What 16mm Films Did You See Last Night?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Dominique,

At first I confused this with a later Clair film, "The Gates of Paris". I'll have to see this one.

[Dominique De Bast]

A classical early French talkie : Sous les toits de Paris, Under The Roofs Of Paris (1930) from René Clair. In France, talkies started only in 1929 (and that year, most of the films released were still silent). René Clair's film (his first talkie) has taste of silent film : several dialogues are silent (people away from the camera or behind a glass). It looks even that some scenes were not shot at 24 fps. My copy has English subtitles but they are at a minimum (several dialogues are not "translated", nor are the songs), I'm not sure I would be completely satisfayed with them if I could not understand French, but it seems that the fact that they are few dialogues in the film helped it to be exported in its time. Albert Préjean, who plays the main male role, started with silent films. He was a big star in the '30s. During the war, he visited Germany, something he was blamed for at the end of the war and he never got his high popularity back after that. He played in a 1921 silent film titled "Les trois mousquetaires" (as you guessed, The Three Musketeers). That film was sonorized for a TV channel in the '90s (if I'm not mistaking) for a TV channel. His son, Patrick Préjean, an artist as well, made the narration. I was lucky to see that film in a cinema in Paris for an avant-première and Patrick Préjean was there. He said that he had been very happy to do this narration because that gave him the unique opportunity to have his name credited in a film his father played in.

Albert Préjean.

[Dominique De Bast]

A digest of The Iron Mask (1929). It's originally a silent film with sound effects and two talking scenes. The version I have has a narration in English, with French and Dutch subtitles (so typically made for the Belgian market). Then, a French musicals reel.

[Lincoln Thorn]

On July 1st I had the opportunity to co-host and help project a 12 hour 16mm Marathon to a sold out crowd of 210 audience members! Lisa Wilcox also joined us and introduced her great contribution to a franchise. Please excuse the random order of the photo dump. I’m still trying to figure out how to rearrange photos from my mobile device!

That’s looks so good, Evan! So happy you guys had a great showing.

[Evan Samaras]

We used Eiki 3500S’s. I also forgot to include the incredible artwork completed by Ciro Nieli!

[Ed Gordon]

On July 1st I had the opportunity to co-host and help project a 12 hour 16mm Marathon to a sold out crowd of 210 audience members! Lisa Wilcox also joined us and introduced her great contribution to a franchise. Please excuse the random order of the photo dump. I’m still trying to figure out how to rearrange photos from my mobile device!

That's a nice large screen! What projector did you use?

[Evan Samaras]

On July 1st I had the opportunity to co-host and help project a 12 hour 16mm Marathon to a sold out crowd of 210 audience members! Lisa Wilcox also joined us and introduced her great contribution to a franchise. Please excuse the random order of the photo dump. I’m still trying to figure out how to rearrange photos from my mobile device!

[Brian Fretwell]

I don't think Ektachrome sufers like eastmancolor my colour slides and home movies from 1970's are still all good colour.

[Andrew Bauer]

I premiered to myself a promotional film for an International Harvester 47 combine and other farm Equipment that I purchased last week at a garage sale.

I have another film about International Harvester equipment with it but the first minute or so is damaged and I am out of 16mm presstapes.

They must’ve used Kodachrome and not Ektachrome stock because the colors are very vibrant and not faded to red and pink!

I posted a minute of it on my YouTube channel

https://youtube.com/watch?v=h6iXv1s2bpc&feature=sharea

[Melvin England]

Thought I would catch up this evening on a couple of films I got recently but never got to screen..... until now.


Fowled Up Falcon 1x 200' - Woody Woodpecker cartoon. Colour faded a bit but otherwise okay.

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle 1x 2000' & 1x 1600' - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

The Waltons - The Scholar 1x 2000' - An early episode in which John Boy teaches a neighbour to read and write. Lovely colour.

[Lee Mannering]

One day we may see a nice 600ftr onS8.

Way behind with my 16mm but finally got round to watching Good old George in Keep Fit. Prints probably 70 years old and still funny.

[Steve Klare]

Raiders was at the root of one of the most memorable movie experiences I've ever had!

When I was a teenager, my family went camping with a bunch of others in Upstate New York. Saturday Night, a bunch of the younger people decided to go into town and go to a movie. That night it was Raiders. It was an old single screen cinema, beautifully decorated: looking very much in its prime. The town really turned out, and the atmosphere in line was friendly and people seemed very happy to be there.

Movies like this become like a familiar song after we've seen them many times: you know what to expect and you savor it as it comes. Yet for everybody in the audience that night this was of course the first time and everything we expect these days was still a surprise! The crowd really got into it: I remember that moment where the swordsman threatened Indy, and he just pulled out his gun and shot him, and the crowd just roared!

-just the perfect night for a movie like this, in the perfect atmosphere to appreciate it! A movie like Raiders was meant from the start to be enjoyed on a big screen in front of a big crowd.

Who knows: maybe that night added a little to my own appreciation of movies these days!

[Douglas Meltzer]

Evan,

I vaguely recall that one......What a beautiful looking print!

[Evan Samaras]

Last night I got to run one I’m sure we are all familiar with…

[Steve Klare]

Last Night:

Reel one of three of Bill Mason's "Cry of the Wild" (1972, National Film Board of Canada). In this film maybe my favorite filmmaker slings a 16mm camera with a lens that looks like he should be able to film the surface of Mars up over his backpack, puts on snow shoes and sets out up in wintery Northern Canada to film wolves in the wild. This is a work of patience: he goes days between getting a good shot. (The "Actors" often don't cooperate!) He and his family later foster a pack of semi-captive wolves to study their behavior close-up. (We aren't there yet.)

This was doubtless his most commercially successful film: It was shown in broad theatrical release all over North America and grossed an estimated 5 Million dollars (-back when you could buy a nice house for $30,000!).

It is my sole 16mm Feature. (I'm kind of new to the "big stuff") It is fairly red, but then again I got it for 12 Bucks and the cyan filter makes things much better. It's a shame about the redness: the surface condition of this print is actually very good, but I guess that's where the 12 bucks comes from.

Tonight and tomorrow night: reels 2 and 3.