8mm Forum: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (400ft. C/S)

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 23, 2007, 02:02 PM:

I'm suprised that this one has never been reviewed so I thought, hey, lets give it a go.

Along with STAR WARS, this was one of my favorite films of the late 70's, as well as one of the most common 400ft. releases that I see on ebay as well as elsewhere, so it must have been a very common release.

The story is as follows, (following the flow of this digest)

Digest opens with the UFO officials investigating the flight 19 (true fact this flight did dis-appear over the Bermuda Triangle, never to be seen again) planes that have miraculously reappeared. They then investigate an old man who says that last night, "The sun came out and sang to me last night."

We then turn to the air traffic controllers, who get a report of a UFO that hassles a commercial airline flight.

"Do you want to report a UFO, over?"
"Negative, we don't want to report."

We now zoiom to the power plant that is losing power up and down the grid. They send Roy neary out to investigate.

This leads to the first major UFO scene and a classic moment. A vehicle pulls up behind Roy Nearys work truck. neary motions for the vehicle to go by him. Instead of going around him, the vehicle RISES STRAIGHT UP. The floodlights come on and the whole scene goesw crazy, railroad crossing signs rocking madly, and Roy even experiences loss of gravity in his truck, (as well as a bad case of sunburn!)

Cut to Jillian and Barry Guiler. She catches her son on the road. Roy neary almost hits them. They are still on the road when FOUR magnificent UFO's roar by. (beautiful scene)

We then move forward to the officials investigating the signal they have recieved. They pinpoint it to a place in wyoming, (which ends up being Devil's Tower). They also decide
on a GM nerve gas attack as the way to get civilains out of the area.

This does't deter Roy, Gillian or little Barry, who are out to see more of the UFO's. He sees Barry making a mud tower, he keeps on seeing this shape.

he also, when shaving, (as well as eating Mash Potato's), sees the same shape.

He is then driven to build a massive copy of Devils Tower, (which, by the way, he has never seen.) His family leaves him, thinking that he is crazy. He now sees Devils Tower on a news report and things connect.

This sends him off on a mad dash to Devils tower, (after seeing the TV). he finds Jillian on his trip there. They both head out together and find Devil's Tower!

They head up with another fellow, (who's name escapes me), after being detained by the army, and about to be shipped away.
The third fellow is stopped by GM nerve gas, but Roy and Gillian reach the top of Devils Tower and find the UFO landing base behind it.

This leads to the magnificent ending when the mother ship ends, people abducted are released, and the little Alien freinds visit.

Lastly, Roy is selected to go up and leave in the UFO, and Little Barry is reunited with his Mommy. barry has the last line as he watches the mothership leave.

"Goodbye"

exit mothership. The End

This was a very well edited digest, considering that this is a longer length movie (135 minutes, the digest runs 19 minutes.) and they did a very good job, giving us all the major UFO moments, (excellent oscar winning special effects by Douglas Trumball) and giving us enough story from all angles to make this quite enjoyable.

and ... thank God, no rediculous voice over narraration, which some Columbia digests have!

The contrast is very good. It is slightly high on the grain level, but it's not too distracting.

The sharpness is pretty good, though not perfection for Super 8 (look to Deraan and CHC for that!), but it is certianly passable.

The sound is a booming mono and has great audio. I hear that some people have actually re-recorded this is stereo, which must have been quite a feat!

Colour is an issue. While the original release of this no doubt had excellent colour, this is a print that has not tended to age well. There are many very bad copies out there, concerning the colour. My copy has a slight fade, but very little and quite passable.

Curiously, the opening Columbia logo, (with the classic "sundial effect") tends to have much more faded colour then the rest of the film, mostly red at the beginning. I am curious as to whether there were different colour versions of this particular logo, as I have a print from the same era and the colour scheme for the logo is absolutely perfect, but I have noted that some other studio';s have tended to have slightly faded logo's while the features are perfect.

