8mm Forum: JAWS!! 2X400FT Universal

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 09, 2009, 03:14 PM:

Looking through the reviews that have been posted, I was surprised to find that though Jaws the 200ft digest had been reviewed, as well as JAWS 2 1X400ft had also been covered, the 2X400ft of JAWS hadn’t been reviewed as of yet.

Well, lets take care of that right now!

We begin with a shortened Title and credits sequence (as all the Universal digests do)
, leading to that first unforgettable scene, in which a lovely skinny dipping lass goes … skinny dipping. Alas, the young man never makes it, as he passes out on the shore, trying to get undressed. (by the way, I noted when first watching this digest the lovely colors to that sunset!) Lucky for him, as the woman is memorably eaten by our favorite great white!

We then switch to the introduction of police chief Brody (played memorably by Roy Scheider, a favorite of mine). We discover what is left of the woman on the shore, covered with sand crabs.

We now move onto a fine day on the beach with the community. Everyone is at play, including a man playing fetch with his dog, (the dog doesn’t come back, a bad sign).
It turns out that this first “fin” is two prankster boys …

But that is not the only “fin” present!

The shark attacks! This time munching a little boy. Thankfully, the digest crafters left in that great tracking shot that Speilberg is so fond of (actor comes forward, background goes back really quick, first utilized by Hitchcock, I believe, also used well in the first “Poltergeist”).

It’s a mad dash to get out of the water, many being run over by the panicked crowd.
The shark, meanwhile, has moved into the calm waters of the pool area, where Brody’s son is swimming. The son doesn’t get munched, but a man leading them in know tying … is! (memorable shot of the man’s torn leg falling to the bottom!)

Meanwhile, a mothers agonized screams for her son are unanswered …

This leads to the community meeting, where we first meet captain Quint, (the awesome
Robert Shaw, in perhaps his best ever role.). he gives his proposal for capturing and killing the shark (but it won’t be cheap!). The community tosses aside his offer and the whole community goes out in boats after the shark and the reward offered. It’s now when we meet the last member of our Triad of hero’s, Hooper, the shark specialist, (Richard Dreyfuss, in one of his early great roles), he inspects the corpse of the woman
(briefly) and knows for a fact that it is in fact a shark attack!

We now head off in Quint’s boat to kill the Great White. Thankfully, Quint and Hoopers test of manhood is left intact in this digest, (test of crushing cans and Dixie cups!). First part of the digest ends with Brody slugging chum into the water, the shark SUDDENLY coming up, and Brody stating his memorable line …

“Your gonna need a bigger boat!”

Part 2 of the digest is ALL action, with the battle of wits happening between the shark and the hunters. One barrel is put on the shark, then two barrels. (She canna go down with two barrels she cant!), with the shark apparently getting g the better of the situation.

They become so desperate, that they lower Hooper into the metal cage with a harpooning gun to inject the shark in the mouth with poison, but this is also foiled by the shark.

This leads to the awesome shark lunging up and actually bringing down the back end of the boat into the water, crushing it. Quint slides down towards the sharks mouth and tries valiantly to get away, but is soon crushed alive as he madly plunges his large knife into a crazed shark, finally succumbing.

Now, all that is left (as far as we know) is Brody, aboard a ship that is now beginning to capsize. The shark breaks through the side of the boat, and Brody thrusts into the crazed sharks mouth a pressurized air tank. Brody scrambles up on one of the last parts of the boat that isn’t submerged and fires madly at the shark …

“SMILE YOU SON OF A BITCH!!”

BOOOOOM!! The shark is blown apart, as Brody hits the pressurized tank in the mouth.
We then end this digest with Hooper back up on the surface of the water and they paddle back to the shore as the abbreviated credits run.

They encapsulated the story so well that by the end of the first reel, we are already on Quint’s boast and the whole last reel is the hunt. I really admire this digest!

By any standard, this is an excellent 600ft digest and, in my opinion, just as awesome as the 200ft digest. This digest is in the letterboxed format and, as with most of the Universal letterboxed digests, this one looks incredible. Very easy focus and though we miss a little of the anamorphic image on the sides, (which is only obvious on a few shots), it is quite good!

COLOR

The color is great on this digest, (more on that later), but then, Universal was using their own negative material, so that makes sense.

CONTRAST/GRAIN/FOCUS

Contrast is quite good, though it appears on a few of the shots it might just be a tad light, but this is more due to perhaps the slight fade that my print has. This digest has an excellent focus to it. I didn’t have to readjust it once during the whole digest.

SOUND
The sound is mono, (this would be an excellent candidate for a stereo remix!), and is quite good, though there are just two places where the mix was muffled, (when Quint says, “Stop playing with yourself Hooper”.)

