8mm Forum: Rare or Not? That is the Question

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Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on February 26, 2006, 02:23 PM:

So what are the truly rare films in s8 and what is it that makes them rare?

I keep seeing the word used in ebay but as a newcomer to this sport how am I to know?

Posted by Craig Hamilton (Member # 258) on February 26, 2006, 03:13 PM:

Lost Horizon 1973 version with Peter Finch. Very rare on Super 8.

Thank God [Big Grin]

Craig

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on February 26, 2006, 04:56 PM:

Of all the legal 8mm films, the F/L print of "Close Encounters Of The 3rd Kind" must rate as one of the rarest features of all, as there was only about 20 ever produced, before Derann lost the rights, so perhaps this is the rarest feature on 8mm.

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on February 26, 2006, 06:43 PM:

If you believe eBay sellers, HAVE BADGE WILL CHASE and NO INDIANS, PLEASE are rare. Do a search on these titles now in eBay and you will see how "rare" they are! :-)

Truly rare items are as follows in Super 8, all with Laurel & Hardy, just to name a few:

FRA DIAVOLO (Red Fox, full-length feature)
BONNIE SCOTLAND (Red Fox, full-length feature)
UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE (Blackhawk 2-reeler, sound version)
BATTLE OF THE CENTURY (Blackhawk, not quite a 2-reeler, but the version that includes the boxing scene as well as the pie fight)
Any Blackhawk L&H silent with the original Vitaphone track
SAILORS BEWARE (different distributors)
SLIPPING WIVES
LOVE'EM AND WEEP(Blackhawk)

Also:
Any Thelma Todd 2-reeler from her series (as opposed to L&H)
Most Charley Chase 2-reelers (though more and more have been showing up lately)
Chaplin films released by RBC (last week CITY LIGHTS sold for over $200)

BTW, most of the above is rare in any format (inlcuding VHS and DVD). Why are they rare? Try your hand at getting some of these on eBay. When they do show up, they will get top $.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on February 26, 2006, 09:17 PM:

Barry,

Thanks! You've made me feel special. Your friendly co-moderators each have a copy of that rare print!
How about the full length "Jason and the Argonauts"?

Doug

Posted by Scott G. Bruce (Member # 384) on February 26, 2006, 09:52 PM:

Didn't someone recently plunge my spirit into the depths of despair by telling me that THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is exceedingly rare on super 8mm??

SGB

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on February 26, 2006, 11:22 PM:

And what about U8 2x400 ft of The Blues Brothers?
I saw it once, in a store display, 20 years ago, being sold at an astronomical price. I've never seen it since... [Frown]

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on February 27, 2006, 04:19 AM:

Yes "Jason And The Argonauts" doesn't feature very often in the 2nd hand lists, but they did over 70 prints of that, and this title is a "KEEPER" i.e. sold only rarely by collectors. "The Blues Brothers" is rarer than your average U8 2x400', but it does crop up now and again, but out of the last series of U8 double albums, I think the rarest is "The Coalminers Daughter", now when did you last see a copy of that for sale?

Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 549) on February 27, 2006, 04:33 AM:

Don't worry Scott, you will find "The Day The Earth Stood Still" it is out there. I can't remember where I bought my digest, I think it was in a pile of used stuff.

I have been told the Arrow Thunderbirds 50 footers in colour are hard to find, but it probably just means they are tightly held. I also have some standard 8mm silents from the 30's and 40's that would be hard to find now.

My std 8mm and super 8 boxing film collection contains some rare titles that I have never seen advertised since I bought them over 20 years ago. Many special interest titles would have had low runs and never been restruck.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on February 27, 2006, 05:46 AM:

The 200' digest to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL may be around in reasonable numbers but I think only 10 copies were produced (by CHC) of the feature. In fact I recently sold my copy, which didn't have any sound.

With regard to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, I'm sure I heard Derek say at least once that there were only 10 prints.

For an ultra-obscure rarity, how about my full length Std 8 print of KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, with French and Flemish sub-titles!

Posted by Scott G. Bruce (Member # 384) on February 27, 2006, 08:48 AM:

That's the one I was thinking about, Adrian, and in fact I'm sure that I learned about its scarcity from you. Ah well, the hope of the great rare find is almost, ALMOST, as fun as the find itself.

SGB

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 27, 2006, 12:02 PM:

I would also add many of the optical sound super 8 features, as while these were, to an extant legally sold, (Derrann, for instance) the fact that these survived into private hands is quite great indeed. Every once in a while I'm still running into many a rarity in optical sound.

I have the short 5 minute version of Battle of the Century/Pie Fight, but I've never seen the one with the boxing match as well, that must have been a rather late release by Blackhawk.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on February 27, 2006, 04:04 PM:

Adrian, Derek told me there was only ever 20 prints of Close Encounters printed and that 18 of them went straight to Germany!

I have to say that I am glad I have my copy and the quality is really up amongst the best.

The other print I kept my eyes open for a long time was "Fra Diavolo" This is the Red Fox release and was well worth the wait. Its again really sharp and the black and white gradation is superb. The other odity is that it is on Kodak Black and White Polyetser stock and not Acetate stock which was a real surprise when I first recieved it.

And before anyone asks yes Kodak did make Polyester Black and White stock but I didnt know they produced any in the super 8 format. This I think might make this title quite rare.

Kev.

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