8mm Forum: How I Solved my Bear Problem

This is topic How I Solved my Bear Problem in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 15, 2015, 07:26 PM:

Besides the comedies and cartoons and musicals and dramas, I have a lot of documentary films in my collection. I have a lot of films about railroading and cars and aircraft and ships. I have historical films and nature films and a lot of travelogues. I have films about film making, and even one or two about film collecting as well.

-So for anything I am interested in I keep an eye out for films on that subject.

I’ve been canoeing about twenty five years now. It actually has something in common with filming and collecting Super-8: there are a lot more modern and straightforward ways to get from point ”A” to “B”, but the challenge of doing it makes it much more rewarding. (-not just the destination, but the journey.)

There are some great films about canoeing (-no, not “Deliverance”!) For example, Bill Mason made wonderful films for the National Film Board of Canada about his journeys by canoe in Lake Superior country. I thought maybe if I did an E-bay search I could come up with something like one of these. So I started up a new search: “canoe” in “8mm Film”

Immediately “Three Little Bruins in a Canoe” popped up. It was obviously some kids’ film, looked like a cartoon. It was regular-8 and silent.

-not what I had in mind!

My other searches dragged up several dozen railroad films.

This one pulled up “Three Little Bruins in a Canoe”...again.

I found every last Panorama International Travelogue.

-“Three Little Bruins in a Canoe”

On my own I found a film about kayaking and another on rafting the Colorado through the Grand Canyon.

-“Three Little Bruins in a Canoe”

I found Blackhawk Laurel and Hardys easier than finding milk at the Supermarket.

-“Three Little Bruins in a Canoe”

I came to HATE “Three Little Bruins in a Canoe”: my paranoid side became convinced it was scaring all the decent canoeing films away!

So help me, it came up AGAIN last week, and I finally knew I had to shoot the bear!

-I had an idea: my son collects silents, including R8, so I bought the damned thing! (I bet the seller was sick of it too!)

Now there’s a real chance I’ll never get another hit off that search again, but at least I’ll never see E-bay all proud of themselves they’ve found the same print of “Three Little Bruins in a Canoe” for the 12th time!

The interesting thing is it really isn’t a bad little flick: it’s three live-action bear cubs untying a wood canvas canoe and having a frolicsome journey through a pretty hairy rapid! (It’s a heartwarming tale for the whole family!)

SAY! Does anybody know where I can find a Super-8 print? (You know…for ME?!!)

What I did last weekend...

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on July 15, 2015, 08:40 PM:

According to the Castle book it was only printed from 1947-60 so it was never issued in super 8 at least not from Castle.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 15, 2015, 09:06 PM:

It was available in 16mm from Castle too.

There is this moment at the very end of Jaws where Brody and Hooper are swimming back to the beach from the wreckage of Quint's boat.

I always wonder what makes them so sure there was only one shark.

-and what a twisted alternate ending if all of a sudden one of them suddenly glurped! under the water!

I might be doing the exact same thing here: I think there is only one “Three Little Bruins in a Canoe” because the picture in the auction looks exactly the same every time.

-but if this is a common print it may be back again!

(I can't bear the thought!)

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 15, 2015, 10:30 PM:

Posted by Steve Carter (Member # 4821) on July 16, 2015, 08:45 AM:

Is this the film Steve?...
Three Little Bruins in a Canoe Castle Films

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 16, 2015, 09:16 AM:

One and the same!

-and that Vimeo is the reason I know what it looks like as well.

Yesterday when I got home from work, my son yelled out "Daddy! -you got a film!". I said "No, YOU got a film!"

He is going to bring his projector downstairs tonight and show it to my wife and me.

-and why not? He's a paddler too!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 16, 2015, 03:29 PM:

Hey!

It was a series:

Those Darn Bears!

You have to wonder where Momma is. There is nothing scarier than a mother bear with young cubs: it would turn these little comedies into high drama pretty fast!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 18, 2015, 12:51 PM:

Epilogue (and twist ending)

My son showed us "Three Little Bruins and a Canoe" the other night and we all enjoyed it. ("They're so CUTE!!").

-So I have gone from being annoyed at e-bay spamming me with this silly little film to looking for the rest of the (silly little) series. "Three Little Bruins Make Mischief" should be here next week.

I am also seeing "Three Little Bruins Go Camping" and "Three Little Bruins in the Woods" are only on 16mm so far, so I'll keep looking.

There is an 8mm Print of "Three Little Bruins and a Canon" on E-bay right now.

There are two main possibilities:

1) Either it's a war movie

2) -or it's just a typo.

(The raccoons should be scared!)

I don't seriously think I'm trying to warp my kid, but part of the enjoyment of this hobby has always been that time of anticipation between ordering a print and finally screening it. Now he's getting a chance to experience that for himself.

I'm also letting him know that these were printed before I was even born and filmed when his grandparents were teenagers. Kids his age think the dinosaurs died out somewhere around 1967, so a little historical perspective is a good thing!

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on July 18, 2015, 01:07 PM:

You're doing a great job by giving your son the possibility of experiencing films projections. So does Janice with her gransons. Examples to follow (I cannot talk for myself as I have no children).

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 18, 2015, 02:03 PM:

Thanks!

-and let's face it: part of the joy of all this is sharing it with other people. It is "movies" after all, by definition there is a built-in quest for some kind of audience.

