New to 8mm Community, any advice on how to view 8mm reels in Los Angeles?

[Alex Rennie]

I've found a stack of old 8mm reels in a pile of curbside trash, and would love to view them on a projector. Would this be something I should purchase myself, or does anyone know of a place in Los Angeles that may offer the use of a projector? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I spent a few hours unspooling the reels, and noted the title cards of each section:


Reel 1:

• "Desert Nymphs" (1928) I was able to find a Youtube link to this one (contains nudity FYI) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbK4U1t468Y
• Charlie Chaplin "The Adventurer" (1917) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ad...er_(1917_film)
• "Housekeeping at the Zoo" https://archive.org/details/0960HousekeepingAtTheZoo
• Out of the Inkwell (animated short by Max Fleischer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Inkwell (Not exactly sure of the specific title of this "Out of the Inkwell" episode, but I can unspool again if needed.)

Reel 2:

• Charlie Chaplin "Easy Street" (1917) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Street_(1917_film)
• "Battling a Lion for Life" A somewhat bizarre short that appears to show a hunter wrestling with an actual lion.
• Felix the Cat "Felix In the Swim" (1923) https://felixthecat.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_in_the_Swim

Reels 3 and 4:

Two other reels appear to be newsreels reporting on Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic, and other important current events at the time.

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

If you have ZERO experience/knowledge about projector (and don't want to dip your toes into this field), consider buying a film editor/viewer instead. While it does not project images onto external screen it will show images on its inbuilt screen, usually good enough to assest the condition of the films you have. It is also more "user friendly" and have much less parts to go wrong. Oh did I mention that it's usually cheaper than a projector too?

Therefore unless you want to enter 8mm film collecting hobby, a film viewer should suffice. Otherwise it'll be a long, long (but fun) journey!

[Melvin England]

Alex - Sensible advice from Nantawat.

Two other bits of advice I can give you if you DO get the bug and 8mm becomes your hobby, which we all hope, is 1) Read through this website. There is a massive amount of information available to learn on this subject, even from those who have sadly departed us.

The second is a little more complicated. As there are TWO gauges of 8mm, Standard 8mm and Super 8mm, you do not mention which one these films are, and they are incompatible. I would not want you to invest in equipment that is for the wrong format. May I suggest that you post a photograph of the leader film on here, assuming they are all the same, so it can be determined whether standard or super. Basically, standard 8 has bigger sprocket holes than super 8 and the image area is different.

Other than that.... welcome to the hobby !

[Alex Rennie]

Thanks so much for the great info! I think a film viewer would be my best bet until I wrap my head around the projector world.
I'll try and upload a couple photos of the film itself here.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Alex,

It appears that your film is actually 16mm, not 8mm. The same advice applies, a 16mm editor/viewer would be best to start out with. We have a 16mm section on this Forum where you can get suggestions on those.

[Ed Gordon]

Alex, that is not 8mm film. It is 16mm silent film. If you are not interested in entering the film collection hobby, just put your list on Ebay as an auction with a minimum base price for the whole lot. The 16mm gauge was introduced in 1923.

[Alex Rennie]

Oh jeez well this is embarassing, don't I feel like a fool! Apologies for everyone's time, and I appreciate the great advice.
Take care,
Alex

[Douglas Meltzer]

Alex,

No worries at all! We’ve all made similar mistakes (more than once) so there's no need to feel embarrassed. This Forum is all about learning and helping each other out. Let us know what your next steps are.

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

This in fact stress my previous post even further.
16mm projector is (usually) heavier, bulkier, more complicated, and more expensive than 8mm counterparts. This holds true to film viewer too, except it's fairly easy to use. So I still recommend using film viewer to check your films out then.

[Osi Osgood]

If you choose to keep these films, I would heartfully encourage you to use some film cleaner/lubricant, as, films this old tend to be brittle and hard to even view. Some titles like "Desert Nymphs" have to be very rare