8mm Forum: Sounds of Arizona

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Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 30, 2006, 04:50 AM:

Sounds of Arizona

Derann's Sounds of Arizona is a Movietone 'Scope 200 footer about Arizona and particularly Tucson circa 1961.

It's one of my personal favorites because the company I worked for in the mid-90's used to send me out to the factory we had in Tucson every winter, and I'd spend a week or two out in the sunshine while calling my wife every night and talking about the day's snowfall back home! (Heh!, Heh!!!)

It's a lighthearted tour of music in and around Tucson, featuring a cowboy song around the campfire, bells ringing at the Spanish Mission, a Navajo rain-dance, the Tucson Boy's Choir, a square dance on horseback and ultimately Ferde Grofe himself conducting his "Grand Canyon Suite" while we do a 'Scope fly-through of the Canyon.

We keep a-runnin' into Susan Webb, who was Miss Arizona that year, and she's kinda purty!

All of this is narrated by our hero, a laidback cowboy who confides that his analyst told him he has a "Buffalo Bill Complex".

The scenery is just as I remember Arizona, but I think the colors are a little muted. The soundtrack is very good. It comes in as a very full 200 footer, so much that my print is now on a 300 foot reel because it kept spilling off!

To the best of my knowledge, this film is readily available only on 8mm film, which is kind of neat. Beyond that, I've never even been able to find any references to it other than the Derann print.

Whether you are a fan of the Desert Southwest, or Western Movies or like me, an engineer who kept finding himself pleasantly exiled there, this one comes highly recommended.

[ October 23, 2017, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Steve Klare ]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on October 23, 2017, 11:57 AM:

Update

I felt the need to bring this old review forward a whole decade, because I felt it at long last deserved a photo, just to establish the mood (because I didn't put pictures in my reviews in 2006), and something interesting that has happened as a result of it.

A couple of weeks ago my voice mail had this message on it: "I'm trying to reach Steve Klare, I'm calling about the film 'Sounds of Arizona'. If you are the right Steve, I'd like to talk to you."

Never in my life did I expect this subject on my phone, so I called the Scottsdale, Arizona number and I got the scoop: There is a campfire scene about midway through the movie where a cowboy with guitar is serenading the beautiful young Miss Arizona. The gentleman with the guitar is now turning 90 and they are preparing a retrospective video of his life. Their "Sounds of Arizona" is 16mm and red, and they are looking for better material for a transfer.

Unfortunately, I had to tell them that transferring 'scope, sound Super-8 is professional work and any house that's honest will see copyrighted material and back away.

I sent them whatever historic material on the film I've been able to dig up, and got a nice hand-written letter from the fellow. I will be pleased to write back and wish him a happy birthday.

-got to be careful what you write on here: in the odd way that the Internet and search engines make possible, you may wind up kind of situationally famous!

My print is not so new these days, but still looks and sounds like the day I bought it. 'Scope at our house is a special event that happens every couple of months and this one is always the first on screen, as befits my very first 'scope film.

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