8mm Forum: Xanadu 600ft Low Fade (2 x 400ft) 2017 update review

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on August 22, 2017, 03:21 PM:

Thought i would pop up a 2017 review of this U8 80s nonsense fun movie.
From what i have seen many of these prints have faded but this one must be on low fade stock as there is no fade at all and it does have great colours good sound,(if it wasn't put through my Pioneer amp it would be lacking in bass), image is OK but like Northsea hijack is little less sharp than you would have expected on a late releases. It is slightly masked but not letter-boxed. A huge flop a the cinema and it never did revive Gene Kelly's career in films but it does have the very nice Olivia Newton John and a great 80s music soundtrack form both the the star and ELO. Here is the plot edited for this version,
The film opens with a large mural of the Nine Muses of Olympia coming to life, with the women emerging from the painting and flying into the sky. One of them returns to Earth.
Sonny Malone is a talented artist who dreams of fame beyond his job, which is the non-creative task of painting larger versions of album covers for record-store window advertisements.
At work, Sonny is told to paint an album cover for a group called The Nine Sisters. The cover features a beautiful woman in front of an art deco auditorium (the Pan-Pacific Auditorium). Earlier that day, this same woman had collided with him, kissed him, and roller-skated away. Now, Malone becomes obsessed with finding her, but discovers that no one knows who she is.
Walking near the beach, Sonny befriends Daniel "Danny" McGuire, (Gene Kelly), a has-been big band orchestra leader turned construction mogul.
The two find an old auditorium where they image old time bands and an 80s band performing & agree to become partners to revive the ruine into the club Xanadu.
In the finale, Kira and the Muses perform for a packed house at Xanadu's grand opening, and after the final song, Kira and the Muses all return to the realm of the gods in spectacular fashion. With their departure, Sonny is understandably depressed. But that quickly changes when Danny asks for a drink for Sonny from one of the waitresses -- a waitress who looks exactly like Kira. Sonny approaches this seeming double and says he would just like to talk to her. The film ends with the two of them talking, in silhouette, as the credits begin to roll.
BTW,The Universal studio logo is in there going through the ages and also, unusually all the end credits. All in all a great little hour of nonsense fun & in my case a great U8 print all be it a little grainy.

Posted by Steve Meyer (Member # 5197) on August 22, 2017, 06:12 PM:

WOW Awesome print. Very nice. All that I have seen so far are red.

Posted by Clinton Hunt (Member # 2072) on August 22, 2017, 08:04 PM:

My 2 x 400ft reels also have a red tinge but the sound is still good and the songs that are featured are great to watch and hear.I'm glad to own it no matter what the quality is like,I like this film even though it was a flop :-)

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on August 23, 2017, 01:21 AM:

It does have a very good soundtrack. I think it was odd to see Michael beck, the hard man of the warriors, playing such a nanby panby role. He certainly didn't do many movies. This particular version is a fun movie. I did see the feature at the cinema when it came out and it did make me cringe a little here and there but U8 did a good job with this version.

[ December 29, 2018, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 23, 2017, 11:37 AM:

Does it have the full song "I'm Alive" at the beginning? Also, is the full song of Xanadu in there as well? Also the song "All Over The World"?

That's a strange one to have the full credits, though, especially for a Universal 8 release.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on August 23, 2017, 01:23 PM:

Yes to all three of those Osi, [Wink]

It is very unusual for end credits, but the music plays through the duration and is complete with the old fashioned style "the end" . Probably one of U8s best edits along with High plains Drifter, (2 x 400 of course).

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 25, 2017, 11:28 AM:

It's apparant that the editor of this digest was obviously an ELO fan! (Good man!) [Smile]

[ August 29, 2017, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on August 28, 2017, 01:53 PM:

Tom,

Thanks for the updated review. Please....if a title has been reviewed in the past (check the index), do not start a new topic. Just add on to the already existing thread.

Doug

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 03, 2017, 03:55 AM:

Will do doug. No problem [Wink]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on September 03, 2017, 04:36 PM:

Thank you, sir!

Doug

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