:

from niles i got a great black and white print,a western with randolfh Scott,good mono sound,
-FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS.in 5x400ft full lenght

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