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Topic: Rare Super 8 Releases.

Paul Spinks
Master Film Handler

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From: Barking, Essex, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted April 18, 2006 11:54 PM

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Hi,
I noticed that a 4 X 400ft feature of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" sold on ebay for under £30 with the Universal 8 400 footer of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" thrown in for good measure. Now that has to be the bargain of the year as feature length "Plan 9's" on Super 8 do not come around that often. Perhaps all the collectors were away for Easter. I waited years to get that film and obviously paid a little bit more than the lucky winner of this auction, but it made me wonder why some films are so elusive. For example, I've never seen feature length prints of "Rebecca" listed on ebay or through the dealers, and yet many copies were sold to collectors when Ken Films released it. The full scope feature of "El Cid" is never seen and yet 50 or so prints were made, quite stunning quality by the way. Are these prints so good that collectors cannot bear to part with them? Very few prints of the "Close Encounters" feature were made and some lucky collectors got them. I sold a full length "Once upon a time in the West" from Marketing Films and regret it now. Rumours abound that Marketing Films released full length prints of "The Ten Commandments" as well as the 3X 400 footer but I have never seen them. I know that there are tons of Italian bootlegs but officially released rare items are the Holy Grail for film collectors. What other rare releases exist and where do they lurk? I've often wondered if there is an old house somewhere and hidden in the basement or loft is the motherlode of rare Super 8 films waiting to be rediscovered and projected.
Best wishes,
Paul.

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Michael De Angelis
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posted April 19, 2006 12:00 AM

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Paul,

I often have the same questions, especially regarding
The Ten Commandments in full length.

However from what I understand, Close Encounters
of the Third Kind was an extremely limited run.
Approximately 10-20 copies were made, and then
the negative was pulled by Columbia from Derann.

It is a sad story. But at least there are
several copies lurking around in collections.

Michael

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hobby that we love!

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Scott G. Bruce
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From: Boulder, Colorado, USA
Registered: May 2005

posted April 19, 2006 12:45 AM

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Good question, Paul. Rarity is such an odd phenomenon. Some films are truly rare (few copies exist); others are much more common in theory, but popular with collectors, so they don't circulate nearly as often as one would think; others still are so common as to be worthless (either because everyone already owns them or nobody wants to). I figure that everything that I want will come up sooner or later if I wait long enough and get lucky enough. Half of the fun for me is the joyous anticipation that accompanies the hunt.

By the way, does anyone out there happen to have a spare copy of PLAN 9 on super 8? That's one film I would love to own.

SGB

--------------------
"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

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Jonathan Sanders
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posted April 19, 2006 02:21 AM

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Perhaps PLAN 9 is a rarity because it was released before the film and its director acquired cult status. The Super 8 Collector (No.13, 1977) review of the Mountain print certainly doesn't view the film in the ironic way that soon became the norm: "An appallingly made film which looks like a collection of different plots... The acting is truly terrible... don't waste your money!"

Mountain - notorious for poor quality and butchering of features - appear to have released it in a good print (according to the review) and virtually complete (77 minutes)!

Its rarity is still rather surprising as Mountain features were usually heavily discounted and I would have thought some unsuspecting customers would have bought it on the strength of Lugosi's name, hoping for another DRACULA. But perhaps it's one of those films collectors don't want to part with...

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Barry Attwood
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posted April 19, 2006 04:03 AM

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Paul,

I can definately tell you Marketing brought out "Under The Counter" F/L prints of "The Ten Commandments" as I have had 3 copies over the years, 2 used and 1 brand new, and more importantly, in Marketing packaging. I have also had a couple of prints of "Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan" in a nice 3x400' cut, whether these were test prints or not, I don't know, but they definately exsist.

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James N. Savage 3
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posted April 19, 2006 01:12 PM

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I'm not sure if this is just extremely rare, or never released- but "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" 2 x 400 was supposedly released in the same bach as "Blues Brothers" and "Xanadu". These were U-8's final releases, around '81. I saw the box pictured in a catalog at the time, but I have NEVER seen it on a used list, or know of anyone who has actually seen this digest.

Nick.

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Adrian Winchester
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posted April 19, 2006 01:29 PM

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In a similar vein to the above, I've always wondered if Canterbury Films released a promo to the original THE OUTER LIMITS TV series. I recall seeing somewhere in the 1980s that this was lined up for release but I've never come across a copy. Anyone who has their Boris Karloff THRILLER promo would probably love the idea of having a similar item for The Outer Limits.

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

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Barry Attwood
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posted April 19, 2006 03:44 PM

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"Cheech And Chong's Next Movie" was released in the U.S. (as far as I know) but it was for the U.S. market only, as "The Hulk" was for the European market only.

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Joerg Polzfusz
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posted April 20, 2006 04:34 AM

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I've got a complete version of the "Ten commandments" on Super8. Unfortunately it's in Italian (since it's made by an Italian company - "Technofilm" if I recall correctly). The seller told me that this was a "test print" that didn't made it into "normal production" due to video.

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James N. Savage 3
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posted April 20, 2006 12:13 PM

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Fantastic Planet-

This animated feature was available from several distributors in the U.S. during the 70's, but I have not seen a used one for sale.

Nick.

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Scott G. Bruce
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posted April 20, 2006 01:31 PM

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I saw a used copy of FP on ebay around Christmas, Nick, but stopped following the auction when the bidding went over $50. I'll let you know if/when I see it again.

