8mm Forum: Sound Of Music 400' Version

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Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on October 23, 2010, 03:49 PM:

The digest opens with the title song overlapping quick shots of the scenes leading to Maria's arrival. Segue to the scene where the children are shouting out their names to the Captain's whistle. Next we're in Maria's bedroom and one-by-one the kids assemble during the thunderstorm for Maria to begin "My Favorite Things". All the songs are edited and overlap other shots. It's to be expected when editors are cutting a 3-hour movie down to 16-minutes. The "Do-Re-Mi" is finshed up on the steps and then Plummer's character gets angered when Maria and the children capsize their canoe just before they are to be introduced to the Baroness. The Captain orders Maria to leave, but is distracted by the remote sound of the children singing the title song in the library to which he joins them at the end. Remorseful, the Captain asks Maria to stay. We're at the party and we see the Captain and Maria dancing. Due to the inner conflict she now suffers, she runs off and exits the home. In conference with the Mother Superior of the abbey from whence she came Maria is advised to follow her heart and "lead the life God has chosen for you". Mother Superior breaks into "Climb Every Mountain" which overlaps snippets of the wedding and takes us through to the finale of the digest. Next we see the Captain outside tearing down a Nazi flag in front of a doorway that does not appear to be a part of the Von Trapp estate and in the digest is not explained. The final segue to the Von Trapps walking over the mountain as they flee their beloved Deutschland. Not a bad digest, all things considered. Like I said, this had to be one helluva challenge for the editors at KEN to undertake. The colors on mine are a tad warm, but have held up quite nicely (plenty of rich blues and greens present throughout). I bought this at CineSea in Wildwood, New Jersey out of sheer curiosity and I'm very pleased with my purchase. It cannot be compared to the full feature. Such a comparison would be unfair. Rather, compare it to other digests from KEN and I think you'll be pleased with the results. My only regret is that KEN never released a 3X400' version which "SOM" would have lended itself to quite nicely. I give it 3 *** out of a possible 4.

[ October 23, 2010, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: Brad Kimball ]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on October 23, 2010, 04:37 PM:

Brad,

Thanks for the great review. You're quite lucky to have a print with decent color. All the prints I've seen are horribly pink. I'm impressed with the way Ken starts certain songs as they appeared in the film and then inserts other scenes (without dialogue, but they further the story) while continuing the song. As you said, there's no 3x400' but Derann's 3x600' edit is brilliant.
I understand that Ken actually did two different edits of the 400' version. Does anyone have the other?

Doug

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 23, 2010, 07:39 PM:

I've had both the Ken 200 Footer and 400 Footer. The 400 was so red I sent it all the way back to England (No, not Derann: E-bay). The 200 is liveable.

The Derann 'scope Do-Re-Mi is a little soft in focus here and there, but offers much more in the entertainment department.

Please Note: These are Marital Films(1). In Airplane 2, When McCroskey said "-and I want the names of everyone who's seen the Sound of Music more than five times" he was actually talking about my wife. (I AM serious!...)

(1)Film-in-Laws!

Note 2: The Von Trapps weren't actually in Deutschland but Österreich (Austria). Where the movie really drops the ball geographically is if they actually did climb those mountains near Salzburg they would have would up in Bavaria (not Switzerland), which really IS in Germany and quite close to Hitler's Summer house.

-The Captain could have resigned in person!

(In real life the Von Trapps faked travel papers and escaped on a train to Italy.)

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on October 23, 2010, 10:02 PM:

Awww Cripes! There's 2 of these - both different? I'd love to know what the differences are. Sorry about the 'Deutschland' error. You're right, it is Austria they are in. Not sure if it's my poor memory of the Von Trapp story or if it's because, in the digest, no references are made as to where they are at any time geographically. O'h, BTW.....There's NO Narration! Funny.... The entire time I was watching it I had this feeling as if something was missing and could not quite pin down what it was until today. That damned narrator that exists on most of the KEN and COLUMBIA digests. Come to think of it - he's nowhere to be heard on any of the "Star Wars" saga digests either. Strange that KEN would be so selective about which titles to insert narration. Perhaps he was on days off when the masters for certain digests were finished and there was no turning back. Good For Us!

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on October 24, 2010, 11:53 AM:

My copy is just like the review in story flow and color. It is faded but there is some color left.

[ August 01, 2016, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: Bill Phelps ]

Posted by Larry Arpin (Member # 744) on October 24, 2010, 05:25 PM:

When I first saw this in the theater, a school trip no less, everyone cheered when the Captain tore down the Nazi flag. Great review Brad.

Regarding Star Wars, I remember a narrator at the very beginning reading part of the crawl.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on October 24, 2010, 08:53 PM:

I have 2 copies of the 400' sound color version. Both in original boxes. If anybody wants to buy one of them make me an offer. I have no idea how I ended up with two?

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on October 25, 2010, 10:06 AM:

Hi Pasquale,
Are they different edits? Doug says there's actually 2 different 400' versions out there.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on October 25, 2010, 01:32 PM:

Hi Brad

They are both F-14 Ken Films 400' color/sound.

Pat

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on October 25, 2010, 07:18 PM:

KEN would probably keep the same catalog #, but the scene selection would vary if, in fact, there were two different edits. That's what CASTLE did when they re-edited their "Son
Of Frankenstein" 200'er.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on November 23, 2010, 07:42 AM:

Goes to show, CINESEA at Wildwood is the next best step in film collector's joy - Hope to see everyone and more there - Shorty

Posted by Carter Bradley (Member # 984) on March 23, 2016, 05:53 PM:

There actually was an earlier edit (probably 1976) in the first round of Fox digests from Ken. The second edit is by far superior. The first edit seemed rushed by the editors with some jump cuts (one second the children and Maria are at the bottom of the steps singing "Do Re Mi" then the next the elaborate ending is cut and the group magically appears at the top of the steps!) There are many, many poor cuts in the scene with Maria and the Captain meeting the children, and only one scene is removed from the first edit...where Rolf rides his bike to the Von Trapp home in order to deliver a telegram and he and Franz the butler hint at the Nazi invasion. This scene has nothing to do with the digest and was removed for the later edit.
All in all, the second edit features a much more professional look with extended songs and dissolves between scenes. The way to tell which edit is which in the first few seconds of the digest...the first edit features the title cards in the proper order (1) "The Sound of Music" (2) starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The second edit has a slight variation in which these two titles are reversed, so that "The Sound of Music" appears on the screen at the exact moment Maria sings this line.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 25, 2016, 10:55 AM:

Great bit of info, Carter! A question ...

From what I have heard, this is a title that has been notorious for being printed on quick fade Eastman. In comparison, how have the two edits held up, color-wise?

Personally, I have to say that my bet goes with the now fairly rare 3X600ft Derann super digest of this, and in scope!

Posted by Carter Bradley (Member # 984) on March 25, 2016, 12:48 PM:

I have owned several copies of TSOM and they all have color fade. The only copy I have with decent color I purchased from England which was printed by Bucks Labs (if I remember correctly) but unfortunately this print suffers from shrinkage and an audience could become sea sick watching the image "swim" around on the screen! I agree with the other Forum members who have mentioned in the past that it seems Ken Films in the USA was presented with a faded copy from Fox. I personally have never found a Ken print with decent color.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 28, 2016, 11:49 AM:

Carter ...

I've tended to do just that when it comes to collecting a number of US Disney 400ft digests. The U.S. versions have tended to be in various states of fade, but the very same digests, printed in the UK, have tended to be on either Fuji or Agfa, and the colors are as radiant as they ever were ...

So folks, if you have no luck with US digests, do you're best to see if the desired digest was printed in the UK as well!

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on March 28, 2016, 06:30 PM:

We have our fair share of faded prints here also Osi. It's true to say that many of the later Walton Digests still have brilliant vibrant colour as they tended to use a lot of the excellent Fuji stock around at the time, but equally, I have U.S. Columbia 400ft Digests like The Flintstones that were just as good!

The Derann 3x 600 or full features that were printed by Bucks Labs are still very good for colour, but many of these were printed on the better stocks available from mid 80's onwards, than what the Ken releases had to hand in the 70's to be fair.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 30, 2016, 11:52 AM:

Sorry to get off track with the conversation folks, but this one is good!

Yes, I believe that "triangle film labs" did those Columbia cartoon digests, and I have a few of the Flinstones, and in the past, the Jetsons as well, and all of them had excellent color, even though they were well before the LPP Eastman era, and they say "Eastman" in the sprocket area.

I know that pre-LPP Eastman gets a lot of bad "rap" and justifyingly so, but I do sometimes wonder if a lot of that Eastman would have fared much better if only the labs could a little more care and time in the "baths".

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on March 30, 2016, 09:14 PM:

Maybe no one thought that these film prints would still be of interest to anyone 40 years later Osi, and that a ten or 15 year lifespan would be more than sufficient. Forty years ago I would have bet my bottom dollar that the stripe sound on super 8 prints would deteriorate very quickly. Turns out that it has not deteriorated at all! [Smile]

One thing for sure, is that those prints on Agfa and LPP will be around, and have fully saturated colors, for a very long time.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on March 31, 2016, 11:22 AM:

According to the 1960s, by 2016 we should all be dressed in aluminum foil watching holographic entertainment at our vacation homes on the Lunar surface.

-somehow the future aint all it's cracked up to be!

Posted by Paul Suchy (Member # 80) on April 01, 2016, 09:36 AM:

Right, Steve! When I was a kid, I would watch The Jetsons and think that by the time I was an adult, I could stand on a conveyor belt and a machine would strip me, shower and groom me, and dress me for the day.

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on July 31, 2016, 10:51 AM:

I have the Ken Films 400, one and the DFS 3 x 600' Scope edit.
I can honestly state that the DFS edit is a big improvement over
the entire overlong dragged out Full Length original version. [Big Grin]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on July 31, 2016, 03:23 PM:

If your name's Wallace or Gromit, Paul,..it does! [Big Grin]

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