8mm Forum: BEN HUR Animex/MGM Cineavision digest 1X400ft

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 29, 2016, 12:30 PM:

This is a film that needs no introduction.

So much has been written about “Ben hur” throughout the years, but the final chapter wasn’t written on this classic film …

… as, it was to be written in the annals of the Super 8mm film collectors world!

There are, in fact, many variations. There is, of course, the Derann scope feature, quite good, but not without it's own flaws, (more on that one later), but there was also a flat full feature version of “Ben Hur” released by Ken films, as well as a Ken films flat 1X400ft digest … and then, there were the two digests released in corporation with MGM films and the Animex super 8 film company, one digest being 3X400ft and one being 1X400ft. We will concentrate our emphasis on the 1X400ft Animex digests.

This was released in the Cineavision format, in that, it properly reduced the original anamorphic scope image (placing black bars on the left and right hand side of the image, giving you the exact square of the original 35MM anamorphic scope). Actually to be completely honest, the original film was released in 235:1, which was actually even wider in it’s widescreen image, but we won’t quibble with that, especially since these two Animex digests were the first time, since it’s theatrical releases, that the everyday collector could actually see this film in it’s widescreen splendor.

This digest, in my opinion, is the perfect case history for anyone who would think that it would be impossible to make an 18 minute digest out of a 3 and a half hour film, and still tell a fairly cohesive story.

The editors did a very smart thing; they completely ignore the first 46 minutes of the film, thereby knocking off a good chunk of the film, which is basically the “back-story” of the characters and what leads to the confrontation between the two protagonists, Judah Ben Hur (Charleston Heston), and the Roman solder, Messala (Stephen Boyd). We start the digest with the visiting Roman general accidentally being beaned on the head by falling tiles from the Ben Hur residence. Messala chooses to make Ben Hur and his family victims and examples of his vicious-ness, by sentencing his best friend to the gallows and the rest of the family to the terrible leprous prisons.

Ben Hur vows that he will return and exact his revenge. we then shift the mighty Roman warships, powered by slaves (Ben Hur among them). When they come into contact with the enemy, the roman general (Jack Hawkins), has number “41’s” (Ben Hur) chains off before the battle. This act allows Ben Hur to end up saving the generals life.

Ben Hur accompanies the general back to Rome (no longer a slave) and the general officially adopts Ben Hur as his legal son and heir. Now, in great power and authority, Ben Hur returns to Jerusalem to confront his one time friend, vowing to make him pay for every stroke of the oar and demanding that his family be released.

This leads to the last “chapter” of this digest, the incredible chariot race (still so impressive after all of these years). This was very expertly condensed for this digest to about three or four minutes and, having won the race, (and nearly killed Messala, who dies soon thereafter), Judah Ben Hur is crowned the winner of the race!

So, considering that there is another whole 40 or so minutes left to the film, with 46 minutes off the beginning, the editors have successfully taken approximately 2 hours of film and made it into a very good digest, bereft of the romantic subplot and other subplots that take place within the two hours and singularly concentrating on just the rivalry between Judah Ben Hur and Messala. This is why this digest certainly wins my vote for the absolute best digest ever to be released on super 8!

Now, onto this specific digest’s merits …

This, as stated earlier, is a Cineavision scope print, and they did an excellent job of printing this. One argument against Cineavision digest’s is the theory that, since there is an additional dupe made, (a second pass) in order to make this form of scope digest, there will be extra grain and a lesser image overall. I had honestly forgotten just how pin sharp this digest is, even when projected on a large screen, it just shines! There is little evidence of this being a duped print, which isn’t so hard to swallow, as the digest was taken from original M.G.M source materials.

This digest was made back in the day of the “art” of the digest. Therefore, there are many times when the music from the different sections is faded out for the next scene, gradually. This is very true of the title section of this digests, which is smoothly “dissolved” from one to the next (not like the very choppy nature of the credits/titles on the Universal 8 digests, for instance), and there are other moments where this dissolving from one scene to another and blending the audio and fading it in and out is done, and done wonderfully.

I was lucky to finally luck into a completely unfaded print of this title. To be sure, the 1X400ft digests was printed on a better grade of film stock, (all of the 3X400ft scope digests have sadly faded). However, it should be noted that, while the leader is a jet black, it’s obvious that the actual negative of “Ben Hur” didn’t have perfect blacks, pretty close, but not perfect.

