8mm Forum: The Armchair Odeon

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on April 19, 2017, 06:01 AM:

Recent postings regarding the suggestion of a Film Collecting Price Guide reminds me of Denis Gifford's book "The Armchair Odeon - The Collectors Guide To The Movies" which was published in 1974 by the Fountain Press.

In its 299 pages it listed all 8mm films then available to buy. Each had running time, sound or silent, standard or super, distributor. Films were divided into eleven categories although they were not priced. There was index and many advertisers.

All the films had quite detailed reviews although I assume that Mr. Gifford had not actually seen them all.

This is a publication which could be updated and would be a great source of what is available on the second-hand market, but perhaps not a price guide as such.

The book only refers to 8mm. Although there were many shorts available on 16mm, the selling of 16mm feature films at that time was not legal in the UK.

After all these years the book still makes interesting reading, also reminding us of long gone distributors like G.A.F and P.M. Films.

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on April 19, 2017, 06:30 AM:

It's a great informative book and one I'd love to see taken through to the end of Super 8mm commercial film releases as we currently know them.

Prices or otherwise, it would make no difference to myself and just to have a review of every available Super 8mm feature print alone, would make a superb book to read, own and cherish for anyone who has ever dipped their toes in the water with this great great hobby of ours.

I wonder how many pages it would now occupy, if brought up to date? [Big Grin]

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on April 19, 2017, 07:54 AM:

Andrew yes its a great book and his reviews are reprints of the reviews that were in Amateur Cine World and Movie Maker magazines before Bill Davison had his own Bootlace Cinema reviews.
I bought my copy new back then and still have it.

I can also recommend another two superb publications by the late
Gerald McKee : Film Collecting ( 1978 )
A Half Century Of Film Collecting ( 1993 )

Both these books also cover 9.5mm film and Film Collector has excellent photos reproduced directly from the actual film frames.
Great stuff from those pre screen shot days. Also 16mm pictures.
There is also other film collecting articles included of interest.

[Smile]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on April 19, 2017, 08:44 AM:

I think I have the first of those you mention there David.

Posted by David Roberts (Member # 197) on April 19, 2017, 09:38 AM:

This mention of Foutain Press reminds me of Movie Maker magazine,which,as a school boy,i would walk into town every month to collect from the local camera shop.
Then return home with keen anticipation to read from cover to cover.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on April 19, 2017, 10:00 AM:

A chance to get your own copy of the book:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-ARMCHAIR-ODEON-Collectors-Guide-To-Movies-DENIS-GIFFORD-1st-UK-Ed-1974-/401310268675?hash=item5d6ff4bd03:g:9JAAAOSwo4pYRdB8

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on April 19, 2017, 10:01 AM:

Me too David, I would anxiously peruse the W.H. Smith's magazine rack every month to catch Amateur Cine World as soon as it came out. I even got myself an ACW lapel badge which I proudly displayed on my school uniform! ACW was always a great read with lots of DIY projects and tips, superior in many ways to its successor Movie Maker. But that tiny type is hard to read these days!
Incidentally, what year was it that ACW was replaced by Movie Maker?

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on April 19, 2017, 02:41 PM:

Paul the first issue of Movie Maker was published March 1967.
Priced at 3/6.
The cover states : Incorporating - Amateur Cine World - 8mm Movie Maker and Cine Camera.

The Films To Buy section by Denis Gifford reviews the following : The Beast With Five Fingers ( 8mins; b/w silent )
War Of The Colossal Beast ( 8mins; b/w silent )
Brain Game ( 7mins; b/w silent )
A Dizzy Day ( 6mins; b/w silent )
Keystone Cops To The Rescue ( 15mins; at 16fps b/w silent )
` Jayne Mansfield Uncensored ( 5mins; b/w silent )

All Standard and Super 8mm of course. Oh happy simpler days they were.

[Smile]

Posted by David Roberts (Member # 197) on April 19, 2017, 03:42 PM:

Yes it was 1967 when I started reading Movie Maker. It replaced ACW,which I think was weekly,at least it was at some stage in its history.

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on April 21, 2017, 02:08 PM:

I believe the A.C.W. was first published in 1934. I bought my first copy in 1949. it was published monthly and was known for many years as the amateur film makers "bible" and I had every monthly copy. It was replaced by Movie Maker and I continued to buy these until they stopped publication. Unfortunately I disposed og them all when I moved to Herne Bay in 2000, except for a number pages that I extracted of useful technical information or of personal interest. Ken Finch. [Frown]

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on April 22, 2017, 10:07 AM:

One more,much rarer,book is Eddie Sammons' THE TWO REELERS.
ACW was monthly. It became weekly,and slimmer, in the early sixties and then became MOVIE MAKER,with a small in-between period as 8MM MOVIE MAKER,also incorporating a number of other similar magazines. In 1985 a new publisher demanded a shift to video so, the principal staff left and created a new magazine MAKING BETTER MOVIES. I stopped subscribing to it in 1988 as it too unavoidably turned to the dreadfull electronic image!!
The real treat came in "the golden age of film collecting",the seventies and eighties. This was the all review magazine,printed and published privately by a number of dedicated collectors. Starting in 1974 with Paul Van Someren's SUPER 8 COLLECTOR they were mostly monthly and full of reviews,with the occasional article,of super 8 films. Imagine (today!) getting (more than) one nagazine each month, with 24 pages filled with 60 or even more reviews! It was quickly followed by CINEMA REVIEW,SUPER 8 REVIEW,SUPER 8 FILM REVIEW,8MM PACKAGE MOVIE CLUB,HOME SCREEN SCENE and several others. They were a heaven of information.

Posted by Gary Sayers (Member # 5545) on April 22, 2017, 12:35 PM:

'The Armchair Odeon' is my desert island book. So much so, that despite buying a new copy when it was first published in the 1970s, I couldn't resist buying a back-up copy around 23 years ago from a secondhand bookshop.

The nice thing about this book being made up of previously published reviews is that Dennis Gifford had actually viewed every title he was writing about. I checked a few from the book with some old 'Movie Maker' mags and the reviews are identical.

Other film collecting books that I have are:

'Film Collecting' by Gerald McKee

'A Half a Century of Film Collecting' Gerald McKee's sequel to 'Film Collecting'

'Collecting Classic Films' Kalton C Lahue

'Castle Films - A Hobbyist's Guide' Scott MacGillivray (still available new from Amazon) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Castle-Films-Hobbyists-Scott-Macgillivray/dp/0595324916/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

The Amazon 'look inside' feature allows you to read a good chunk of the overview of Castle Films. The rest of the book is a detailed reference guide for Castle Film releases.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on April 23, 2017, 07:54 AM:

Take a look at the "other forum" in the Picture Gallery section,in the "Books for Collectors" section for more.

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