8mm Forum: Did Derann ever disapoint you?

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Topic: Did Derann ever disapoint you?

Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 02, 2016 08:40 PM

95% for me Rik when I had a baby on the way and could only really ever look at the 2nd hand lists! [Smile]

You were one of the lucky ones my friend with that success percentage rate! [Wink]

Great story regarding B&TB BTW! [Razz]

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 02, 2016 09:31 PM

The one that really blew me away, and still does, is their scope feature length print of Grease. I have some reservations about super 8 scope, but this print is just a complete knockout and looks glorious on the scope screen. Probably my most prized film print.

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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 02, 2016 10:56 PM

quote:
I kept thinking the list must be released a few hours before in the UK and then released to the rest of the world...ha ha!

Actually we Eastern Time Zone Canadians and Americans were in the best spot in the world to be a Derann customer. I think they sent out the list at 5PM GMT, just as they were ready to go home Friday night.

-meanwhile here we are 5 time zones back and it's lunchtime! Back in those days I always packed a lunch on Friday and ate it with at least one eye on E-mail!

Buy a couple of films and celebrate over lunch!

(-yet another nice thing about Friday!)

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted February 03, 2016 12:11 AM

Before we ever had a computer, I used to get the news letter by mail. It was always exciting to read through all the bargains and when I phoned Garry "late at night out here" mostly I would hear the word on the numbers I was to quote...gone ...gone.....gone..."but" or a rare occasion it was we still have it [Big Grin]

..much to my surpise.

The good thing about this, was because the news letter arrived weeks after everyone else and many times I missed out on everything, strange that it might seem. I was relieved that I missed out and that the $$$$$ would still remain in my bank account [Wink]

then it was...how is the weather Garry etc etc.. a bit of "chit chat" before hanging up, they were good times.

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted February 03, 2016 04:31 AM

My memories of Derann were happy ones. Great guys and a great pleasure when Derek used to call in if passing our house for a chat.

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Paul Suchy
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 199
From: Westchester, IL, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 03, 2016 07:54 AM

Gary was very good to me; his replies were always prompt and cordial. There were times I couldn't believe how fast my prints got to the US! By the time I began ordering from Derann, I learned quickly that the stereo tracks were going to be muddy and would need rerecording, but I accepted that. Gary always offered a return on defective prints, and my first spool of A Bug's Life ended with 2 minutes of sound with no picture. The postage cost to send even a single spool back was huge, but of course, this was hardly Derann's fault (they were way over there and I was way over here). For what Derann accomplished, it was well worth any minor inconvenience. Most of my "good stuff" is from Derann and I am grateful for that.

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Paul Suchy

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 03, 2016 08:23 AM

It is true to say in many of the later films, without the ability to record them ourselves when necessary, customer returns and complaints may have risen drastically.

As Paul quite rightly points out, many collectors simply accepted that they may never receive perfect sound quality prints towards the end, but were simply grateful they were there to be had at all.

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Barry Fritz
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: Burnsville, MN, USA
Registered: Dec 2009

posted February 03, 2016 09:18 AM

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted February 03, 2016 12:35 PM

Oh! That happened to me quite often Alan! I would immediately, upon getting the used film list, e-mail my order, but most of the time, the film was already! That is, of course, none of Derann's fault.

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted February 03, 2016 03:13 PM

I'm sure they all worked to the idea that it is cheaper (and better) to keep a current customer who would come back and recommend you to others than find a new one.

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted February 03, 2016 04:37 PM

Brian

My thoughts were, that sure, you can be nice to your customers for them to come back, but I feel it was more than that. People like Gary were genuine caring people, who were a reel delight to deal it. Its like when I worked in the cinema, you can tell staff to be nice to the customers and that works fine, but also you find certain staff, who don't need to be told that, and have a "genuine" and friendly approach.

Its more in there nature to be like that, and are the ones that really stand out. Those front counter staff that are like that are worth there weight in gold... for any employer [Smile]

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Panayotis A. Carayannis
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 969
From: Athens,Greece
Registered: Jul 2008

posted February 04, 2016 05:36 AM

Like everyone else,Derann had their hits and misses,qualitywise, in the earlier days (remember,they were issuing films since 1965).They did issue complete features,especially in the earlier std 8 days and later did issue abridged ones,(i.e. 4x400) and generally, quality was good although DEAD OF NIGHT was unanimously rated from "C" to "Z"! AN AMERICAN IN PARIS was a Ken release and for some unknown reason was released minus 17, or so,minutes. When Derann bought the negatives from Ken and Red Fox when they closed down in the mid eighties,plus struck the deals with Fox,Disney and the others and started using low fade film,quality rose to an all time high! Of course,again, an occasionally bad print is inevitable. My print of AMERICAN from Derann,from the same abridged negative, is exellent.I also have a rare complete optical sound version which is not so good,but this is another story!

