8mm Forum: Celebrity Films

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Posted by Jason Smith (Member # 5055) on May 11, 2017, 01:48 AM:

Today I watched a 400ft faded James Bond Trailer reel. It started with a Diamonds are Forever trailer and had three trailers for Roger Moore`s films.

I was wondering who made the trailer reel and noticed on the heads and tails it had Celebrity Films written on it. The title on the head was Bond Trailers #3.

The only reference on the forum I could find for Celebrity Films was when Joe Balitzki mentioned them a few years ago.

I would like to hear what anyone knows about Celebrity Films and what titles they released.

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on May 12, 2017, 02:58 PM:

Years ago I had the sale lists for Celebrity Films but I eventually threw them away. Celebrity Films had a Super 8mm Sound List and their 16mm Negatives were used for the format. The prints were struck by CineMagnetics who did excellent work. I do not know if any other labs were used. Celebrity was primarily 16mm. 16mm B&W prints were struck in their own lab by the owner the late John Kuba. Color 16mm was struck by a NYC lab. Compared to their 16mm list, the Super 8mm Sound list was not large and it had more trailers than features.

Posted by Jason Smith (Member # 5055) on May 16, 2017, 08:21 AM:

Thank you Joe for sharing that information. I saw the CineMagnetics logo on the leader and I had been wondering who they were.

It's amazing that I came across one of there trailer reels here in Japan. It would seem that John Kuba's legacy lives on.

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on May 16, 2017, 07:51 PM:

CineMagnetics was in upstate New York. John Kuba used a Bell & Howell printer and ran it at a slow speed to minimise wear and tear on the B&W negatives. I never did any work in the darkroom myself. I would pack orders for shipment. I learned a lot from him and branched out into 16mm as well as Super 8mm Sound. CineMagnetics is still extant; this webpage details their history and mentions their printmaking operations in Super 8mm and 16mm: CineMagnetics History Timeline

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