Also of note is that this was released with two different clamshells/boxes, (a less known German box was also released with different design.) The main two is the far more well known classic road with the light at the end. I have the lesser known white/blue plastic clamshell, with the same image on the front, but photo's and description on the back, a much nicer box.

A classic release on Super 8 and one which many of us no doubt have in our collection.

There may be a optical sound copy of this on super 8 as a feature flat, not scope. I had heard of one, but have never seen it anywhere.

Please note : This was released by Derann as a feature, but was cut short in number of prints. Numbers vary, but the number is between 10 to 20 prints released. (God I'd love to have one of those!! Hey Kevin, wanna sell?!!!) I would love to hear about those prints, which were a scope release.

Also of note : There were at least two super 8 trailer releases. One was the original long trailer, released as a cinevision print. This trailer has very little actual footage from the film and is basically an interview between director Steven Speilberg, doctor J Allen Hynek (UFO specialist) and Richard Dreyfuss, (who plays Roy Neary). The other trailer was the re-release entitled, "Close Encounters of ther Third Kind:
Special Edition. "

Posted by Oskar Jalink (Member # 667) on February 25, 2007, 09:28 AM:

Hello Osi,

I've got the same print since about half a year. Colour has indeed faded enormously: When projecting an a larger screen there's almost no colour left. When projecting on TV-size images are fairly good.

I to think it's a good digest: cuts have been made with consideration to the original story line. The cut from the leaving of the wife and kid to the heated telephone conversation and the following recognision of the mountain is espicially wel placed. It gives you all the information about their relation in about 8 secs. Well done indeed.

There are however a few close-ups from the sound-technician at the landing site that seem a bit strange when you don't know the original movie: You just see this man starring at you a few times as if hypnotised. I think I would have used that 8mm time to show a bit more of the disembarking of the 'captured' earthlings.

The end-credits are strangely compressed and also off-angle as if someone has been filming this wile sitting in a theatre.

I must say this digest works fore me like a long, good trailer: Please sir, can I have some more?

[ February 25, 2007, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: Oskar Jalink ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 25, 2007, 02:50 PM:

Hi Oskar,

I think they left that long shot of the technician more for the sake of the music cue there than anything else, but I agree about that.

With such a big hit, it's suprising that Columbia Super 8 didn't release this as a 30 minute digest, (or, even better yet, a cinemascope 400 or 800ft release).

Sadly, I doubt that this will ever be re-released on Super 8, (unless I get my dream of releasing it on Super 8 myself!!)

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on February 28, 2007, 12:36 PM:

Osi
I agree this film would have been ideal as a well edited 600 or 800ft Scope release, sadly I have had to junk my 400ft copy as it has badly faded [Frown]

Graham.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on February 28, 2007, 10:42 PM:

Oskar,

Good point about the end credits
being strangely compressed.

I wondered if this was an
anamorphic scope neg used
at the end to fit the credits
and perspective of the mothership
all in one standard sized frame?

Michael

Posted by Robert Wales (Member # 502) on March 01, 2007, 08:08 AM:

Long before the trend to letterboxing scope material for 1:33 prints & video became accepted it was standard to use anamorphic credit material 'squeezed' at both the beginning and end of wide-screen films to avoid cutting off credits when converting to 1:33 framing.

I believe the opening titles are anamorphic /squeezed as well but as they are on a black background there is nothing to give away the trick unless you're really observant of fonts. ( I no longer have this print but remember it well )

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 01, 2007, 03:00 PM:

MIcheal, Robert, you are both correct. The beginning and end credits are in scope. I know, I wish the whole dang thing was in scope, but it's not. I put the lense on it a few times to just see that end credit in scope, longing for the rest to be that way.

I would be curious of two things: I believe that there were german releases of this. Is the cut of the 400ft. german release the same as the american?

Also, I would be curious if some of these Columbia releases (such as "Close Encounters") were manufactured over in the U.K. and if so, how is the colour on them?