I do want to note a pet peeve with this digest that has been a low point with many of the Universal digests. As was the case with many a feature way back when, the two parts of these Universal digests may have been processed at two completely different labs. This means that while my part 1 has nearly spot on color with little or no fade, the part 2 has more fade to it, and when the whole second half is mainly different shades of blue and grey, (and these being the first colors to fade), it takes away slightly from the enjoyment
of the digest overall. This was a common problem with the Universal 2X400ft digests, as I note that most of my digests suffer this same fate.

This is a great digest and one anyone should be happy to make a part of their collection!

Long live Super 8!!

UPDATE!!!! I have just been able to secure an incredible print of this digest, that doesn;'t have a single bit of fade on either parts iof the digest. I've never seen this saturated of colors on a Universal 8 digest ever! The info on the sprocket area for the film stock is ...

eastman (then two little "squares") 30 safety film and there is also, backwards in even smaller print "EKC-35"

I don't know if this was some kind of experimental low fade stock, but the color is just outstanding!

[ November 26, 2016, 11:27 AM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on April 09, 2009, 07:44 PM:

Great observation Osi!

I didn't even realize that the two-part Jaws digest had not been reviewed either.

I agree with everything you said, for the most part. I was glad that U-8 decided to letterbox this version too, as there is alot going on in the picture. Especially a scene like, when Robert Shaw is taking aim at the shark (barrel scene), while the boat is in hot pursuit. Shaw is on the far left side of the picture, and the speeding shark fin is on the far right. If it had not been letterboxed, the scene would have lost alot of impact, as we would not be able to see both characters at the same time.

About the difference between reel #1 and reel #2:

With my print, the picture quality is about the same. However, the sound is lower on reel #2. It has to be turned up, which is fine, except for the very quite parts, where a slight "hiss" can be detected.

I would certainly have considered re-recording this great digest, except that it has faded a little towards red. Its still very watchable, with great sharp image, and some colors, but not worth the trouble of re-recording at this point.

As Osi says- One of the finest digests ever released. It tells the story well and, most importantly (at least to me), it maintains the atmosphere of the feature.

James.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 09, 2009, 08:53 PM:

Thanks for the kind words James.

I checked out my JAWS digest. Part 1 is eastman 10, while part 2 is eastman 33. Both of them are not L.P.P. filmstock, and also verifies that the two parts of the digest come from at least different batches of stock if not, film labs entire.

But then its also a sad truth that some labs would cut corners to instill a shorter amount of time on the production line. Both of these parts may have had just as good of Eastman film stock, but one is hampered by perhaps a poor film lab, while the other is much better.

Posted by Gerald Santana (Member # 2362) on January 19, 2012, 09:21 PM:

I looked at the Jaws 2 x 400' the other night thanks to Chris Fries and took a few screen shots from the first reel. I really liked this digest and thought it was very well edited only a couple of scenes looked jumpy otherwise, it was still very suspenseful...

Every time I see it on ebay, the bid is always at an arm and a leg [Wink]

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on January 19, 2012, 09:26 PM:

I agree Gerald. I have this digest and I think it is very well done. The color on mine has held up well.

I wish they did a 2x400 of Jaws 2.

Pat [Big Grin]

Posted by Akshay Nanjangud (Member # 2828) on January 20, 2012, 12:12 AM:

The colors on the pictures are exemplary.

Posted by Chris Fries (Member # 2719) on January 20, 2012, 05:20 AM:

Those are great screen shots, Gerald.

And yes, like Pat, my copy has good color.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the digest. I actually did not pay a ridiculous price for this Spielberg film. That honor goes to my copy of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

[ July 27, 2014, 11:30 AM: Message edited by: Chris Fries ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 20, 2012, 12:23 PM:

I just watched your digest on Utube. Boy! Lovely colors on it. better than mine, that's for sure. May part 1 is decent color (still not as good as yours), but my part 2 has more fade.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on January 21, 2012, 09:40 AM:

Mine had faded very badly. I blame myself partly though. My Jaws digest was part of a group of films that accidently got stored in a hot attic for about 5 years in the early 90's, which I think contributed to its redness. Some films were surprisingly not effected, but almost all of the U-8's were [Confused]

James.

Posted by Christian Bjorgen (Member # 1780) on January 24, 2012, 02:41 AM:

Looks really nice! I got a copy of this in the big lot this christmas, but I haven't gotten around to screening it yet. I'll have to put in on show for this weekend!

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 24, 2012, 01:15 PM:

Mine looks pretty much likes Geralds screenshots. Love to have one that looks like Chris's digest!

Posted by Gerald Santana (Member # 2362) on January 25, 2012, 09:59 PM:

Hey Osi,

That is Chris Fries' digest but, just the first reel! I should have taken shots of the second to compare...

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 26, 2012, 12:56 PM:

That's interesting, the digest that Chris used on the Utube video has much better color, or appears to.

Chris, did you get a new digest of this? Just curious.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on November 26, 2016, 11:27 AM:

I just updated the original review of this with some new info concerning this digest! What a find!!

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