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Topic: Airplane 1980
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Gordon G. Ellis
Junior
Posts: 10
From: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2015
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posted February 24, 2016 03:21 PM
I'm late to this particular party, but why not join in?
Rejuvenating my relatively modest Super 8 hobby, I’ve finally gotten around to screening my copy of the 3 x 400’ Airplane. And, holy cow, what a treat. I’ve always found Super 8 cutdowns to be interesting curios. This one does a remarkable job of presenting the whole story, and is as wonderful a digest as one could want.
As discussed above, the thinner polyester stock allows the film to easily mount on an 800’ reel. Colors in my print are okay. A few striking blues pop from the screen, especially in the neon-lit nightclub scene in the first reel.
The edit gives a very complete sense of the film, with enough time for character’s backstories and running gags. Of course, in the service of telling the whole story, there are some omissions. And, although one shouldn't really complain about such a well-edited and fun digest, the omissions include (SPOILER ALERT) a few of the films most famous scenes. These include:
— Barbara Billingsley’s “Stewardess, I speak jive” scene. The original scene plays out in barely a minute, and would seem to have fit smoothly into the digest edit.
— Joey’s visit to the cockpit (“Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?”). In the original, this sequence plays out over a few minutes — probably too much footage to include at length, but a few of the key gag-lines could have been cleanly edited into the flow.
— A curious and slightly disappointing omission is the very first (and most famous) instance of Leslie Nielsen’s “Don’t call me Shirley.” This running-gag line is repeated later in the film, so it is represented in the digest. But, the original instance could have fit seamlessly into the flow of the digest, and again would have required only about 15 ft of additional footage.
Graham above mentions a 50 minute running time. By my clock, the digest runs closer to 47 minutes (~950 feet). That’s ample, but again it seems that there should have been room to retain a few of those relatively short gag scenes mentioned above. (Maybe those moments weren't as iconic at the time, and were simply cut with a focus on moving the story forward.)
In any event, I’m thrilled to own a copy. It will definitely be at the top of my replay list.
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thank you for flying "Trans-American". ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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then there is Instrument Flying, something I never moved onto, but in this movie they have a whole new approach to that subject 
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