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David Hardy
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 955
From: Johnshaven Village , Montrose, Scotland
Registered: Jan 2015

posted February 04, 2016 02:43 PM

I can remember a time when I must have been a right old pain in the butt to Derann.
I bought the 4x400' version of THE DEVIL RIDES OUT complaining about the side weave on one of the parts. I returned it 3 times.
They sent me a letter stating they had watched the said reel on their Elmo GS 1200 projector and it was found to be okay. They were of course correct as the problem was printed through from the master used.
It was just me expecting to much as an "over fussy" Cinema Projectionist. They even sent me a free trailer reel for this hassle of my own making. Oh happy days and what a great bunch of guys.

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" My equipment's more important than your rats. "

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 04, 2016 04:37 PM

They were all like that David [Smile]

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Mark Silvester
Master Film Handler

Posts: 282
From: England
Registered: Oct 2007

posted February 06, 2016 07:26 AM

Hi all

Deat of Night 4 x 400 WAS atrocious - I returned that very quickly.

Paul, I too bought American in Paris from them in 84 - I am sure mine was not an original "Derann" release,(possibly Ken) as it came on 5 x 400 in a very nice grey PVC case. It was slightly soft focus but not too bad - it was edited though the whole of the Oscar Levant orchestra piece was missing. Sound was good though.

[Smile]

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Mark Silvester

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 06, 2016 12:31 PM

Hi Mark,
Just like my print, which also had the whole Oscar Levant sequence missing. Plus some other bits cut out as well. Whatever editing they did seemed to destroy the film for me. Like having a hamburger without the pickle! [Smile]

--------------------
The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

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Patrick Walsh
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 723
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
Registered: Jul 2006

posted February 07, 2016 01:57 AM

Only hick-up I had was when I brought from their 2nd hand list a copy of the 3x400ft QUO VADIS, when it arrived they sent me 3 copies of the 1x400ft version!, they gave me a credit for the amount I paid and told me to just keep the film/s, I used the credit on my next order [Wink]

Pat

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"Raise The Titanic!", It would of been cheaper to lower the Atlantic!

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Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted February 07, 2016 11:53 PM

Sadly yes with Halloween - I now have a worthless print because most of the mag is gone. I desperately want another, because mine is essentially a scope , beautifully colored silent film....

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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted February 08, 2016 07:44 AM

That's where EVT Mag used to come in handy as they would over stripe film. I had a good old Perrys go thin and they laid another paste over the top. To this day its still holding. [Smile]

I liked them and helpful as well.
What was the name of that other optical printers over here Colour Technique was it? They were great blowing up some of my Std 8 to S8, we so miss these small businesses for one off jobs.

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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007

posted February 09, 2016 05:48 PM

Dino, with a GS1200 you can lock to a DVD soundtrack. Imperfectly in the wild, frame-accurate with some prep work and a sync box.

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Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted February 09, 2016 06:21 PM

But didn't Pedro and his sync boxes disappear

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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 09, 2016 10:23 PM

quote:
But didn't Pedro and his sync boxes disappear

Dino, you can use a today's computer to replace Pedro box. Alan Rik mentioned it in this thread: GS1200...sync box....

So it saves a lot of money.

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Winbert

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted February 10, 2016 01:43 AM

Easier still, use modern day VJ or Editing software on your pc to match the speed of your video file to your PJ rather than trying to match your PJ to DVD / video file.

Far easier this way around and continents and varying video format frame rates on Pal, NTSC etc, make no difference using this method!

Better still with a hardware tactile controller added on for adjusting the tempo right down to fractions of a percentage.

[ February 10, 2016, 03:08 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Woodcock ]

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Joseph Randall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 437
From: Wyckoff, NJ, USA
Registered: Jun 2015

posted February 10, 2016 06:34 PM

I'm a bit disappointed in THE MALTESE FALCON. Overall, below average picture quality for a B&W film. Some scenes are better than others. This is a 2-parter, and the framing is different on the 2 parts, so when you edit them together, you have to ride shotgun with the projector, with one hand on the framing knob. You also have to re-arrange scenes from each of the 2 parts to get them in the right order. The result is so-so -- the digest doesn't make as much sense as it should unless you are familiar with the full-length movie.

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted February 11, 2016 05:28 AM

Talk on another thread about spares machines reminds me of this. I bought a Sankyo 301 from them at a BFCC as not working thinking it would be good for any future repairs to the one I use. All that was wrong was the rear hub for the take -up spool was missing. Now if I have a fault on the main machine I don't know which one to use for spares. So much worry for the £5 Ged sold to to me for [Big Grin]

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