8mm Forum: Watching a real film.

This is topic Watching a real film. in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Allan Broadfield (Member # 2298) on August 20, 2018, 05:27 AM:

I'm just watching a 1943 film, 'Jack London' on the Talking Pictures channel.
It looks to be a good 16mm print that has seen better times. It's black and white, scratched in places, plenty of dirt apparent, joins that sometimes clips dialogue, noisy track and not the steadiest picture ever.
In other words a real film experience, that can give me more enjoyment than many widescreen, ultra high definition, super surround sound and rock steady pictures that seem to be the measure of a good movie today.
It's a shame that many youngsters (and not so young) won't even consider a black and white film. They are missing so much.
I guess I'm as much a relic as the film!

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on August 20, 2018, 06:06 AM:

I just love this channel, memories, memories.
It seems so long ago that I ran a lot of their films on 35mm. Those were the days of real showmanship.

Posted by Allan Broadfield (Member # 2298) on August 20, 2018, 06:27 AM:

Yes, I worked in several projection boxes myself back in the day. It's a shame but some titles only survive on the smaller guages.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on August 20, 2018, 10:06 AM:

I am sure that most members know that the prints and negatives of British Lion were all destroyed by a German air raid during the last war.
Fortunately, many of their features still survive (somewhat edited in running speed) on 9.5mm sound.
It is a great pity that I learnt recently from Noel of Talking Pictures that they are not able to handle 9.5mm.
I have a lot of features on 9.5mm, both silent and sound, so I suppose I am in a small minority who can still enjoy them.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on August 20, 2018, 02:10 PM:

I didn't know that ! thanks for the info, Maurice. When one thinks of lost prints it's usually silent films. I have no idea so many sound films were lost as well.

Posted by William Olson (Member # 2083) on August 20, 2018, 10:03 PM:

It's so sad that younger generations refuse to watch b/w films. They are missing some of the greatest movies ever made.

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on August 21, 2018, 02:57 AM:

Allan i watched it too.

It did look like a 16mm copy to me.

This was the first time i have seen JACK LONDON.

I can remember the days when we used to show some very splicey , scratched 35mm films at some cinemas i was a projectionist at.

I really miss the days of the cheaper (B) and (C) grade cinemas as they always were the place to go and see all the re-runs and sometimes re issues.

Talking Pictures channel reminds me of those days.

I think Talking Pictures Channel is the best TV channel for films here in the UK. [Smile]

Posted by Allan Broadfield (Member # 2298) on August 21, 2018, 03:14 AM:

Some features that were lost in the war have indeed survived on 9.5mm, albeit as you say, in a sometimes truncated version, where Pathescope often edited them down to a more affordable length for the customer's purse.
However, even edited down, I'm dead jealous of your collection, Maurice!

Posted by Keith Wilson (Member # 4888) on August 21, 2018, 08:03 AM:

and a lot of old B westerns are only on 16mm or dvd copy's of 16mm prints
I copied this from IMDB
Did You Know?
Trivia
over 100 Columbia features, mostly Westerns, sold to Hygo Television Films in the 1950s, which marketed them under the name of Gail Pictures; opening credits were redesigned, with some titles misspelled, the credit order of the players rearranged, some names misspelled, and new end titles attached, thus eliminating any evidence of their Columbia roots. Apparently, the original material was not retained in most of the cases, and the films have survived, only on 16mm film , even in the Sony library, only with these haphazardly created replacement opening and end credits. See more »

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 21, 2018, 11:22 AM:

I actually LOVE when a movie comes along that is a cult classic but it's apprant that there seems to be no 35MM copies of it around (or, at least, they haven't been released). The John Carradine filnm, "Bluebeard" seems to be one of those and even though the image that I have seen of this (which seems to be taken from a fairly worn 16MM) still charms me to this day!

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on August 22, 2018, 11:39 AM:

That's interesting information Keith; so it means that Columbia no longer have original copies of prints or negatives. Columbia released a 2 reel digest of the Tim McCoy/John Wayne film 'Two Fisted Law' (1932) and the title says 'Gail Films'; it's one of the sharpest prints I have seen. I have a 16mm print of a Johnny Mac Brown western that has the same cheap main title illustration, with only the title of the film changed. I haven't viewed it lately, but that must also be a 'Gail Film'.

Posted by Keith Wilson (Member # 4888) on August 22, 2018, 01:33 PM:

Yes Robert the Gail prints are better than most I have quite a few and recently bought some from Colin Momber who does the Wranglers Roost mag , Buck Jones westerns are my favorite.do you have any in your collection ?

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on August 22, 2018, 04:35 PM:

No Keith, only one on VHS, with John Wayne in it. I know he was a favourite in the 30s, and died in the Coconut Grove fire.

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