Hard to find MGM Digests

[David Kilderry]

Apologies in advance if this has been covered before, but I did have a search before posting................

I have not assembled my Super 8 Digests from the various distributors for some years and have recently been doing some reorganising.

Many of the MGM digests would be amongst the biggest selling Super 8 films going by what comes up on ebay; especially those from the first batch of releases. My question is regarding a few of the hard to find MGM titles released.

Were the following titles released widely? Were they limited to just some particular countries only? I imagine they were amongst the last, hence being rarely seen.

The Formula
West World - all 3 digests

[Barry Attwood]

David,

Here in the U.K. both were quite easy to find, although "The Formula" is perhaps the hardest out of the 2 you listed, the rarest would be the 3x400's of "The Time Machine" - "The Cincinnati Kid" and "Viva Las Vegas" (although Derann re-printed the Elvis film, so a few more about!), and as these were not originally going to be released here in the U.K. they just had simple covers with the name of the film on them and what part they were, but I have no ides if any of those last 3 were imported into Australia, perhaps as a personal import I suspect, as the 8mm collectors have never been ones to give up on a difficult title to find.

[David Kilderry]

Hi Barry,

The features were available here in Australia. They were in plain white boxes. I have The Time Machine and once had Viva Las Vegas too.

I do not often see Guns for San Sebastian or Meteor 400ft digests here either. I suppose Guns For San Sebastian was not a popular title and Meteor was a later release so did not sell in big numbers. Thanks for your comments.

[Mike Newell]

Usually MGM digests are quite abundant. Cincinnati Kid 3 x400 North by North West , Coma and North West Passage 400s from memory being the rarest. Meteor , The Formula, Westworld and Guns for San Sebastián 3x400 were available from Derann new at £29.99 in early to mid 1980s. The latter two being faded or pink from new. Was there a scope version of Guns for San Sebastián 400 or am I thinking of the trailer?

[Douglas Meltzer]

The Formula & Westworld three parters were widely available in the US. There was also a 1x400' Westworld. While The Formula isn't rare, it certainly is hard to understand, but that's true of the feature!

Mike, there was a Cineavision scope trailer 200' release of Guns For San Sebastian and Doctor Zhivago, however I don't recall a scope Guns digest.

[Brian Harrington]

Someone was just selling WESTWORLD -- it said 1200' but the pic showed the 400' foot standalone digest, so I just moved on. It sold quickly though -- wonder if the buyer knew what he was getting. It was a great price for the 3-parter, but too much I thought for just 400'.

I think approx. 3 people went to see THE FORMULA when it was released in theaters. I used to roar with laughter at the TV commercials with Brando mumbling, "No no no, ur missing the point. We are the Arabs."

[David Kilderry]

The only MGM Cineavision digest I have is Ben Hur.



Does anyone know the last digest that MGM released? I imagine they ceased at the same time Ken did with the Fox titles?

[Brian Harrington]

MGM Super 8 basically was Ken Films. If it says Bogota or Fort Lee (both in New Joisy) on the box, it was Ken. So was ABC Super 8, which I only discovered recently that it was really Ken.

[David Kilderry]

Ken produced the films for MGM. I just wondered if they ceased producing all of the titles at the same time and when.

[Mike Newell]

The Formula & Westworld three parters were widely available in the US. There was also a 1x400' Westworld. While The Formula isn't rare, it certainly is hard to understand, but that's true of the feature!

Mike, there was a Cineavision scope trailer 200' release of Guns For San Sebastian and Doctor Zhivago, however I don't recall a scope Guns digest.

Doug

I think this is what I am thinking about

Mike

Osi,

the brand is spelled "Cineavision" with an "a" in-between (although I think there was indeed a British (?) label called "Cine Vision Home Movies").

Doug,

"Airport", as Universal 8's first scope release, was not printed in Cineavision but in standard Super 8 scope, i.e. there was no masking.
Are you sure there were anamorphic prints of "Midway"? I know that this was announced in scope (as well as other U 8 titles like "Earthquake" and "Tell them Willie Boy is Here"), but have never seen a Cineavison print on offer.

Shouldn't we add the following titles to the list:

-Ben-Hur (400')
-Doctor Zhivago (3x400')
-Blue Hawaii (400')
-Dracula '79 (400')
-Guns for San Sebastian (400')
-Force Ten From Navarone (400')
-2001 - A Space Odyssey (8x400')
-Forbidden Planet (6x400' - only four test prints)

Animex offered also a couple of trailer reels in Cineavision.

Best,

Eberhard

[Mike Newell]

The only MGM Cineavision digest I have is Ben Hur.



Does anyone know the last digest that MGM released? I imagine they ceased at the same time Ken did with the Fox titles?

i think MGM releases wrapped up early around 1980/81. I would imagine The Formula might be one of the last 3x400 releases. Possibly, Coma could be one of the last 400s as it came out in 1978.
These were the days when recent releases were being pushed by the likes of Universal 8 such as The Jerk, incredible Shrinking Woman, Electric Horseman , Little Miss Marker and of course cult classic Disco Beaver from Outer Space. They did also release The Blues Brothers, CoalMiner Daughter and of course Xanadu.

Here’s another thought. MGM brought out a heap of musicals in the 400 format. Why not “Meet me in St Louis”? You would have thought it would have been an ideal companion to the others.

[John Armer]

The Formula ranked as the most boring film I ever saw, S8 or otherwise. It's rare for me to move a film on but this one just had to go. It was truly awful I thought.

[Osi Osgood]

I saw only one scope 400ft print of Midway, and it had screenshots and was faded, but I am betting that it was exceedingly rare. I don't remember as to whether it was scope or Cineavision. On a side note, I wonder as to how rare my optical sound super 8 feature of "Westworld" is?

[Brian Harrington]

The Formula ranked as the most boring film I ever saw, S8 or otherwise. It's rare for me to move a film on but this one just had to go. It was truly awful I thought.

Now let's try to find the other 2 people who have actually seen THE FORMULA.

For such an acclaimed actor, Brando appeared in some horrible films. And this one had George C. Scott, too.

[Mike Newell]

Now let's try to find the other 2 people who have actually seen THE FORMULA.

For such an acclaimed actor, Brando appeared in some horrible films. And this one had George C. Scott, too.

I bought copy new from Derann. Traded it after one viewing.shame boxes were Mint. Brando, Scott Nazi synthetic gold from memory. The actor Richard Lynch he from The Seven Ups played a Nazi general.