Has anyone else had trouble with Castle Films News Parades?

[Silas Buchanan]

I purchased an 100ft copy of the 1953 news parade, it was in a cardboard reel, and when I put it into my Filmo Diplomat it caused the projector to start tearing up & destroying the film. The projector has a piece of film stuck inside the gate now, and I have to disassemble it to get it out. I purchased it with an Exclusive Film and a Keystone Film & they ran fine. Are 16mm Castle Films newsreels just like this?

[Jay Schwartz]

Unless you inspected the print before your problem projection, you cannot assume it is some inherent fault of Castle's prints. They made and sold more prints than probably anyone else.

I can tell you that, on the 16mm side, they DO sometimes get vinegar syndrome (like any print might), and kept in the cardboard boxes and stored in a damp place, they sometimes develop redox ("rust spots") on one of both edges of the print, as the box retains moisture.

But Castle's prints were usually sharp and beautiful with rich density...at least in the older prints.

[Juergen Kellermann]

Maybe the print was shrunken too much for your projector to handle. The sprocket holes and the claw in the projector did not align any more. And so the claw shredded the film.