However, comparing the color of the Animex 1X400ft Digest to the Derann feature, the Animex is actually closer to the original color scheme of the feature, than the Derann. I noticed, for instance, that the “sand” of the streets on the Derann print is a white-ish/blue, where the sand of the streets on the Animex print are the proper colors of brownish yellow dusty sand. Another example is the very first shot of the digest, where the generals horse is the proper white with a grey mane. in the derann print, the mane is an over-saturated blue. The colors on the Animex print aren’t perfectly sarurated, as the color, while as good as this digest was, has a quality that mostly Animex prints have; the color tends to be slightly “pale”, but accurate. (The DVD and bluray bear out the proper color scheme as well).
I should mention, in passing, that the Ken Films 400ft digest is the same edit as the Animex Cineavision digest and one wonders if they simply “came in” on the Cineavision digest edit for the flat digest as, the flat digest is far grainier and more dupey in quality.

So, here we have a very good digest, a very collectible digest and for a person like myself, who honestly doesn’t always have time, everyday, for a 3 and a half hour feature, this is an excellent find and I would highly recommend it! Find it … buy it!

… and, as always …

LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 29, 2016, 12:33 PM:

Very good review there Osi, we, unfortunately had to sell ours this year as it had faded.

Posted by Evan Samaras (Member # 5070) on July 29, 2016, 03:14 PM:

Great review Osi! I will have to keep my eye out for one of these prints (preferably unfaded =D)

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 30, 2016, 11:13 AM:

Thanks. One thing that i was curious about is as to whether the print that I currently have, is a reprint by someone else. this is not to say that there aren'ty still good prints of this digest out there from the original print run, but I noticed that the leader countdown (which is not spliced on to this print, which means that it is original), does not have the "original" countdown leader that all my other original Cineavision prints have, which does make me curious as to the origination of the print. Is it an original Animex Cineavision print, or is it the Cineavision negative reprinted by someone else?

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on July 30, 2016, 06:21 PM:

My 3x400ft Animex print looks as if it has faded (I was going to show it last month but I got busy, I might run it tomorrow and post again) when held up to the light. The leader has Technicolor labs on it and is on Eastmancolor stock. The MGM labelled 150ft "Fight scenes" non-anamorphic print I have looks very similar in colour and density.

Posted by David Roberts (Member # 197) on July 31, 2016, 02:19 AM:

I have the 400ft MGM version and the colour is very good.
the review is spot on.

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on July 31, 2016, 10:29 AM:

A great review there.
I still have all my Ben-Hur cutdowns.
The Animex 400 footer C/S still has the best colours left.
The 3x400 C/S edition is starting to fade while the MGM / Ken
400' Flat version has a very high colour look about it.
Everyone looks overly sunburned and the reds are too strong.
It is without doubt one of the best digests ever.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on July 31, 2016, 03:03 PM:

I've just viewed part of the 3x400ft Animex print and it has faded, but not too pink - yet. The Roman soldiers costumes are bright red, but not as vivid as I remember - but I could be thinking of the DVD. I think greens are fading but there is very little green (vegetation) in this film.
The second reel is looking better than the first storage is the same as I have spliced onto 2x600ft reels.

The final reel is as faded as the first, the last 100 ft more so. I wonder why reel 2 is better.

[ August 01, 2016, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: Brian Fretwell ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 01, 2016, 11:17 AM:

It's very hard to find the 3X400ft version with great color, so you might have really lucked out there. As to the "greens" in the print, well, there aren't too many "green' scenes. (there are slight bits of trees or vegetation scene in the 400ft), so it's not the best print to judge greens on.

Thank you to the person who mentioned the "Technicolor' on the leader, my print says that too. [Smile]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on August 01, 2016, 02:45 PM:

I had one not too long back (3x 400ft). I sold it to a friend of mine who had an affinity with this film far more than I ever had.

It still had very good colour indeed given the age of the print and was quite a nice sharp print too.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 02, 2016, 12:10 PM:

Andrew ...

Was the one you sold the CIneavision 3X400ft or the flat 3X400ft? I have heard that the flat 3X400ft has held it's color quite well. If it was a Cineavision 3X400ft that has held it's color well, then that's a rarity!

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on August 02, 2016, 12:16 PM:

Yes, sorry Osi I should have said, it was the flat version.
As you say, very good colour though, still.

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