Ben Hart
Junior Posts: 3
From: Portsmouth, NH, USA
Registered: Jul 2014
posted July 04, 2014 01:56 PM
Found this set of 11 400' Chaplin super 8s. German company, "Atlas Schmalfilm", all the packaging & booklets are in german. Films in this set (with dates, according to boxes):
The Tramp - 1915 His New Job - 1915 The Immigrant - 1917 The Pawnshop The Floorwalker - 1916 A Woman - 1916 The Champion - 1915 Work - 1915 The Rink - 1916 The Fireman - 1916 The Vagabond - 1916
Not sure of value, have it listed on ebay but thought I would put it up here as well if anyone is interested! Fire away if you have any questions.
Ben Hart
Junior Posts: 3
From: Portsmouth, NH, USA
Registered: Jul 2014
posted July 04, 2014 04:00 PM
Just checked, the company is actually Piccolo Film, & it also says 'magnetic soundtrack', which I hadn't realized previously. I know nothing of Piccolo, but the name is actually 'in' the film, for what that is worth.
posted July 04, 2014 08:03 PM
These are actually German prints with German intertitles. Piccolo was a very important German company for 8mm film collectors. I think some of the prints may derive from Blackhawk as my print of "The rink" from this series has a Blackhawk credit at the end (German intertitles throughout the film however). The soundtrack is mostly out-of-tune "funny" piano music. The prints also had introductory titles in German (just like the Blackhawks) but frequently with some errors (e.g. the premiere dates of the films). This print quality is not bad but not as good as Blackhawk's in my opinion. Piccolo was obviously only the distributor for these films which were indeed made by Atlas Film. They also had the Chaplin features as leasing prints (like the RBC prints).
Ben Hart
Junior Posts: 3
From: Portsmouth, NH, USA
Registered: Jul 2014
posted July 05, 2014 02:43 PM
Wow, thank you for the info! You all are so knowledgeable on this forum. Great to get a bit of the history of these films! If anyone is interested, here is the link to the ebay auction: