8mm Forum: Tommy (Iver 400ft)

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 26, 2012, 02:56 PM:

This is the 1975 musical film based on The Who's rock opera Tommy & Directed by Ken Russell. The full feature film had a host of big names including Jack Nicholson, Tina Turner, Elton John, Oliver reed, Robert Powell, Ann Margret to name a few. And of course the brilliant "The Who" with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend and Kieth Moon.
You will recall there were two version released on super 8mm. Columbia released a fuller 400ft version which contained a few more scenes which including the destruction near the end of the pinball machines which moved much smoother into the final number "Listening to you". I did have this version with the intention of intersplicing the two together for a longer version however the picture and soundtrack were too different to make this work.
You could have more content,(& richer colour), from columbia or a slightly shorter version from Iver Film Services with a pin sharp image and a very much superior quality soundtrack. The Iver version which i have was taken from the original 35mm negative if i remember Bill Davidsons review from many years ago.

This film is very well condensed starting off with Captain Walker,(Robert Powell,) watching a huge orange sunset, edited well to the picnic and love making scene in the waterfall,(with Ann Margret),cut next to a brief section of the War where we assume Captain Walker to be killed as his plane goes down in flames. Next to the Victory/hospital maternaty sequence where we are first shown the baby Tommy. Moving onto a junior Tommy in his bed asleep as Captain Walker returns taking a look at his son sleeping and then he moves to the next room to catch his wife in bed with Uncle Frank (Oliver Reed) who strikes Powell down as Margret and Reed sing into the face of Tommy "you didnt hear it, you see it".
Next to the brilliant Pinball wizard number with the Who and Elton John,(the pinball wizard) and Tommy as they compete for the title. Here we see classic Who as they conclude the number with the traditional smashing of there instruments, If you have this film make sure you crank up the volume on this number!
Next, this edition moves to the rival rockers and bikers shoot up and fight which, just as a biker is about to blast his shotgun into the face of an injured rival, is sidetracked as Tommy flys overhead in a hanglider singing the number "sensation" as the lyrics suggest people are simply magnetised by him including (in this version) the rockers, occupants of a home for the blind and some fruit machine gambling teddy boys. In this version this scene abrubtly cuts, (and this is the only poor edit in my opinion)to the fianle number with Tommy climbing his way to the point at where it all began to the number "Listening to you", another part of the movie you really want to crank up the volume as the films last note rings out to a huge orange sunrise with the single title "Tommy" to end the movie.
It is the sound quality on this Iver films release that puts it way ahead of the columbia cut down, if only Iver had done this as one of there double albums, it would have been one of there best releases.

The images i was going to upload were quite poor. I dont seem to be too good at snapping home movies,(any tips welcome). I used a good 9 MP camera but they always seem to be a bit blurred.
However, colour on my copy is still very very good with all the blues yellows and greens, and sound as reported is among the best on 8mm considering how long ago this was released.
Recommended.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on September 26, 2012, 03:42 PM:

Hi Tom,actually Iver did re release this digest with improved print
quality.I edited both 400's and made a very good 2x400' digest.
Part of Tommy was filmed just up the road from my home town of
Whitehaven at St. Bees beach and one of my mates got a part as an extra.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 26, 2012, 04:21 PM:

excellent hugh, how well do the two parts match?

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on September 26, 2012, 06:22 PM:

Tom...you forgot John Entwistle...one of the best bass players ever!

I have the 400' Columbia. The colors on my print are there but seem muted except for the Pinball Wizard song with Elton where the film is very colorful just during that sequence. Kind of bizarre. I also wish the sound was better. Glad to have it though. I did not realize there was a different version of this.

Bill [Smile]

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on September 26, 2012, 06:29 PM:

Hi Tom, the two parts married up okay and I was happy with them
the newer version that Iver put out I understand had a longer
version of "Listening To You",which I think is the best number
on "Tommy".Just for good measure I put the trailer on the
beginning which makes a nice opening.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 26, 2012, 08:10 PM:

I read somewhere - probably a thread here a few years ago - that the second Iver 400' (which is a bit shorter than the first one) was actually a promo rather than an abridged version, and was perhaps shown at Cannes.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 27, 2012, 06:33 AM:

Bil,How did i forget John Entwistle [Eek!]

& your absolutly right.
It would be interesting to get hold of the later Iver version, i dont think ive seen it on any lists.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on September 27, 2012, 12:13 PM:

Adrian's right there Tom,but Iver used to release stuff without
fanfare,sometimes Walton did the same as in "Hannie Caulder"
'scope version.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on September 27, 2012, 12:15 PM:

The iver 2nd release is a real rarity these days I remember buying my copy off Tony Powell back in the day and the print was superb far better than the previous Iver release with a great mono soundtrack too.

As Adrian states Iver released a promo reel specially edited to show to distributors prior to the films release and very well edited it was too.

It's worth seeking out though as it was released in the same packaging as the previous release but was only about 300ft in length.

Happy hunting!

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on December 05, 2012, 10:15 PM:

Someone buying an Iver print can clearly be in a confusing situation. At least the shorter footage would indicate the promo release, but it would be interesting to know if the superior reissue of the first release can be identified via a different leader. I wonder if Iver's publicity clearly indicated the difference between the digest and the promo, if both were on sale at the same time? They even sold a shorter and longer trailer! I had both at one point but preferred and kept the shorter one for some reason, Incidentally, fans can also try to seek out the USA Jeff trailer, which is completely different to the Iver ones.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on December 06, 2012, 03:28 AM:

Hi Adrian,it's the jef trailer I have as an intro to the 2x400,and it
works very well.

Posted by Jason Moffatt (Member # 4416) on February 24, 2018, 04:55 AM:

I have the iver version of this but it is about 500ft which barely fits on the 400ft reel.It is in excellent condition and i can see or hear no splices so i dont think it has footage from the other release added.Were all the iver ones this long ?.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on February 24, 2018, 05:25 AM:

The Iver version was only 350ft, if its 500 i suspect you either have the two iver version edited together or the iver version and the columbia 400 footer joined, either way, does the quality remain the same all the way through?

Posted by Jason Moffatt (Member # 4416) on February 24, 2018, 10:29 AM:

Yes the picture & sound is the same, also i couldn't hear any splices go through the projector when playing as you can usually hear them.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on February 24, 2018, 11:00 AM:

Thats odd. I am curious, would like to know which scenes are in this one. You may have a rare one there.on mine the colours are faded quite bad now. A shame as i do like this reel.

[ February 24, 2018, 01:36 PM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]

Posted by Jason Moffatt (Member # 4416) on February 24, 2018, 12:04 PM:

Ok, i have now carefully checked it for splices whilst giving it a coat of filmguard and there are none, the exact length is 480ft.The editing between tracks is not great though as sometimes the next track starts just before the previous one ends.When rewinding it is very difficult to get it to go on the reel without it spilling off.It fits nicely onto a 500 ft reel but then it wont fit in the original plastic case.

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