8mm Forum: The Royal Wedding Prince Charles & Diana

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Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on October 22, 2007, 07:06 PM:

After the screening tonight here of this film I thought it worth a few minutes to pop a short review of The Royal Wedding of H.R.H Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

Thanks to Walton Films this record of the Wedding which took place on Wednesday July 29th 1981 was made available to the Super 8 film collecting fraternity. Its not one of the hardest titles to locate as thanks to ebay it does surface fairly regularly and for moderate sums. Presented in a rich blue case with a loving image of Charles and Diana kissing on its front cover you will have a good idea what lays in store for the collector of this film.

As a youngster I was never much of a royalist but in later years devolved an interest in the Royal Family and certainly in collecting films about them. Thankfully many were available and this one is perhaps one of the most important to own for a budding archivist.

Professionally narrated by Robert Powell and an estimated 700 million people watching the live TV broadcast this was to be a prestigious super 8mm sound release for Walton Films and one which I was pleased to add to my collection a few years ago. It is presented on a 400ft reel and in colour sound and flows beautifully capturing the essence of the day, and what a day.

The film follows the couple to the marriage venue and gives a complete overview who was on site for the ceremony. It’s also nice to see Lady Diana’s father who was not a well man at this time but still gave his daughter away on her special day with all the pomp one would expect from the brits.

Lady Diana’s dress I thought was a bit of a disappointment and as she excited the carriage it looked like it could do with a good iron to me, but I am no expert. The marriage vows are crystal clear on this print as is the music and narration. All in all it’s a great record of what was a very happy day and I remember it very well having made the trip into London (I must have been bonkers) to see what I could see which was not much with millions also having the same idea.

The print quality is sharp, warm on my now vintage copy with crisp clear sound. A nice souvenir from a time when life held more promise for Lady Diana we thought, and certainly a highly collectable memento of a small piece of British history.

Print A
Sound A
Around 250ft in length.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on October 23, 2007, 07:36 PM:

Sounds like a very nice souvenir Lee. What a magical day that was, almost as good as the Coronation. Of course we watched it on live TV here in the States, and I think every American wished they were British on that day! A whole different story from the 1953 Coronation which was filmed off the BBC TV (Kinetescope), and the reels of film progressively flown across the Atlantic in a series of military jet aircraft, rapidly processed, and thrown onto American TV. Talk about 'buffering'!

Posted by Larry Arpin (Member # 744) on October 30, 2007, 09:52 PM:

Here's one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROYAL-WEDDING-OF-DIANA-CHARLES-SP8-COL-SND-400FT_W0QQitemZ120177980277QQihZ002QQcategoryZ35064QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on October 31, 2007, 09:58 PM:

I loved the Coronation Footage that is
projected in the room with the crown jewels
inside The Tower of London.

It is beautifully stunning and exciting,
as are also the crown jewels.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 05, 2007, 03:37 PM:

England has a prince, let alone a queen?

(haha, just kidding!)

I was thinking like your average high school educated young person. You'll know things have REALLY gotten bad when young
British youth are shocked to find out that they have a queen mum and princes and the whole lot!

I have seen this itle come up occasionally, and I wouldn't mind having it. How has the color held up on these?

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on November 06, 2007, 03:14 AM:

Hi Osi.

The colour on mine is OK, but as always, it rather depends on how the film has been stored. Kept cool they do seem to keep quite well from Walton I find.

Looking around quite a few royal films can be located and usually do not cost a great deal, perhaps just a few pounds. It’s nice to put on a balanced programme and slotting in a special interest short such as this does go down well. Sometimes I also show films from the same year so this is an ideal partner for such a show.

Happy days.

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