8mm Forum: Universal 8 fading: Flat Vs Scope

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Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 04, 2004, 10:48 AM:

As everyone knows, if you run a colour Universal 8 film and it's not faded, it probably will be before long! However, I've just examined a few of my Universal 8 Animex scope releases and the colour on all, except possibly one, seems fine. I guess these titles were licensed to Animex, who used their own plastic boxes in addition to the Universal sleeves for 400' releases, and I wondered if they might have used different labs and perhaps film stock less prone to fading. Does anyone know? I'd also be interested if anyone could offer some information on the business relationship that Animex had with Universal and MGM. I recall hearing that the Dr Van Tetering (possibly wrong spelling) behaind Animex did it more for love than money.
Adrian

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on September 04, 2004, 02:47 PM:

Hi Adrian. I have also noticed on a few of my U-8's there is very little fading. My print of "Silent Running" still looks great, as well as "The Blues Brothers", while all of my other excellent U-8 digests have terrible fading (Jaws, Airport, etc.)

I am getting ready to purchase a brand new sealed print of U-8's digest "The Car" in cinemascope. I am glad to hear that the fading problem is not bad on these scope prints. I'll let you know how the print looks when I get it.

Nick.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 04, 2004, 04:50 PM:

Hi Nick,
I've got 'The Car' so I just examined the start, which seemed OK in terms of colour, although a bit on the light side - which I've heard it said is a characteristic of Animex prints. I can't completely rule out the lack of fade on my scope prints being a coincidence, so it would be interesting to hear if others have found the same thing.
Adrian

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on September 04, 2004, 08:27 PM:

Adrian & Nick,

My 3 Animex scope prints, "Jaws 2", "Airport 75", and "Two Minute Warning" all show just a touch of fading. They are also three of Universal's better edit jobs.

Doug

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on September 05, 2004, 05:38 AM:

I think the point about these releases is that the different sources used differing film stocks. Any late runs could be on the LPP stocks or the very late SP stock which also seems to hold up fairly well. I think Kodak were using the new emulsions etc on the older film base before going over to poly base.

Kev.

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on September 06, 2004, 02:43 AM:

I've had the 'Scope "Two-Minute Warning" from new. It looked awful then and looks just as bad now. It was printed faded so don't be too fooled that they're all fading - some prints were just rubbish to begin with. That's not to say they're not getting worse but it's hard to judge with such a poor print.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on September 07, 2004, 05:32 PM:

That's a good point - I expect all of us who have been collecting for 20 years or more recall viewing films, particularly 200' and 400' versions, that had that 'warm' look on the very first screening! Some of the Ken titles come to mind in this respect.

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