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Being that this a fun topic right now, I remember noticing that the 200ft Star Wars had a few variations. There is the classic one, with the Fox fanfare, with the white titles with a flat black and white background, but I also remember having one 200ft print, which had, for it's title card, the yellow "Star Wars" title, with a Star scape in the background, and then immediately starting with the the same Obiwan Kenobi footage. Also, if some folks could be so kind, could you share how Star Wars was marketed on super 8 worldwide? I think in France, it was released on four or five 200ft reels, which basically consisted of the same footage as on the 2x400ft Ken Films. Then, there is the very nice Marketing Films version, ( which I still have, printed on glorious Agfa!).
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Osi, I’m interested in the different openings to the 200ft versions!
I once did a comparison of the Ken vs Marketing versions on the old forum.
http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/ubb/ul...c;f=4;t=000045
I’m still looking for that optical 400ft from Japan.Last edited by Rob Young; May 05, 2025, 07:59 AM. -
I remember that review and being quite impressed with it. As time has passed, I am happy to say that my Marketing digests are still brilliantly unfaded agfa ( and yes, Chewie does look ever so orange ), and that color is still so gorgeously saturated! I have never bothered to rerecord the German dialogue, as we all know the dialogue, and we just "manually" add it to the digest. I have heard that there WERE a few prints of the Star Wars part 1 actually printed on Early LPP film stock, ( it had an April, 1983 printed in the original leader on the print ), but they have to be rarer than "Hens teeth" ( hens have teeth!? ). I would be very curious to hear what the cut of each digest was for the four (five?), 200ft digests in France? I don't know who released them, but if it was done by "Film Office", they might be low fade. I have the 4x200ft digests that made up "Warlords of Atlantis", and that is on Agfa and letterboxed, so there is the possibility that the Star Wars digests might have made it into Agfa or LPP. I'd be curious if the edit as well. I believe Joachim did a YouTube video about the history of Star Wars digests, and mentioned these. Could someone add a link to that video?
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No. Hens don't have teeth - that's why they are rare. Mind you I doubt you would have to redub Chewie on the German version!
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Part 1 on LPP 1983?! Wow! Now that would be a find. Osi, do you know anyone that had that?
I kinda like orange Chewie. Lucas would probably have a fit if he saw it. My Marketing seem to be holding up well too. Osi, I'm with you on re-recording; part of the charm of it is the German dialogue.
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I have a 400ft optical sound version from Japan which i think is the same as the 400ft Ken films release,but will have to run them side by side to double check.Comment
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Russ, do you have that in the original box?Comment
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Osi,
I believe this is the video by Joachim that you're looking for.
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Awesome! Doug comes thru yet again! Rob, I saw that on an eBay auction, and the seller did an extreme close up on the leader, showing the date! I almost bid on it and was surprised when it barely broke the hundred mark.Comment
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That was very interesting! I'm a little confused as to whether there were actually 4 or more 200ft, as there are 5 boxes, or were there just alternate boxes? That one, with the original artwork from a poster is really cool. It sounds like the care taken was not that good. Perhaps, it was the same edit in general, but they were given a specific amount of footage, that they just divided into four ( or five), separate digests? Thanks for sharing that. P.S. I noticed on those boxes, that it has "Ken Films Inc" off to the side.Comment
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I know, Graham, that is hilarious.
Osi, it appears that there were 6 Italian 200ft versions. Unfortunately, the second image in Winbert's post is a rogue image of the inside of a projector.
Maurizio's post does seem to suggest that 4 of these are the Ken Pt. 1 version broken down into 4 releases.
"From the 1982-83 IE International Catalogue, I read that
"Guerre stellari" was released in four parts, each 200' in length (actually less due to striping), entitled:
"La cattura dell'astronave" (part code No. Q-56) Seizure of the Starship
"Messaggio dallo spazio" (part code No. Q-57) A message from Space
"La liberazione di Leia" (part code No. Q-58) Leia's Liberation
"Battaglia spaziale" (part code No. Q-59) Battle in the Space"
Then we have;
SOS Nella Galassia
Trappola Mortale
Can any of out Italian friends translate these two?
Is "Trappola Motale" the trash compactor scene maybe?
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I remember watching that "rescuing Star Wars". I remember, before I could actually see Star Wars in the big screen or on Super 8, they had in the toy aisle, in our local Safeway, that Kenner Star Wars Super 8 movie viewer. It hand cranked, you supplied the light, no sound, but it was absolute magic to see scenes from a film w that was literally light years away, as far as I was concerned at 11 years old and dirt poor. I went in, every day, as long as it was there, and nobody bothered me as I cranked that viewer for all it was worth! That little piece of film, which was to be at a regular 24 fps, in that 30 or so seconds, did a fine job of encapsulating the whole film for me and yes, those little cassettes were not kind to the film, it quickly got scratched to heck, but awww, what a good use of film! They made, I believe, five cassettes in total, and I often wished that I could buy all five, edit them all together, and have a fine 4 or so minute "digest", color silent, of Star Wars! What a wonderful time of reflection!Comment
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I had the Disney version of that viewer as a kid but never knew at the time about the Star Wars cartridges. To be honest, the amount of action that they packed into that short piece of film would have probably had me over the moon as a kid.
I used to mail order the 200ft B&W silent version, but is was always old out, so it would be a couple of years before I would own the 400ft version. Actually, I can't help but feel that I may have been a little disappointed in that 200ft version, especially in B&W silent. And the mail order company actually did me a favour by sending me alternatives, usually a Ray Harryhausen movie like Earth vs. The Flying Saucers which actually made great 200ft B&W silent versions.
I am currently giving my first print run Derann feature from 1989 a treatment of Filmguard and will run that again soon; an 18th birthday present at the time. 36 years ago...how did THAT happen? Talk about a long time ago, etc...
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