8mm Forum: 16mm digests

»	8mm Forum » 16mm Forum » 16mm digests

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: 16mm digests

David Coppola
Film Handler

Posts: 75
From: Rochester, NY, USA
Registered: Mar 2014

posted April 14, 2018 07:02 PM

How prevalent were 16mm digests and who put them out?
Pretty sure Universal 8 was one of the few.

Also curious as to the quality of them?

| IP: Logged

Brad Kimball
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1171
From: Highland Mills, NY USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted April 16, 2018 11:55 AM

Apparently there were more out there than we think. Many of them were made for “Film Study” classes taught by schools and colleges as I have cutdowns in 16mm culled from major studios’ properties and CLEARLY not intended for the consumer market hence all the warnings that preface the movie. Just like a typical digest they have a beginning, middle and an end, They were often more carefully edited than many of the stuff the 8mm home movie market had available.

| IP: Logged

Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted April 16, 2018 02:58 PM

Disney did cut-downs from their features and reedited with a commentary which offered a moral tale. They were sold on the Educational market.

--------------------
Maurice

| IP: Logged

Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted April 17, 2018 08:41 AM

Castle released product on 16mm so I believe at least some of their feature digests/extracts were released on 16mm, but perhaps someone more familiar with Castle can confirm this.

There are plenty of Universal releases in circulation and all are the one or two reel (i.e. the 200' or 400') Super 8 releases, as their shorter and longer releases don't appear to have been offered on 16mm - but if anyone has evidence to the contrary, please let us know! I'm unsure whether EVERY Super 8 release on those formats made it onto 16mm, which would be interesting to know. E.g. is there a one reel AND a two reel 16mm release of 'Frenzy'? As for the quality, I'd say the 16mm reflects and upgrades he quality of the Super 8 released, so (e.g.) the one reeler of 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon' is significantly better that 'The Revenge of the Creature'. My 16mm 'Psycho' two reeler is very good - the sort of quality you would be pleased with if you were buying a feature. Has anyone come across the one reeler of 'Jaws' on 16mm, because that would surely have sold well, but I've never heard of a copy.

Moviepack were another company that released quite a few 16mm one reelers of extracts from features, although often not with original titles. E.g. 'The Black Emperor' has scenes from the 1930s Hammer film 'The Song of Freedom'. Moviepack also released some product on 8mm but I can't recall ever seeing a Moviepak 8mm sound release.

I've come across one or two other 16mm one reeler digests that were clearly produced for sale. I think I have one for 'Vampire Bat' (1933), but this has the look of somewhat worn footage being spliced together and copied, so whoever released it may not have wished to draw attention to its origin!

[ April 17, 2018, 09:57 PM: Message edited by: Adrian Winchester ]

--------------------
Adrian Winchester

| IP: Logged

David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012

posted April 17, 2018 10:27 AM

Walton Films did some 16mm. Robert Kingston released some too.

[ April 17, 2018, 11:52 AM: Message edited by: David Ollerearnshaw ]

--------------------
I love the smell of film in the morning.

http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/

| IP: Logged

Adrian Winchester
Film God

Posts: 2941
From: Croydon, London, UK
Registered: Aug 2004

posted April 17, 2018 10:02 PM

If anyone knows, I'd be interested to know approximately when Walton pulled out of 16mm, as I'm aware this was at least a few years before they ceased trading. I have a couple of Walton one reelers on 16mm and one is an edited short comedy, but any feature digests they produced seem to be very scarce.

--------------------
Adrian Winchester

| IP: Logged

Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003

posted May 09, 2018 06:55 AM

i have just purchased a 16mm cut-down of Madigan from Nigel Higgins, its a two reeler, (on an an 800ft spool), and it was brand new and sealed and to my very good luck and surprise there is no fade at all on it. I have mainly bought it as test film for when i do any work on the projectors, but this one is great, full of action and a perfect warm up reel. I wont be collecting these as i moved over to 16mm to buy features so this will be a one off for us. [Wink]

I will pop up a few images later tonight.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central

Printer-friendly view of this topic

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2