posted January 25, 2019 09:53 AM
Headline editions, alas, but still nice finds. Before their digest of Paramount's 1933 ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Castle had offered the 1949 Lou Bunin version that combined stop-motion characters with a live-action Alice (played by Carol Marsh, probably best-known for playing "Lucy" in the original DRACULA/HORROR OF DRACULA from Hammer).
And while I knew Castle had offered a digest of the classic 1951 A CHRISTMAS CAROL (aka SCROOGE) with Alastair Sim years before the 400' sound digest from Columbia, I never thought I'd ever get my hands on one.
Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007
posted January 25, 2019 10:21 AM
I've got Castle #830, a 16mm sound copy of "A Christmas Carol", a 400ft released between 1952 and 1957. A real challenge for the editor to reduce the nine reel film into a short running just eight minutes, and quite comprehensible at that.
posted January 25, 2019 10:23 AM
Statz, those are rare ones, keep searching and you'll find the 200' edition on "Alice" - I still need 2 more travelogues to complete - Shorty
Posts: 740
From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2014
posted January 25, 2019 10:36 AM
I have the 200' version of Alice, shorty! How rare is it? It is a pretty neat version from what i recall when viewing it. It's been a while though... I have hoppalong cassidy in castle as well i believe...
quote: I've got Castle #830, a 16mm sound copy of "A Christmas Carol", a 400ft released between 1952 and 1957. A real challenge for the editor to reduce the nine reel film into a short running just eight minutes, and quite comprehensible at that.
I take my hat off to the editor that did the 400' digest of Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST. I wouldn't have thought it possible until John Hourigan showed me his copy.
posted January 26, 2019 09:40 AM
ALICE is a hard title to get, as it has film culled from the 1933 film itself (always found it a bit scary as a kid) - Hoppys are tough to locate in those original flaptop boxes - I'm down to my last 7 before closing the door on Castle Films - Shorty
posted January 28, 2019 03:20 PM
I'd had the Castle release of Paramount's 1933 ALICE for years (200' Complete Edition); finding their previous release of the 1949 Bunin version has been quite a challenge, even in this 50' Headline edition. (I've got the complete film from a VHS release of years ago, which mistakenly lists it as a Puppetoon film, even though George Pal had nothing to do with it.) Yeah, Shorty, some of those creatures are still a bit creepy.