8mm Forum: Odd Reels.... WHY?

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Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on February 06, 2017, 10:14 AM:

Why would anyone be selling an odd reel from a feature? Perhaps one plans on selling the movie one reel at a time. Perhaps you've already removed the replacement footage you needed and inserted your bad footage back in - Yuck. Why on earth would you only have an odd reel and why would I only want part of the whole thing?

Posted by Dave Groves (Member # 4685) on February 06, 2017, 11:29 AM:

Brad, I have two feature films. Both have one reel fine colour and one a pretty pink. I'd like to replace the pink reels which means that when I do there will be two odd reels. Sometimes a reel is damaged while out on hire so a replacement will probably mean an odd reel is still on the shelf. There are probably other reasons why titles get split.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on February 06, 2017, 12:08 PM:

Reels of Film from feature prints were often offered as individual reels for sale by companies like Derann in their hey days.

They offered a service where you could purchase one reel at time in a lay away scheme, they also offered substandard reels of film to their customers when they may have had minor lab defects such as excess negative sparkle / marks, wet gate marks, movement in frame, colour irregularities etc etc etc.

There are loads and loads of "White Box Specials" out there.

I have no issue with these except when collectors try to pass them off as full priced perfect prints that they originally purchased as part of a feature when clearly they were nothing of the sort and were heavily discounted reels of film, right from their very existence.

[ February 09, 2017, 03:14 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Woodcock ]

Posted by Dave Groves (Member # 4685) on February 07, 2017, 06:58 AM:

Andrew, I'd totally forgotten about Derann's Layaway scheme. In those days I couldn't afford features so a reel at a time didn't appeal much. Having said that, when they issued 'Wizard of Oz' (50 copies for the whole world) I took out a Bank Loan for £250 so I could buy one. Those were exciting days.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on February 07, 2017, 07:33 AM:

Can't fault you Dave!

They still are Dave, when those same films show up and have been very well cared for! [Wink]

Clearly Brad didn't subscribe to the lawaway scheme! [Big Grin]

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on February 07, 2017, 09:44 AM:

Nope. If I didn't have the money up front to afford it then I went without. Not life or death. There were always alternate choices to pick from.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on February 07, 2017, 11:59 AM:

It's was ok in reality Brad.

No it wasn't life or death, but what it did do, was allow people like myself with only a limited amount of funding, to purchase the type of films I otherwise would never had been able to afford.

It was a slow process, but progress was made each month, and so long as patience or loss of interest in the hobby, wasn't ever an issue, it worked well.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on February 08, 2017, 03:15 AM:

Last year I finally completed my print of "Hello Dolly" with a check print odd reel, most of my other reels were from the check print. Being Super 8 there would have been 2 copies from one print run so I think I have been lucky with this as I bought reel by reel as they were advertised or in the white box special section of Derann's display at BFCC etc.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on February 08, 2017, 05:05 AM:

Great example of what was being spoken about, there Brian. [Smile]

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on February 09, 2017, 02:48 PM:

The good thing about the Derann scheme was that they also offered it on there second hand list feature films as well, we did take advantage of this more than once [Wink]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on February 09, 2017, 04:46 PM:

I never tried it for the used films Tom, in fact I never even know they offered it for used films. [Wink]

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on February 10, 2017, 05:09 AM:

I used the lay away scheme many times in the 90's, it was a great way of getting those much sought after features. You basically had to send three pre dated cheques.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on February 10, 2017, 07:39 PM:

All I know is that if you buy an odd reel, don't count on ever getting the remaining odd reels to complete the feature. It is possible, but not probable.

Posted by David C. Lucidi (Member # 4020) on February 12, 2017, 06:31 PM:

I agree with Joseph.

Years ago (2010) after my father passed away, I found reel 3 of "Strange Brew" in the bottom of a box of leader film. I knew all the films he had (and liked, AND wanted), and Strange Brew was NOT anywhere on his radar [Razz]

I however, enjoyed the film. So, I kept an eye out for YEARS with no luck even finding another person selling a complete print, let alone reels 1 & 2. I finally sold it last fall on Ebay. In my case, it was a "surprise found odd reel" and I have no idea how my dad came into possession of it (and obviously can't ask him). But yea, trying to complete a feature with odd reels can take a VERY long time, and most likely leave you very disappointed in the end.

Posted by Joe Vannicola (Member # 4156) on February 17, 2017, 11:48 PM:

One time, a friend of mine sold me reels 1 and 2 from Red River.He assured me that finding reel 3 would be relatively easy. It wasn't, and after 11 or twelve years later I traded it to someone at Cinefest.

The funny thing is, the last year I had those odd reels, I saw an ad in The Big Reel where Fat Frank was selling reel 3 from Red River. I was sorely tempted to buy it and have a complete feature,but since he had such a dubious reputation I decided against it.

But a few years ago, just for the hell of it, I purchased reels 1 and 2 of Godzilla Vs The Cosmic Monster and cut together all of the Godzilla scenes and created my own Castle Films style cutdown.But no, normally I don't collect odd reels.

Posted by William Davis (Member # 4023) on February 20, 2017, 04:21 PM:

I have been looking for years for odd reels of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962). My print is 50% LPP and 50% good ole Eastman red. Want to replace the Eastman footage.

Posted by Evan Samaras (Member # 5070) on February 21, 2017, 09:24 AM:

Odd Reels... Why Not?

I once heard someone describe it as flipping through the channels and catching a film halfway through, or at the end. Sometimes the best parts of a movie night be contained on a specific reel. This can also be fun while running a screening. Might not have time to show many features, but a reel might be a lot of fun!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on February 21, 2017, 03:00 PM:

I have 3 films that are missing a reel. Since I also have these full movies on DVD...I create another DVD that just has the content of the missing reel and use my digital projector to show that section of the movie. Having just a partial DVD assures that the movie is already cued to the correct scene. It's better if the missing reel is either at the beginning or the end...but this works if the missing reel is in the middle also.

It's funny my son commented when I was showing the movie "Cactus Flower" which is missing reel #1....that he thought the 16mm looked better than the DVD [Smile]

I store the DVD right in with the 16mm reels. My copy of "Curly Sue" is missing the last 20 minutes.

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