8mm Forum: Yesterday on super 8

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Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on November 19, 2007, 06:28 AM:

The weekend just gone was one of those awful British weekends that thankfully we haven’t had too many of recently, it was raining almost non-stop and when it wasn’t the air was heavy with damp and the sky was grey and foreboding. It was windy too with icy gusts coming in off the sea making being outside thoroughly unpleasant, the only place to be was shut up in doors protected from the elements.

In other words, Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to set up the projector and settle down to a cine session. Unusually, I was on my own yesterday afternoon so my viewing was entirely of my choice, I decided to work my way through some digests and had a thoroughly good time. I started off with Universals 2 x 400ft “Ffolkes North Sea Highjack”, I have never seen this film in its entirety and am not sure that I would want to, but the 40 minute version is well edited and very fast moving, if a little cheesy.

Staying with Universals for the moment I then watched their 2x 400ft cut down of “The Jerk”. I love this film, I’ve always been a Steve Martin fan and The Jerk for me is a great example of his early work. Incidentally, both these prints are in great condition with fine sound and good colours. The Jerk is definitely the nicer print as it is far sharper than Ffolkes but both have stood up well.

Next was “Star Trek, The Motion Picture”, this was the 3 x 400ft Marketing release which again has stood up well to the test of time both in content and the physical condition of the film itself. The colours remain vivid and the condensed version of this film runs really well, making sense and retaining many of the state of the art special effects, which I guess must have seemed all the more impressive on its original release – somehow those rather more crude effects seem all the more believable than today’s CGI, or is that just me showing my age…

My final choice of film (that took me nicely up to Antiques Road show) was MGMs 2 x 400ft edition of Fame. This is such a great film; it has a real “feel good” factor to it and always makes me smile. It’s basically the musical numbers strung together with enough of the story line to introduce the characters and make sense of the goings on. I particularly like the canteen jam session, the street dancing to the theme tune (move your f***ing parade), and the fantastic finale; Dance The Body Electric. Again this is a great print, the colour jumped off the screen and the sound is booming.

All in all it was a great way to spend a wet and windy afternoon in Worthing and a great case for the old digests – they make watching a number of films in one sitting possible.

Just hoping that next Sunday afternoon is another wet and windy one…

Mike

Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on November 19, 2007, 10:50 AM:

Mike, I know exactly what you mean. It was a shame that I couldn't go to Blackpool so had to settle for a quick Buster Keaton on silent super 8.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on November 19, 2007, 11:41 AM:

There is no better way to spend a rainy day Mike.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 19, 2007, 12:05 PM:

I know how that is ...

We watched "Emperor of the North" again, starring Lee Marvin. I put an amber filter on there, so it had a sepia tone look, (as the film takes place during the depresion, 1931) That near collision of trains, still does it for me!

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on November 19, 2007, 01:32 PM:

Mike
Just reading about your weather makes me shudder, [Eek!]

I never liked those long winters ideal for watching films though, back in 1972 I attended a Datsun course in Worthing, first time south of the border, what I remember most about Worthing was a pub that the only two of us from Scotland went to every night, "young and stupid in those days" met this elderly couple on the dart board and they both cleaned us out, nice people though, by the end of the course we were totally broke. [Eek!]

those were the days, [Roll Eyes]

Graham.

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on November 19, 2007, 02:11 PM:

Graham, you're right, the only way I can cope with the long winters (other than watching films of course) is grabbing a little winter sunshine in January - usually by making a trip to the Canary Islands. Otherwise I think I'd just have to curl up in a corner somewhere and wait for that wonderful moment when the clocks go forward again.

Funny to think you've been to Worthing, Datsun - later Nissan - was a big employer here for many years. There's still plenty of little pubs all across the town where you can drink real (warm) ale all night and loose your money to an elderly couple at darts. It's nice to know that somethings don't change... [Roll Eyes]

Mike

ps. it's been raining all day today too, I can feel another cine evening coming on.

Edit: 22.09 and now we have a thunder and lightening storm raging over head...

[ November 19, 2007, 04:10 PM: Message edited by: Mike Peckham ]

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on November 20, 2007, 03:32 AM:

Clear skies here in sunny Cornwall for the last few days. Funny really as usually we get the worst of what's on offer down here. Still, I gather that tomorrow Blighty will be enjoying better weather... except fot the South-West where it will be persistently pouring all day long. Perhaps tomorrow will be a good time for a film show!

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on November 20, 2007, 04:13 AM:

Mike, I for one could do with a dry weekend next weekend. Have to vist a friend to repair his Xenon Fumeo and also need to do a service on Kermit2.

Kev.

