8mm Forum: A Coronet Rarity?

This is topic A Coronet Rarity? in forum 16mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 18, 2018, 04:57 AM:

I have just bought "Tom Thumb in King Arthur's Court" (1963) which was distributed by Coronet Instructional Films, an American company which specialised in 16mm distribution to schools and similar establishments.

It appears that veteran animator, Hugh Harman (1903-1982), started work on the film and produced the animated sequences and that the Coronet staff were responsible for editing and added still sequences. It is said that Harman had always wanted to do a film of King Arthur but couldn't acquire funding.

The print has good colour, possibly Technicolor, but has no markings as the perforation area is dense black. The black & white sound track is six "lines" variable area.

The film may not have much educational value, but it is entertaining. One sequence reminds me of "The Incredible Shrinking Man". At 20 minutes it is one of the longest animated films that Coronet made.

Here it is to enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHROaYdKvwY

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 18, 2018, 11:22 AM:

Coronet films has a long history of rescuing animated films and making them available for classrooms. believe it or not, the very first "Strawberry shortcake" specials (before there was a actual weekly show) were released as educational films by Coronet Films ...

But the British version of "Coronet" (I forget what the actual name of the company is or was), did the same thing as well. For instance, the classic Christmas cartoon, "The Christmas Visitor" produced by Halas bachelor Animation (the company responsible for the animated feature "Animal farm") was released for classrooms in the UK and from what i have seen of those specific prints, they tended to be printed on low fade, and i have been looking for one of those 16MM mint condition prints, if i could find them ...

I just found that print! It was done by "EFS" Films, and the color quality is much better than the other prints you see on youtube (but there are splices to the print) ...

https://archive.org/details/christmasvisitor_20170601

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 18, 2018, 02:04 PM:

Osi

I think the British company that you are thinking of was W. Hugh Baddeley's Gateway Educational Films who whilst making their own films for classroom use, also distributed 16mm prints from many sources, including Coronet.

When Hugh died the company was taken over by Viewtech Educational Media, who also had films from Disney among their 3000 titles. They eventually went into VHS video, and then DVDs before closing down fairly recently.

The company was only six miles from me and I was responsible for disposing of all their 16mm films.

Here's "A Night Before Christmas".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FszbMmVyAwc

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 19, 2018, 11:34 AM:

Yep, same film!

Thanks 4 that info! How i would love to find a low fade print of this, whether 16MM or an original 35MM low fade! (yeah, good luck on that!)

... as this I would certainly LOVE to see be a cartoon release for the holidays on super 8!!!!

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on October 20, 2018, 05:25 AM:

Actually the Halas & Batchelor film is called "A Christmas Visitor" which was made in 1959 and was for showing in cinemas.
I'm not sure about a 16mm release.

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