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I first discovered Mailmaster Films in the early 1970s through their adverts in UK Sunday papers. I think it was the ‘Sunday People’ newspaper. I’d been aware of their ads for quite a while but such things as home movies and projectors had long been the stuff of dreams for me.
I used to drool over cine film ads in American comic books and magazines.
I particularly remember seeing one ad that featured a film called ‘War of the Planets’. Being a bit of a sci-fi fan, I was curious why I hadn’t heard of this film and so I thought that maybe it was a misprint of one of my all-time favourite films ‘War of the Worlds’ (of course, we all know now that this was an extract from the film ‘This Island Earth’ – Likewise, I also used to be fascinated by the films (200ft) for sale in the local chemist (drug store). I can clearly remember the box cover of the ‘The Trial of Frankenstien’ another unknown title that I couldn’t figure out.
Mailmaster’s advert on this particular week in late 1974 or early 1975 had its usual long list of titles for sale but this week would be different. This week they had ‘Planet of the Apes’! Not only that, they had all the sequels too! I finally gave in and ordered ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘War of the Worlds’. Both were 200ft b/w silent. As a total newcomer to cine, I had no idea how long a 200ft film would run but ordered them anyhow. I also ordered a projector from them – the Cine Royal. Like I said, newcomer with no idea. I think the projector was £12 and the films around £4 or £5 each. This was an awful lot of money for me at the time.
I soon realised that the Cine Royal projector was not for me!
These were the only films I ordered from Mailmaster before I persuaded my parents to get a new projector and cine camera. A Eumig Mark S810D. Now I could also show sound films.
I ordered many films, usually with sound, from Mailmaster, such as ‘Saps at Sea’, 400ft b/w sound and ‘Flying Deuces’ 4 x 400ft sound. The prints were all brand new and sealed and I never had issues with quality on any of them.
Now that I had a sound projector, I purchased the colour/sound releases of ‘Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Beneath the Planet of the Apes’ from Mailmaster (can’t remember why I stopped after these two, although I did eventually get the whole set of five some years later).
Most of all though, one of my abiding memories of Mailmaster was their regular advertising leaflets. I loved these free mailshots. They always had a real ‘Hollywood’ feel about them. They really knew what the collectors wanted. The design was generally first class and made you want to buy every film on their lists.
I expect most people, like me, threw out these leaflets and now regret doing so. A few years back, I saw some for sale on ebay and I bought them. They were expensive but in near mint condition and are fantastic. Thought I’d put them on here for everyone to enjoy. They are from 1977.
Mailmaster also traded as Mountain Films and Portland Films and had shops in London. Their adverts in ‘Movie Maker’ and ‘Film Making’ magazines in the UK were always a highlight each month, so I've put up a few of their ads from the magazines too.
Of their London shops, I first went to the one in Shaftsbury Avenue in 1977. I bought the Columbia 400ft black and white sound ‘A Christmas Carol’ and Mr Deeds goes to Town’ for £9 each, I think.
Went back in 1980s a few times when I was living nearbye. Bought an excellent 400ft black and white film there called ‘Endstation’.
My final visit to Portland films was around 1986 when they were closing down and I got the 100ft black and white sound ‘Bride of Frankenstien - the creation’ and ‘The Giant Claw’ and ‘The trial of Frankenstien’, both 200ft black and white silent. I bought ‘Trial’ just because of that copy I had been fascinated back all those years before in my local chemist shop.
Note* Will need another couple of posts for the rest of the photos as there's a 15 picture limit per post.
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