This is topic THE WORST COPY IN YOUR COLLECTION in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.
To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=002214
Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 06, 2012, 05:48 PM:
Just as a conversation piece,what is the worst film you've ever
had,regarding faults etc.
Mine has got to be "WAY OF THE DRAGON" a 400' col /optical snd
from China or Korea that has nailed just about all of them,picture
float,weave , terrible sound,if Bruce could see what they did to
his film,he'd haunt them.Apart from that,the editing was quite good!
Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 07, 2012, 01:11 AM:
It's a horse race for sure...
I have a Blackhawk railroad film titled "When Steam Was King" that has so little contrast that the trains are basically shadows. If it wasn't for the intertitles there would be no telling one from another!
Then again I have my 3x600' "Yellow Rose of Texas" which has all the standard bad print stuff going on plus the bonus of the frame line accasionally wandering up to the middle of the screen. The last straw here is I found out I really don't like the movie regardless of the print quality! (I can forgive a lot if I like the movie!)
I had a chance to buy a print (very cheap!) recently that had the wrong sound track recorded. This would have been a very strong contender for the bottom of the heap. I declined: I like to at least imagine they will be great before I first see them so this whole thing seemed kind of futile!
There come times, usually mid winter, when I've watched all my good stuff at least once and I start to dig towards the bottom of the barrel, but these are so bad I start to look for other things to do before I thread them up!
Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on July 07, 2012, 06:08 AM:
Hugh waht do you mean your print fromChina and Korea?
I never known these two countries released super 8mm for packed (commercial) films. How did you find that film came from Asia.
This is something really interesting as I am Asian and am curios to know about the Asian 8mm scene in 1970-80.
Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 07, 2012, 08:26 AM:
Hello Winbert,the print was bought from Derann years ago on
their secondhand list and advertised as an import and has
subtitles in Asian, which if I remember looked like Chinese or
whatever.I honestly don't know how they had the face to put it in a box and call it a film!Having said that,some of the distributors
in the west put out some great "soot & whitewash"prints that
looked like they could have been developed in Newcastle Brown
Ale!
Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on July 07, 2012, 08:40 AM:
Such a waste of Newcastle Brown Ale! I have had that many times on my trips to UK to visit my in-laws. MY wife is from Kent and I love going to the local pubs. I have to remember to duck my head when I go in! ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on July 07, 2012, 12:45 PM:
BRIMSTONE, a big Republic western with Rod Cameron,Forrest Tucker and Walter Brennan, which I liked much when I saw it in the cinemas.The complete feature is so dark and with such muffled sound that is virtually unwatchable.I am still asking myself why I did find it "watchable" and not return it immediately!!
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 07, 2012, 12:53 PM:
I no longer have it, but a very terrible pirate ciopy of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, that was printed sometime in the early 80's. Incredibly muddy picture, even muddier sound, the only good thing was, well, it was a Disney feature in my own home and the color was at least passable.
Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 07, 2012, 01:24 PM:
Bottom of the heap for me is actually a Derann print .Three Cheers For The Girls, which is a collection of highlights from Busby Berkeley musicals. A great subject, but a dreadful print.
Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on July 07, 2012, 05:07 PM:
I have a 400'er called THE GREAT MOVIE DIRECTORS that is so washed out and soft focus it's hard to see on a 6" screen. I have shown it on my big screen and it's really bad...but I pull it out every once in a while because I like the content but the print is dreadful!
I would never show it to anyone!
Bill ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 07, 2012, 07:52 PM:
Dont have any, as I have sold them to other collectors ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
...just kidding
Graham.
Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on July 07, 2012, 08:05 PM:
Oh...so that's where all these bad prints came from.....
Bill ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on July 09, 2012, 09:48 AM:
worst ..well... Probably a standard 8mm sound print of White Zombie from Niles. tinny sound...totally washed out faces...
Posted by Mark L Barton (Member # 1512) on July 12, 2012, 05:25 AM:
Not so much a bad print but heres my tuppence worths: the 3x400 Road to Bali print is'nt that fantastic, soft with variable contrast BUT...its actually better than the official DVD release of the film that I have. OK its the full film, but the super 8 release would have made a better master!
Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on July 12, 2012, 07:27 AM:
Hugh that is an interesting question which I guess we could look at it two ways.
1: The print quality or editing if condensed.
2: The actual content of the film itself.
1: For worst print quality, or annoying voice over it will have to be some of those 400ft reels which found way to our shores. The chap who endlessly seemed to have the need to speak and inform us about all the bits which had been cut out but fell short of saying ‘boy you would have loved to see that scene’.
