quote:

---

… the years most bizarre movie is now available for your home cinema. The editor is to be congratulated for capturing the menace of the feature and retaining all of the notorious shock effects - face hugger, chest burster and startling destruction of the humanoid. Excellent print and sound complete this, my joint ’Pick of the Month’. But remember, it is very much ’X’ certificate land and care should be taken where young or nervy audiences are concerned. It is a ’must’ - don’t miss it!

Bill Davison - Movie Maker. January 1980

---

All these years on Alien still has the potential to shock, I have just sat and watched this in the safety of my own dining room but still had to cover my eyes when the big scary monster was about to appear in the ventilation shaft .

The editing is well done and the story flows well, the print has stood the test of time. I was trying to determine whether or not there was a hint of red showing through, I don’t think there was as the scenes in the white interiors were very white and crisp and there was still plenty of blue. I would certainly recommend this 400fter as a must have!

Mike

[ April 18, 2005, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Mike Peckham ]
 

---

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on March 05, 2005, 05:12 PM:
 
I agree Mike, I bought it when it came out back then and was impressed with the editing job. I only wished they would have added a few more minutes to include the actual ending! This was also one of the first digests to be released in a beautiful vinyl clamshell case. I was so impressed by these cases(i.e."The incredible Melting Man"), that I actually wrote a letter to KEN films thanking them. They in turn acknowledged by sending me a letter noting the positive response.
 

---

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on March 06, 2005, 04:16 PM:
 
Joe, I'm with you on the clam shells, for me one of the attractions of collecting on super 8 is the packaging. Looks so good on the shelf!

Mike
 

---

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 06, 2005, 05:17 PM:
 
I just wish that I could find a copy which is not turning red. Those scenes at the start should be fairly neutral but they now look quite warm. Shame

Kev.

[ March 18, 2005, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: Kevin Faulkner ]
 

---

Posted by Mark Norton (Member # 165) on March 07, 2005, 03:01 AM:
 
Yes the colour on my print of this lets down an otherwise very good cut down. I'd love to get a good print of this.
 

---

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on March 08, 2005, 03:35 PM:
 
I used to have this until I got the Derann feature. I once saw a very odd item on eBay: an Alien 200' colour silent version with a cassette tape with the soundtrack as part of the package!
 

---

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on March 10, 2005, 11:32 AM:
 
I knew that most of the Ken 400 foot digests were also released in 200 foot form, but I never knew about the cassette tape sound track.

I had just recently heard that the Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back digests were released with a cassette sound track.

I wonder how many other films they released like this? Very interesting stuff!

Nick.
 

---

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on March 10, 2005, 11:58 AM:
 
Adrian,

Any chance of a review of the full feature? I think Derann still offer this on their new list.

Might be worth considering a purchase...

Mike
 

---

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on March 10, 2005, 06:20 PM:
 
Adrian & James: I can confirm this, I have a 200ft version of "Empire Strikes Back" with sound on tape...

(update) And this is how it looks. Thicker box compared to regular 200ft cardboard box



The tape is stored at the bottom of the box. Interestingly, the film itself is pre-striped, so the sound could be transfered from the tape to the film track.



[ March 11, 2005, 03:48 AM: Message edited by: Jean-Marc Toussaint ]
 

---

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on March 11, 2005, 06:43 AM:
 
That is very interesting!

Does the film run at 18fps or 24fps?

Nick.
 

---

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 11, 2005, 04:06 PM:
 
Jean-Marc,

Were there instructions for syncing up the film & tape? For the Americom releases that came with a vinyl disc, you had to line up one of three black dot frames in the projector aperture and then listen to the record for the beep that came after the phrase "start projector on tone". Those films were run at silent speed (18fps).

Doug
 

---

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on March 11, 2005, 08:18 PM:
 
Doug,

There's no instructions in the box, nothing on the leader either. The film runs at 24fps and, from my experience, you need to manually wind the tape until the magnetic part reaches the pressure pad, then place tape in player, press "play" and "pause" and release "pause" when the Fox logo appears.

