Holy Grails

[Lincoln Thorn]

Greetings friends!

I thought this would be a fun activity about our collecting habits...

What is your current Holy Grail Super 8 film? Maybe something that has eluded you a few times or is so rare you're waiting for it to pop up the first time.

Look forward to hearing your answers!

Lincoln

[Phil Moors]

Hello Lincoln. Yes a good idea, I have tried to get hold of a copy of ‘The Pastoral Suite’ from Fantasia on Super 8. It was released in a 200’ sequence of the flying horses segment, and a 400’ sequence of Bacchus, the gods and the centaurs. I have had the flying horses segment for years, but have never located the the 400’ sequence. I nearly purchased it from Derann in the mid 90’s but was short of cash. I have all the other sequences. People are holding on to them I think. 🤔

[Rob Young]

Great topic, Lincoln! For me it would be the 3 x 400ft Marketing Films version of “Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan”.

Yes, I know, it was never an official release as Marketing stopped producing super 8 at this time (1982).

But I know for sure that at least two prints exist; probably test prints, but from what I know, they are masked for widescreen, properly edited and have Marketing Film on the leaders…

[Steve Klare]

There is one for me...

Following the W&G Affair, there was talk that not only did Derann have that limited run of A Grand Day Out, but there were also test prints of The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

-back in the day, I swore I'd sell a kidney to have these. By now I'd throw in the spleen, too! (You don't need that,...right?)

[Jim Seaburg]

Hi Lincoln!

I have several elusive films I’d like to find. One of those I just recently obtained which was a gorgeous Derann LPP print of The Wizard Of Oz. It’s stunning.
The other currently at the top of my list is an optical sound print of the musical The Little Shop Of Horrors with Rick Moranis. I missed out on it the last time it was on eBay.
Another hopeful is the feature of The Mummy’s Curse. I missed out on this too when it was on eBay.
Patience is a virtue so I keep searching. The search is what makes finding and collecting favorite films fun.

[Mike Newell]

I was always after True Grit full feature by Marketing. Allegedly, it was released that way in US but it has never shown up. I was able to get full features of The Searchers, , Brannigan, Rooster Cogburn and Rio Bravo but it always stayed elusive. Happy with my Blu rays now.

Thicker than Water short by Laurel & Hardy was another mystical one.. Released by Blackhawk it did surface occasionally but after 30 odd years I had given up ever owning it Then lo and behold it turned up on eBay from a seller who hadn’t a clue. £10 buy it now and it was in mint condition.

I did have a copy of Liittle Shop of Horrors that i arranged to have striped and recorded. Super print then and the stripe seemed to be applied correctly with good sound.

[Osi Osgood]

Mike! I love you bro! I always love hearing about something on Super I never heard before! Who released, Brannigan,
The Searchers and Rooster Cogburn as full features? My first guess would be Italian prints, or perhaps optical features, but I'm happy to hear that these made it into super 8. Ones that I know at least existed on Super 8, but I have not been able to locate, are " The Last Unicorn ", " High Road to China ", ( used to have that one ), and a good color print of " The Earthing ", all optical sound features.

[Mike Newell]

Rooster Cogburn was a Universal 8 release came on U8 400 reels Think I got it from Perrys. Colour was the same quality as the digest less pink than 400 digest. The Searchers was a special 🥾 leg order from US. It was the time virtually anything was on order at a price. You were better ordering a recent movie as source material was less used. It was good but had the odd negative mark and wear.
Brannigan was sold to me by a fellow collector who had upgraded to16mm print. It was 🥾 leg no idea of source. Great print and sound for the day.

[Melvin England]

I suppose for me it would be bagging one of those elusive 20 copies or so of Close Encounters of The Third Kind on super 8 cinemascope.
However, I can't complain too much....... I have a 16mm flat version to keep me going!

[Steve Klare]

There has been talk that at right around the same time Derann released Gone Nutty and For the Birds there was also a very limited release of Gerry's Game.

-I wouldn't refuse that!

I actually got a Holy Grail a few years ago. Unaccustomed as We Are was Laurel and Hardy's first sound release. Blackhawk sold prints, but for some bizarre reason, almost all of them are silent! (Imagine finding a flat print of The Robe...). Here and there sound prints show up on eBay and a few times I've taken a shot at one but backed off when the bidding went way over my limit. At least one of these was the classic: when I placed my bid early and was still hanging on unchallenged 60 seconds before the end (I could almost taste it!), when just then an eBay Earthquake happened! (It's not just that I was sniped, I was engulfed!)

Maybe 8 or 10 years ago I saw one at CineSea for an entirely reasonable price. I checked the code on the box: "880" ("SOUND!") I checked the film ("STRIPED!"). I forked over my 25 or 30 bucks and I was mighty pleased to see and hear it later up in my hotel room!

[Adrian Winchester]

There's two films I'm always seeking that appear virtually impossible to find. One is a promo for 'The Outer Limits'. I think I saw it in a Canterbury Films brochure that might have been the last they produced. Maybe they failed to release it before they ceased trading. The other is a 400' digest 'Stones in the Park', featuring the Rolling Stones 1969 performance in Hyde Park. In the early 1980s, at least one UK dealer listed it as one of their USA imports, so I'm fairly sure it exists, but I've never seen a used copy for sale, or even found someone who has owned or seen one.

[Michael O’Regan]

For me, nothing exotic, just a nice print of Mickey’s Christmas Carol. I know there are many around but, not surprisingly, people are keeping them 😁

[Mike Tynus]

THE GIANT CLAW in Sound! I have a beat up standard 8 print in sound, but would like to upgrade it to a nicer print in either std8 or sup8 sound.
I acquired a sup8 sound print from the UK, and it cut out all the dialogue scenes, just like the bonus feature on the blu-ray. So I would love to get this digest in either std8 or sup8 in their US edits. But only the silents ever turn up on ebay.

[Douglas Meltzer]

I'm sure I'll think of others, but since Mike mentioned the Columbia cutdown of The Giant Claw, I would love to find another Columbia sound release, the animated Tell-Tale Heart with good color.

[Osi Osgood]

Doug, this was released in color? That's great news! I've always thought that this was only black and white sound!