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on November 20, 2007, 04:56 AM:

Coming back from Blackpool it was a surprise to see Bham in white -yes it was all covered in snow!Not that it lasted,but at least gives you a first taste of x'mas coming-and of course what better than a film show with your new buys [Smile]

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on November 20, 2007, 12:06 PM:

Bognor Regis was pretty wet n windy too,so I decided to have a film show (well it would be rude not too!!) I showed the two Casino Royale trailers first,followed by the excellent Iver 11 min Scope promo for that very underated WW2 movie THE PASSAGE starring Malcolm Mcdowell,Anthony Quinn & James Mason,its a shame Iver never got around to releasing a full feature or double album but I think they were in dire financial straits by 1980,then onto WHERE EAGLES DARE very well edited down to 3 x 400ft by the MGM editors,really action packed though I was a bit disappointed Richard Burton only said " broadsword calling dannyboy" only once,the colours are still good on my print too though the definition was a little soft as per other MGM S8 releases.

A very good film show!!!

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on November 20, 2007, 05:04 PM:

I got the trailer to the passage not so long ago which is great but I have to mention Malcolm McDowells acting looks a bit iffy to say the least. Christopher Lee looked ok going by the trailer.
Ever seen Chris in treasure island from 1989 as Blind Pew, you wouldn`t know it was him, superb.
Best Mark.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on November 21, 2007, 10:11 AM:

LOL...Malcolm McDowells performance in THE PASSAGE has to be seen to be believed,he really camps it up big time,his opening line in the film is "I,m looking for a man" as he waltzes in wearing a trilby hat and smoking a cigarette in a very long holder!!! he is probably more OTT here than in CALIGULA.

I watched an old video copy I still have the other night and the film still holds up very well indeed,Anthony Quinn,James Mason and Patricia Neal are all good,shame I missed out on a full length 35mm scope print a few years back!!

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on November 21, 2007, 01:50 PM:

Hi Kevin,

Do you do projector repairs?

If so, I would appreciate you having a look at my Eiki RM-1. It has developed a sound problem ( which I have posted on this forum ) and also while watching a film at the weekend, the take-up stopped turning when it was almost fully loaded, resulting in a lot of film all over the floor.

I'm just down the road in Leigh - would appreciate your knowledge and experience.

-Mike.

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on December 03, 2007, 06:06 AM:

This Saturday was another great opportunity for a Super 8 Film Show, and this time to an ever changing bunch of children – possibly the most appreciative audience!

Friends of mine were once again staging their annual Craft Fayre/Open House. As they had in the past, they asked me if I would put on a film show for the young ones, this turns out to be quite a lucrative move for the hosts, as with the kiddies captivated in the sitting room cinema, the parents tend to relax whilst being fed mince pies, tea and mulled wine, and consequently spend more money on all the odd looking craft products.

For the day, and as the Fayre had a Christmas theme to it, I put together a Christmas reel comprising Peace On Earth, The Madagascar Penguins Christmas Caper, and of course the old favourite Snowman. This lasted for about 50minutes and proved a great success although I’m not convinced that Peace on Earth is universally popular among young children as the message is quite dark.

I also took along a number of short subjects and The Lion King full feature; the latter was very much the hit of the day both with the children who were captivated by it and the parents who enjoyed the 90 minutes of freedom. The film ended with a round of applause!

As ever the GS 1200 attracted a lot of attention, during the day several of the little people got to “help” me thread it up and rewind the films, it also intrigued a number of the Dads who found themselves drawn to its alluring ways; the gentle purr, the smell of the warm mechanism and the bewitching light being all too irresistible…

In all the show lasted for nearly 6 hours as there was a constant change over in people all through out the day and the old GS performed faultlessly, in fact I feel it probably did it some good getting to be used for so long in one sitting – a little like taking the car on a long trip.

Hopefully I’ll be doing it all again next year…

Mike [Smile]

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on December 03, 2007, 06:21 AM:

Mike, another great story. Thanks a bunch.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on December 03, 2007, 09:40 AM:

Hi-Mike,

Sounds like your show was a real success,with a line up like that you just can't go wrong.

I had a very good show myself yesterday afternoon for a few friends the line up was as follows..

THE TWO MOUSEKATEERS-TOM & JERRY-Fantasic colour still!
PROFESSOR TOM-TOM & JERRY
DR JEKYLL & MR HARE-BUGS BUNNY
DUMB PATROL-BUGS BUNNY
GIRLS,GIRLS,GIRLS-ELVIS PRESLEY-Ken cutdown,lovely colour!!
CONVICT 99-Will Hay-Powell cutdown

Concluding with the main feature which was..

X-THE UKNOWN-A great Hammer horror from 1956

My trusty Eumig 820 did me proud yet again.

All in all a very succesful show!!

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