It works (kinda ).

(This is quite an action-packed 200 footer, btw...)

A friend of mine has "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with soundtrack on a soft vinyl record. He quickly gave up trying to sync the record with the film and transfered the soundtrack to a cassette tape...



Mike: sorry, we're really off-topic here...
 

---

Posted by Andreas Eggeling (Member # 105) on March 13, 2005, 06:12 PM:
 
Back to the topic.

This alien 400 footer was distributed in different languages.
There exists acetate and polyester prints. All polyester prints I have seen have still brillant and fresh colors. The acetat prints have a brown touch or turning red.

I have had one of these US-prints with german sound at beginning which turned into the spanish version after 10 minutes.
Would be interesting to know what happened in the lab.

[ March 14, 2005, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: Andreas Eggeling ]
 

---

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 15, 2005, 02:38 PM:
 
Sorry to go back to the Empire Tape thing but I also had this 200 footer with the tape and yes the film was striped because it also had the sound track. It was not a mute print. Several sections in this 200 foot extract could be spliced into the 400ft extract. It was 24fps release.

Kev.
 

---

Posted by Andreas Eggeling (Member # 105) on March 15, 2005, 04:05 PM:
 
Sorry, but I have the feeling to say that it is more and more unclearly and uncomfortable to find postings about films in a review which have nothing to do with the topic.
 

---

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 15, 2005, 05:44 PM:
 
Andreas, you are quite right. I have also moved the thread you started into the General Forum as its probablu better off there.

Kev.
 

---

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on March 16, 2005, 03:51 PM:
 
Mike,
I think the feature was withdrawn some time ago, but I'll offer a quick review. I can't go into a lot of detail, though, as it's a few years since I ran it and it might be a while before I do again. The print is pretty sharp but the colour and contrast could perhaps be marginally better - perhaps it was derived from a 35mm print. I recall initially being slightly disappointed because I'd heard it was excellent and I was perhaps expecting a print up to the standard of 'Aliens' - which is one of my most prized films on Super 8. However, if you had no such expectations, and wanted the film, you would almost certainly be perfectly happy with it. The mono sound is fine but again not quite in the 'Aliens' class.
Adrian
 

---

Posted by Mark Norton (Member # 165) on March 17, 2005, 04:27 AM:
 
I've been considering a print of ALIENS for some time, what has put me off is that many of the scenes are low lit and having not seen this on S8 I wonder how well the film has transfered on to the 8mm frame. Is it up to Grease or Die Hard in the quality stakes?
 

---

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on March 17, 2005, 03:40 PM:
 
Mark,
As you will know, prints on Super 8 can be inconsistent, so I can't guarantee that one bought now would be as good as mine, especially as I got mine within about six months of it being released, back in the days of Kodak pre-striped stock, when the labs were pretty much at the peak of print quality. Also, Derann sold a lot of copies of this feature, so if you buy a new print, the negative might show some signs of wear over the last 18 years or so.
However, my print is really excellent - I was delighted with it. It's a while since I've seen any Die Hard clips, but I'd say the quality is superior to Grease as it does not have the slightly high contrast look that comes from Grease being derived from a 35mm print. I remember reading about how a suitable negative was discovered for Aliens. All the dark scenes are fine. Also, the ratio is almost perfect, with masking at the top and bottom.
It was something of a milestone for me when I screened it for an audience, as for the first time (in my house) it gave you a sense that you were watching 'the film', rather than a 8mm print of the film.
Adrian
 

---

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on March 23, 2005, 02:00 AM:
 
I've got first run prints of both Alien and Aliens. Alien is superior in the print stakes, Aliens in the sound stakes. Aliens is not quite so good despite being struck from a genuine negative probably because of the grainy film stocks used to film it.