I think a collector sitting night after night alone with the same old stash of films is missing out on something. I even wonder if somebody doing this won't be moving on to something else before too long because it just becomes stale.

That's why we have the forums and conventions and if it's possible, little local get-togethers. In my case, it's as simple as giving a 70 year old film to a 12 year old boy.

-just regular little injections of endorphins into something that could otherwise become "same old, same old", and almost should after a couple of decades.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 21, 2017, 11:46 AM:

The Saga Continues!

This thread started out how I tried to end E-bay notifications of R8 Castle “Three Little Bruins in a Canoe" by buying the thing and giving it to my son.

This was kind of naïve: it turns out they are common as dirt, and back at the house we actually grew to like the little film.

It took a new turn recently: I found out that the 16mm prints come with sound so I...

Of course I can't project it just yet, but we're working on that.

It's like they said in "The Music Box":

"Tall oaks from little acorns grow."

-of course that was a story about a situation getting way out of hand!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 21, 2017, 05:59 PM:

Steve...These 2 reels of "Three Little Bruins..." were among my first 16mm prints. The "in the woods" print is silent, but the "in a canoe" has sound. The "in a canoe" is my favorite ... really cute. Just love little Elmer [Smile]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 21, 2017, 07:30 PM:

Hey Janice!,

I've already de-reeled the first couple of feet: I saw the optical track and showed it to my son as well.

We have "In a canoe", "go camping", "in the woods" and "make mischief": all R8.

I think roughly the beginning of September I'll start fishing for a Kodak Pageant. (-Just like in High School!)

-Then comes the connection into my mixer.

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 21, 2017, 07:35 PM:

I see you more with the Elmo 16CL. Slot loads are very fast to set up and very easy on film... bulbs are cheaper too [Smile]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 21, 2017, 07:42 PM:

We shall see!

I have kind of a 16mm mentor from CineSea and he's very big on Pageants.

What really sells me on them, especially as a first machine is there are always a bunch available. I like spare parts!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 21, 2017, 07:48 PM:

I have 4 Elmos...There are plenty of them out there [Smile]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 21, 2017, 07:54 PM:

You've sold me!

16mm Machine #2: an Elmo!

I like Eikis...not even sure why, I just like the way the name sounds!

"Eiki, Eiki, Eiki!"

(Must have something to do with Eiki Sommer...or was that Elke Sommer?)

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 21, 2017, 09:04 PM:

Eiki is a good choice also. I'm not sure how "EIKI" is pronounced so I'm sticking with the ELMO [Smile]

I think these twins are pretty cute! Clean and simple [Smile]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 21, 2017, 09:13 PM:

I've always thought it was like my back after I've moved furniture:

"achy"

Posted by Steven J Kirk (Member # 1135) on July 21, 2017, 09:25 PM:

Eye-key... I believe.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on July 21, 2017, 10:01 PM:

My understanding is that in Japanese it's more like "achy" and that the transliteration of the name is therefore pronounced like International Phonetics.

But that's only what I've heard. I'm only a parrot.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 21, 2017, 11:02 PM:

Jason Smith knows...I'll ask!

Posted by Jason Smith (Member # 5055) on July 21, 2017, 11:11 PM:

quote:
"achy"

That's pretty much how it is pronounced. A-E-Key.
The E in Eiki has a sound similar to an A.

Another way to remember is that the "Ei" in Eiki is pronounced the same as the "ei" in eight.

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 22, 2017, 01:02 AM:

Well at least I know how to pronounce it now. Thanks guys! There are some nice Eike slot-load models.

Posted by Terry Sills (Member # 3309) on July 22, 2017, 03:17 AM:

Bear with me, but I didn't think this thread was about projectors [Big Grin]

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on July 22, 2017, 04:03 AM:

After last years conventions it seems I have the Three Little Bruins Great Adventure - £2 from the bring & buy stall.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 22, 2017, 04:46 AM:

There's modern life: you need a Japanese pronunciation and you have somebody in Japan on the case in 10 minutes.

Thanks, Jason!

These are great little films. I like sharing them with my son because he was born in this century and something from that long ago has him thinking about the past. Otherwise he might think the dinosaurs ruled the earth in the 1970s.

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on July 22, 2017, 03:01 PM:

If I remember correctly - because I haven't screened any of my Bruins prints in quite awhile. The Castle Bruins titles may have been released theatrically through Paramount as short subjects. Which would explain why they are better than one would think. They are well done and very enjoyable regardless.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 24, 2017, 12:04 PM:

Janice ...

I wonder how rare that sound edition of that bear film is? That's the first I've heard of a sound version. Is it Standard 8mm sound? I've seen 16MM optical sound copies of these Castle films, of course, but the sound standard 8mm or super 8mm must be rare.

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on July 24, 2017, 03:25 PM:

Osi...both my copies are 16mm.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 24, 2017, 03:51 PM:

Hi Osi,

Early in this thread we found out that they stopped printing these before Super-8 came to be. The Reg-8mm editions are all silent as far as I know.

This is the second 16mm Bruins print I've bought. I paid for "-go camping" at the beginning of April and either it got lost in the mail or maybe it'll show up in time to hibernate!

They are running like 15 bucks. If you ignore the long term ramifications of me branching into 16mm, that's pretty cheap!

Actually I already had an hour long John Denver nature special about Bighorn Sheep in the Rockies.

-So far 16mm seems very outdoorsy. (Fine by me!)

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