2: Probably most of us are in the same basket in that many of the films we collect hold some sort of memory, perhaps of our childhood and we overlook the screen quality side of things more often than not. Some of the cutest 200ft films came from Perrys Movies and although not always the sharpest they put out some amazing content which I found fascinating.
On a ramble now.. Perrys were so good to deal with as you got some amazing lists and you could actually telephone Ian at the lab and order a title. Even yet I can hear Ian or Arthur telling me they would run off a new print for me if out of stock which is a priceless memory of film collecting and oh what service.
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 12, 2012, 12:37 PM:
That's a good point from Lee. Taking his evaluation into account ....
The Columbia Digest of "The Caine Mutiny". The actual print quality wasn't too bad, (though it did seem just slightly washed out in image, but the color was just fine ...
but it was that DAMNED narrarator who talks over (it seems) half the scene before the people in the film actually speak! It seemed like I was watching a travelogue instead of a classic motion picture!
Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on July 12, 2012, 01:25 PM:
In some instances, the Columbia Narrator used restraint. After all, with a limited amount of footage that could be included without it the story could be unintelligible. Many Columbia digests are very close to a full 400' feet. Of course, two 400' reels would have remedied the problem. You either love or hate the narrator or the editing or both!
Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 12, 2012, 04:25 PM:
That's very true Joe,but a lot of the time,he just explained what
was happening on screen, or in the case of some of the 200'
Vincent Price extravaganzas,either erroniously or a few seconds
before the event on screen!Still they are good to have.
Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on July 14, 2012, 11:27 PM:
My worst is a 3 Stooges cartoon episode called "Souperman" from RED FOX. The print is has excellent sharpness and contrast, but the color went completely red-brownish. Not one ounce of blue, green or yellow at all. I don't know why I even keep the damned thing - nostalgia, I guess. It would make a good test reel if I didn't want to risk damaging something I truly cherish.
Posted by Richard Bock (Member # 1926) on July 15, 2012, 05:35 PM:
I have an abysmal copy of The Playhouse by Buster Keaton. It is a Niles print. It is murky with soft focus, and I guess over the years it has collected some sort of crackly surface amoeba like fungi that becomes more interesting than the film to watch. For anyone familiar with the great master of the underground film makers, Stan Brakhage, he probably would have enjoyed watching the fungi move. Brakhage made films like scratch films and hand painted films on 8mm and 16mm as well as more realistic artistic films. A genius actually, who was a pioneer along with others for modern advertising and music videos. A collection of his films are available by Criterion I believe.
Posted by Desmond Godwin (Member # 2530) on July 15, 2012, 07:30 PM:
My 400'version of the 'Sound of Music' The print is grainy. The
sound is muffled and the editing splices are all visible on screen. Add to that the print has now almost compleatly turned red! Like Brad i don't know why i keep it but coz it was among the 1st 'Big' Super8 releases of the 70's. It has for me a certain nostalgic value,so its kept in my collection.
Desmond
Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 16, 2012, 12:56 PM:
I have heard from many that the 400ft 'Sound of Music" digest is notorious for bad color, possibly even from the beginning when it was printed. It's certainly a hard one to find with decent color. Best to stick with the Derann 3X600ft or the full feature, and in scope, of course.
Posted by John Davis (Member # 1184) on July 16, 2012, 01:17 PM:
Osi,
I thought you were going to say your copy of the 'Sound of Music' was so bad that the Von Trapp family didn't escape,
John
Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on July 24, 2012, 10:02 PM:
My U8 400 foot edition of MY NAME IS NOBODY. It is beet red and pulses in and out of focus during the first half. The film is physically ok -- not warped -- so this was a printing error. I picked it up about 3 years ago on eBay and probably should have returned it.
Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on July 28, 2012, 09:26 PM:
I'd say the worst print I have is a Niles release of the Hitchcock Psycho tour, which looks like a dupe of a dupe of a .....
Coming in at a close second are the Thunderbird Star Trek blooper reels. I'm pretty sure there's an image underneath all that grain.
Doug
Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on July 29, 2012, 05:42 AM:
I wonder if Niles & Thunderbird accepted returns on such prints. And why even print and sell them in the first place if the results were so bad?
Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 29, 2012, 07:08 AM:
I suppose Joe,in those far off days we were just glad to get something,however bad,of our favourite films etc,and of course
the distributor printed whatever was available,I don't think
too many of them lost any sleep over the indifferent print quality.
Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on July 29, 2012, 07:30 AM:
Especially since they had already made a profit from the sale of the prints
Visit www.film-tech.com for free equipment manual downloads. Copyright 2003-2019 Film-Tech Cinema Systems LLC
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2