8mm Forum: Recently scored a couple of obscure Castle titles

This is topic Recently scored a couple of obscure Castle titles - Scrooge & Alice. in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Robert Statzer (Member # 6708) on 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.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on 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 by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on 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

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on 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...

Posted by Robert Statzer (Member # 6708) on January 25, 2019, 10:46 AM:

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 by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on 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 by Robert Statzer (Member # 6708) on 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.

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