SGB

--------------------
"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

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Brian Hendel
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posted April 20, 2006 09:59 PM

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Back to Plan 9: I have the Mountain feature and it is indeed a good print... however be warned: I was mortified that in the couple of minutes they decided to trim was the ultimate scene of Bela Lugosi smelling flowers in front of his home and then getting hit by a car. What editor would ever think of cutting the piece of film that inspired Ed Wood to make the movie in the first place. I guess whoever was doing the cutting had no idea of the history of what he was dealing with...

So now my mission is to find the totally uncut version that I believe was put out by Red Fox Films... Until the I will never part with my Mountain Feature even with it's flaws! It's one of the most entertaining films in my collection...

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Paul Spinks
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posted April 20, 2006 11:55 PM

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I do agree about the missing scene of poor old Bela smelling the flower. I missed it as well. However we must remember that Mountain produced this feature before Ed Wood had achieved his cult status and this was just another bad horror film that they were selling. It was an easy scene to cut as it did not affect the narrative and they could focus more on the horror scenes. At least they kept Criswell's scenes intact. I recently bought a 16mm feature of "The Thing from another World". It was an ex TV print and the whole "keep watching the skies" speech is missing. James Arness gets fried "The End" is superimposed over the smouldering remains and that's it. I was gutted! I wonder what other edits in features have mortified us collectors?
Best wishes,
Paul.

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Joerg Polzfusz
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posted April 21, 2006 04:58 AM

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This page lists some strange super8-releases, too, e.g. "100 ragazze per un play boy":
http://www.superotto.it/super8.htm

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Adrian Winchester
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posted April 21, 2006 12:50 PM

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Sorry to hear about the Lugosi scene missing from 'Plan 9'. I guess that only leaves a few seconds where he's actually on screen?

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

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Osi Osgood
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posted April 22, 2006 11:00 AM

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I recently aquired a copy of the 1932 classic "Vampyr", full feature, and the print is excellent, which is saying a lot, as therare very few good master prints, (judging by the video releases of it. It's on Gevart stock, standard 8mm, which I don't think was around in the 70's (I could be wrong) so this may have been one of the early standard 8mm releases on standard 8.

Which, by the way, I'll be doing a review of in the near future on the forum.

All the best!

--------------------
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James N. Savage 3
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posted May 03, 2006 06:04 AM

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Along the lines of "Plan 9", Roger Corman's original "Little Shop Of Horrors", with a cameo by Jack Nicholson. This was released at one time in full length black and white. I never see this on used lists.

And from Derann-

Police Academy 2- this was one of Derann's last actual digests, released in the early 90's. It was either one or two 600 foot reels. Never see this one used either.

Nick.

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Rob Young.
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posted May 03, 2006 03:04 PM

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I remember going to Derann's Blackpool convention in the early '90's when "Police Academy 2" had just gone on sale. It was definately 2x600ft and the funny thing was it was showing on UK television that very night, but I would still have willingly payed the £100 or so for that Super 8 version if I'd had the money at the time.

I would love a copy of that now as an hour long version would make the perfect second feature.

Derek certainly took some risks back then. Another Derann "classic" you don't see very often is "Q-The Winged Serpent"; a 600ft version from about 1986 of one of the most awful horror movies of the '80's. It is soooo bad it is often hilarious and I was lucky enough to pick up an immaculate copy recently which has enjoyed many screenings to raucous laughter (maybe not what the film makers intended [Smile]

[Smile]

)

Barry, I would love to own a copy of that 3x400ft "Wrath of Khan". How did I miss that one [Confused]

[Confused]

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Mal Brake
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posted May 03, 2006 05:27 PM

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I had a copy of Police Academy 2 for £60 from CEC in the early 90's. It's a very sharp print with good colour/sound and well edited.

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James N. Savage 3
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posted May 04, 2006 06:14 AM

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Yes, Rob, I had totally forgotten about "Q", with Micheal Mority and Richard "SHAFT" Roundtree. This is certainly a great digest to have on super 8. One thing I really liked about the digest was that it contained almost all of the stop-motion and special effects scenes from the movie. It eliminated all of the dead wood while keeping the story intact at a perfect 30 minutes. Wish I hadnt traded mine for credit about 15 years ago [Frown]

[Frown]

.

Nick.

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Winbert Hutahaean
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From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
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posted May 05, 2006 03:28 AM

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Rob,

Police Academy was on Ebay a few months ago and was sold for US$82

Here is the link Police Academy 2 on Ebay

You are correct about the quality it was very sharp and good color.

If the above link was inactive due to the time, here is the screen shot that was made by the seller (aalzar0):

cheers,

--------------------
Winbert

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Barry Attwood
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posted May 05, 2006 08:57 AM

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Rob,

I have only ever seen one copy of "The Wrath Of Khan", but it follows that at least another one exsists, but as this originated with Marketing leaders, I'm surprised there isn't more copies about, I suppose they could have been test prints that were made just before the International side went under, but it was well edited, and had good colour and sound.

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Ricky Daniels
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posted May 13, 2006 12:22 PM

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POLICE ACADEMY 2 is back for anyone who wants it and missed it?

http://cgi.ebay.de/S8-Police-Academy-2_W0QQitemZ9135093047QQcategoryZ1476QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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Winbert Hutahaean
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posted May 13, 2006 12:34 PM

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Thanks Ricky for the link,

But the problem with sellers from German, despite their 8mm titles are so various, mostly they don't take paypal and deliver only to local or Europe.

I was told that due to the paypal fees. For my self I don't mind to absorb that fees to the final price as long as they inform this.

cheers

--------------------
Winbert

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Ricky Daniels
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posted May 14, 2006 02:18 AM

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Yeah,

Why is it that the majority of German Ebayers don't take PayPal... anyone? [Confused]

[Confused]

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