Lastly, was there ever a 200ft. release of this title? If there was, it must be quite rare, as I have never seen it, (I'm not speaking of the two trailer releases, mind you)

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 01, 2007, 09:43 PM:

Osi,

According to Columbia's catalogs, "Close Encounters" was only available as a 400 footer. In the late 70's Columbia released very few digests in both 200' and 400' versions (unlike Ken Films). "The Anderson Tapes", "Fail Safe", "The Odessa File", "Shamus", and "White Line Fever" are among the few that got that treatment.

Doug

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 02, 2007, 04:57 AM:

Osi, I had a copy of CEOTTK 400ft Columbia version which I got shot of after getting the feature and it was on Kodak Poly LPP.

The colour was really good and the image nice and crisp. I note that the title of this thread has C/S at the end. Do I take it that stands for Scope as mine was the flat version. I didn't realise it was released in scope format. Was it the same cut as the flat version?
Mine was also in the Clamshell box and not the earlier cardboard job.

I don't think that any of the Columbia's were made in the UK I think they all came over from the US but I may be wrong.

Kev.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 02, 2007, 10:10 AM:

Kev,

The "c/s" merely refers to "colour/sound", that's all.

But what really sparks my interest, is that you have a 400ft colour sound on LPP stock, which raises hopes that I might find some more copies 400ft. on LPP stock.

Perhaps this was among the last prints made by Columbia, since we know (roughly) the first appearances of LPP and this was of course during the heyday of Super 8.

Aww c'mon, sell me the 400ft. at least?

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 02, 2007, 12:30 PM:

Osi, I'm so sorry to dissapoint but if you read my post you will see that I got shot after I bought the feature or is that what your after [Wink]

Sorry mate....that stays in my collection unless I really get strapped for cash. The feature is one of the best looking super 8 features I have along with Spiderman and Flash Gordon.

Yes my 400 footer was definitely on Poly stock and the colour was spot on. They are obviously out there so keep your eyes open. My betting is that there are a lot of late Columbia's on the low fade stocks.

Kev.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on March 02, 2007, 02:02 PM:

Kev,

Osi & I both need a British slang clarification. Does "got shot of" mean "got rid of"?

Doug

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 02, 2007, 05:00 PM:

Spot on Buddy [Big Grin]

Kev.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on March 03, 2007, 03:49 AM:

Osi: just so you know, my 400ft of CE3K still has vivid colours, I found it last year at a flea market, so there's hope.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 06, 2007, 09:22 AM:

Jean, I was re-reviewing my copy of CE3K myself and found that the colour was very good as well and yet, for some strange reason, the film was quite brittle.

Strange, in that usually old faded film is brittle.

Anyhow, while we are on this subject of CE3K, could anyone more closely connected with CE3K (the scope feature) tell me anything as to why Derann had to pull this as a title? Was it a broken negative, or did Columbia or even Speilberg not like it being released on Super 8?

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on March 06, 2007, 10:13 AM:

Osi, I think you have it with your last but one expanation [Wink]

Kev.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on March 06, 2007, 04:44 PM:

Hi Kevin.You have PM'S.Andy.

Posted by Greg Marshall (Member # 1268) on September 23, 2008, 07:13 PM:

Hey Guys.... I know these posts were from a while back. I obtained a really nice 400'er of Close Encounters a couple of months ago on Ebay. I was surprised of how vivid the colors have retained themselves on my copy, vivid blues, greens, etc., so they are definitely still out there.

Greg

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on September 23, 2008, 09:29 PM:

A few years ago I bought a horror feature on ebay and the seller threw in this excellent digest with the film. I had never seen the need to buy digest prints as I had always thought that they were a waste of time and only collected features. Anyway, I was so impressed with the way the editors had cut this film that I started collecting more horror and sci-fi digest prints. I also find that audiences prefer a show made up of a few digests rather than a full feature.

Paul.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 24, 2008, 09:05 AM:

Yes, digests fit right in with the modern mentalities, (I just wanna see something fast!).