Alien was taken from a 35mm print but matches the 35mm print very accurately. Not quite up to the highest standards achieved on Super 8 but not far off. I got a second print sometime later which isn't a patch on the first one.

I also have a second print of Aliens which stands up almost as well as the first print but suffers from a bit of negative dust. Not much damage to the negative appears to have occured over the years. Ordered a new reel 5 recently and apart from being slightly darker than previously it's in good nick.
 

---

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on March 23, 2005, 09:38 AM:
 
John- I also have both features (Alien & Aliens), and both purchased about a year after thier initial release from Derann. I agree that the "Alien" print (scope) is slightly superior to "Aliens" (flat). While both are definately top-notch, I only noticed minor flaws.

In the "Alien" feature print, the picture was very clear and bright, but in the all-white computer room where "Mother" was located, the room had a slightly darker, reddish-brown look. I can't understand this, because all of the other scenes, even the scenes that, on a super 8 print, would usually be dark, come out beautifully.

In "Aliens", the quality is also very good, but seems to vary in some of the original reels of the negative. For instance, in the last reel (#5), the picture starts off very clear and bright, up to the scene right after the four survivors escape and the planet explodes. Then, you see the original circle "cues" in the upper right hand corner of the picture, and where the last reel of the negative splices in, the picture becomes slightly darker, with a little grain as well. It remains this way throughout the last 15 minutes or so of the movie, making the final battle between Ripley and the queen alien a little hard to see.

In spite of this minor flaw, I give both of these features my highest recommendation, especially Aliens, due to its repeatability factor.

As for the 400 foot "Alien", of course I also own one of these (like every teenage boy back when it was released in 1980). The picture was very good, maybe a little grainy. The sound was fine. I can say that this was one of the most well edited digests ever released on super 8. I'm sure that if super 8 had prospered for another year or so, we would have seen a second extract reel containing the true ending.

Nick.
 

---

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 06, 2005, 03:03 PM:
 
I have the scope feature "Alien" as well, but mine appear to be in stereo. I guess they released both versions. Understandable.
I agree with the first posts that Alien was a great 400 digest. In fact, in my opinion, the best 400ft. digest ever. I was amazed that they were able to make a somewhat slow moving film, (nice deliberate pacing) film work so well in a 17 minute time span. I noted the the editor had the cuts moving at a quicker and quicker pace as the reel goes on. Though it doesn't have the actual ending. If one had never seen the full feature, they would feel that the ending was excellent. though i bought the feature, i was actually kind of sad after I let this print go, and it had no a spot of fad to it!
 

---

Posted by Jordan J. Bolinger (Member # 3560) on February 20, 2013, 05:24 PM:
 
My dad owned the 400ft Color Sound ALIEN and I swear I remember it being in a cardboard box and he said he remembered it being 20 minutes long and having more of the original theatrical ending in it. Instead of it ending at "I got you you sonofab*tch."
 

---

Posted by Laksmi Breathwaite (Member # 2320) on February 21, 2013, 11:35 PM:
 
Nice review Mike I liked the part were you are scared and cover your eyes. Here are some shots of my ALIEN 1 X 400 the color is still nice I was lucky I got a good copy higher stock print. It still looks great after so many years.





 

---

Posted by Mark L Barton (Member # 1512) on February 25, 2013, 10:13 AM:
 
Of interest Veronica Carter, who played Lambert, was born in my home city of Bristol England. She and her sister Angela (from Lost in Space fame) emmigrated to the USA. Its time they made a return visit to Bristol.
 

---

Posted by Elyas Tesfaye (Member # 3356) on March 14, 2013, 12:24 PM:
 
SWEET SCREEN SHOTS, LAKSMI !!! Well done on an excellent review, good sir XD!!!
 

---

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 20, 2013, 01:51 PM:
 
There are LPP printings of this title, and I've seen screenshots and the color is awesome.
 

---

Visit www.film-tech.com for free equipment manual downloads. Copyright 2003-2019 Film-Tech Cinema Systems LLC


UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2