Before I bought my scope feature of this film, I based this review on my digest, and that digest held it's color very well, and thank goodness it didn't have that very irritating nararrator like the later Columbia digests had.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 24, 2008, 02:46 PM:

Good review Osi, unfortunatly i did find the cutdown so dissapointing, it was said to be edited for this home release with Spielburg watching over it, this explains why there is virtualy no decent shots of the mothership which for me was one of the highlights of the film. Its one of my all time favourite sci-fi movies. When they announced the release of the 400 footer,(all those years ago),i was sorted for my xmas present upon its first viewing i felt a little cheated, still, i can keep scanning for one of those rare features in ful scope.
Am i correct in saying that the full feature release on super 8,(all 10 copies of them) was the special edition??

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 24, 2008, 06:04 PM:

Tom,

I might have been up to 15 or 16 prints made by Derann of the the "Special Edition" released in 1980 before Speilberg requested that it be withdrawn, (acording to 8mm forum lore, others could back it up).

A certain moderator of this very forum was considerting selling his print and you might be able to talk him out of it, as I almost bought his print.

There is the rarest of chances that you might luck into the 1977 edition in scope (which I have), which Kevin F. and I have verified to have been printed in 1982. The problem is, no one has any idea as to how many prints were struck of this version of CE3K. There's the one that I have. Are there any others of this 1977 version? No one really knows, but for one to exist, there might very well be others, no doubt sitting comfortably in someones collection.

Posted by Timothy Duncan (Member # 4461) on December 06, 2014, 02:53 PM:

I just added this to my collection and the colors on my copy are indeed faded (however Roy's shirt does show up nice and red as it should in the beginning of the film). I saw this countless times as a teen when I owned an early VHS release (remember RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video?) from the mid 1980's. I do not remember that scene inside the power plant where Roy worked at all, which must have not been in the VHS release that I remember. This is a must-have for any sci-fi super 8 film buff.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on December 06, 2014, 03:51 PM:

Not sure if this is 100% true, but a customer bought CE3K on 16mm and wrote to Columbia thanking them. Derann then lost all the Columbia titles.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on December 06, 2014, 10:03 PM:

It was definitely related to Derann selling 16mm - which is why they stopped selling 16mm for a few years - although I'm not aware of that story. Writing to Columbia sounds a crazy thing to do! If true, any reply would have made interesting reading!

Posted by Mark L Barton (Member # 1512) on December 07, 2014, 04:30 AM:

I'd heard that Spielberg himself cut this 400' digest, that would account for the inserts of the people staring, as is Spielbergs style of interiorising the spectators emotions.
Yep I have the digest, and the clouds are poor. My version is in the card box, but I wonder if the digest that came in the poly plastic box is better/worse, different stock etc?

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on December 07, 2014, 02:00 PM:

Columbia Studios broke Derek's contract after a Columbia representative noticed that there was second hand 16mm Columbia titles in a bin, in the shop that were unlicensed products for sales. Derek was forced then to cease all production on CE3K.

Ten collectors secured the only prints prior to this debacle with Derann.

I have an LPP 400' CE3K digest in the cardboard packaging and it's not for sale.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 17, 2014, 01:02 PM:

Micheal ...

That's neat to hear that there were LPP 400ft copies of that digest. I have seen decent color prints of the digest that are close but not perfect color. I bet that digest looks great!

Posted by Alexander Vandeputte (Member # 1803) on December 17, 2014, 01:08 PM:

My copy of the digest is on Agfa. The colors are unfaded, but with the a typical warm 70's look.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on December 17, 2014, 04:12 PM:

there was a trailer for the close encounters special edition, i recently sold this on e bay and it did fetch very good money, i used this to buy more films on the recent Paul foster, indi 8 and perry lists, the quality was outstanding and it ran for just under two minutes.

Posted by Douglas Warren (Member # 1047) on February 21, 2015, 09:55 AM:

I'm relieved that this digest doesn't have the narration that so many Columbia/Ken releases had.I've wondered if the studios had anything to do with it being added.
Douglas

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on February 22, 2015, 04:47 AM:

What happened was that Columbia did indeed tell Derann to stop selling 16mm films or they would remove all the 8mm rights.

A very similar thing happened with me,(as I've mentioned before on Texas chainsaw threads), I was looking for the full 5 x400ft feature of TCSM and a company in Scotland had one. They informed me before making the purchase that the sound was very very low.
Innocently, I wrote to Iver films, the distributor, simply to ask that if I made the purchase could I get them to re-record it. Jeepers did I get that Scottish film library into trouble [Frown]

The full feature was never released for retail sale only rental.
Had DVDs been around in those days, (around 1979-80) I wouldnt have even asked.
The old saying, loose lips sinks ships! Its that easy to cause a problem and all very innocent with good intentions.

Posted by David Coppola (Member # 4209) on February 23, 2015, 10:57 AM:

I still have mine. I bought it new wayyyy back in the day.
I don't know if the color shifted or not. I no longer have a Super 8 projector (but am thinking about getting one, again).
That being said, I really don't have much use for my print, if anyone wants to buy it.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on February 24, 2015, 06:50 AM:

PM sent [Wink]

Sorry Dave, were you talking about CETC or TCSM?

Posted by David Coppola (Member # 4209) on February 25, 2015, 05:59 AM:

Close Encounters.....I know it's somewhere in a box, due to moving several times since the 70s, LOL.
I'll find it and let you know.
I really would like to view it once more just to get an idea of the color loss and general condition. If memory serves, there are no splices or lines.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 25, 2015, 01:02 PM:

By the way, there was also an Italian release of the full feature of CE3K, but it was flat and not scope. I saw one sell a year or two ago on ebay.

Posted by Daniel Tollick (Member # 4820) on May 24, 2015, 12:41 PM:

I have seen two 400ft copies around one in a cars box and one in the plastic clam shell box which is the best and who released them both.

Posted by Dave Ruth (Member # 4596) on September 18, 2017, 03:26 PM:

Picked up a clamshell version of this off eBay for $8. I think it's LPP? Or very very low fade. Was really impressed with the quality of the print. Not so much with the digest itself.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 19, 2017, 01:31 AM:

As i understand it, columbia were not happy as derann announced the scope feature release before the deal was sealed and also copies were sold prior to columbia agreeing a date. Something along those lines anyway. Derann announced a couple of other releases in one of there catalouges including a 600ft version of the thunderbirds. These deals were also taken away due to the premeture announcements. Barry at indi 8 may be able to be more precise on this.
Regarding CEOTTK, this was one of my all time favourite films but i have to say i was very dissapointed in the 400 cut down. I kept it for around 5 years and promtly sold it on. I could never afford or find the scope feature and nor would i pay a grand or two for it,(or any film for that matter).
Osi's review here is first class but i just thought this title needed to be at least 600ft.

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on September 19, 2017, 01:42 AM:

I had the 400 footer and watched it once then sold it,was a bit disappointed with the editing on it,would have possibly been a bit better as a 600 release just to get a better idea of the story line,Mark

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 19, 2017, 06:27 AM:

thats right Mark, i thought the 400ft digest was nothing more than a souvenir print, it was obvious that Mr Spielberg didn't want too many of the classic shots of the mother ship in there. Being 4:3 only this was limited, the shot of the mother rising over the mountain is one that comes to mind.It works for some collectors but it didn't work for me. A shame really as it was , as said, one of my favorite films.

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on September 19, 2017, 08:58 AM:

As with some 400 footers they either work or they don't story wise,if your a fan of a certain film as in this case with Tom then you probably know the story well(my Dad used to say he's seen it so many times he's in it)so realise what's missing that could have improved the cut down,I'd say back in the day it was about selling titles and getting them out as quick as possible,some are great edits and are really repeatable but not this one,Mark

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 21, 2017, 11:20 AM:

Columbia super 8 certainly missed out on a golden opportunity to have a very good selling scope or Cineavision 400ft digest, to be sure.

What is so odd is that Animex/Cineavision DID release the extra long (about 5 or 6 minutes) trailer for CE3K, so, either thry had access or permission from Columbia, (as they're releases were official releases from the parent company with permission) ...

or ...

That trailer was released without permission? At any rate, a rare and nest trialer to have, though it was printed on fadey eastman and so buyer beware, but i have seen some unfaded copies show up now and then. [Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 24, 2017, 12:59 PM:

I actually haven't done one of these reviews in quite awhile (good Ole Tom and have taking up my "slack" [Smile]

), but I thought that with my latest aquisition in my collection, this bear doing.

This is, of course, the classic 1978 Speilberg films, released during the "heyday" of the UFO interest, (for those who don't know, the world was crazy with thought of UFO's), and Speilberg released this very gentle science fiction film with a very different plot twist to the whole "aliens visit earth" genre ...

The aliens are friendly ...

Which speilberg would later build on with his classic film "ET".

Speilberg untilized ghis favorite actor of choice at the time (Richard Dreyfuss), to play an everyday man who has more than one experience with UFO's and is nearly driven out of his mind to pursue the truth for ...

"The Truth is Our There"

... He gets images of a certain place in his mind which he must go to, in shaving cream (no kidding) as well as mashed potato's ect. In his journey, he is joined by a young woman (Melinda Dillon), who's son has been abducted by UFO's (in one of the films great sequences), and they meet in another of the films many great special effects sequences, (on a deserted highway). They team together and eventually arrive at they're "dream" destination, Devils Tower Wyoming, where the governmant has been planning secretly to have a "rendevous" with the aliens and end up also sending an earthling or two to other worlds aboard the alien mothership.

Watching this film yet again today it really hasn't aged at all, story-wise or dramatic effect. The special effecst still awe from beginning to end, nor do they show they're age. In an age where STAR WARS was becoming the benchmark illustration for what a science fiction film should be, Speilberg showed a more deicate and beautiful way to the stars.

Now, the print review ...

I bid on this digest, which I had previously owned years before (not this epecifc one), as i was floored by the absolutely unfaded print that was offered in auction. The colors are as pristien as they were upon being printed. I must say that most of the digests of this film are either starting to fade or are badly faded and I was overjoyed to find this one AND, at a very reasonable price for it's condition!

... and there is a reason for that.

It's on AGFA 2S film stock! I always thought this only came out on fadey eastman film stock, but I'm happy to say that i have been proved wrong. Either this was just a print run of this digest that happily made it onto Agfa during the original print run OR it is a re-print, (perhaps by Columbia itself) at a later time on Agfa. it was certainly one of thier best selling digest titles.

The edit of this digest is masterful, (someone far better than I could verify this, but from what i understand, Speilberg himself was involved with the edit of this digest), as it encapsulates the complete film is a very nice 18 or so minute digest. Though this is on a 400ft reel, it IS longer than most 400ft digests of it's day. I also like how, at the beginning, it has Columbia Pictures best (in my opinion) logo at the beginning. A very nice touch for the digest. Also, i am MOST THANKFUL that this digest was released earlier on, when there wasn't an irritating person nararating the digest for you. I mean, heck, if you're buying the digest you already know what is going to happen or be seen, you don't need a bloody nararator!

The mono magnetic sound is booming, a very loud but not distorted sound quality that was very enjoyable. As to sharpness, focus, it is actually sharper than I remember this digest roginally being. Either that, or my eyes are better know, (I doubt that!)

Please note that the screenshots for this digest that I have included, are from the ebay auction but ARE from this print, but I apologize for the "glare" in the shots, but they most certainly prove that yes, there ARE great digests of this print out there.

I thank you for you're time and, of course ...

LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!! [Smile]

[ October 25, 2017, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

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