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I know that this will be up to each person's opinion, but my pick for short subject comedy is the "restoration" of "Battle of the Century", the 400ft version, in which they found as much footage as they could of this lost film, along with "title" cards to explain what is.missing. Best cartoon released would be the three Van Buren Felix the Cat cartoons from the mid thirties which, thankfully, they also released on low fade,band these cartoons color rival nearly any Disney super 8 cartoons. I'll have to think on the features.
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I have about 4 or 5 prints that if I need to show something nice to an audience I go to one of these. The Blackhawk highest in this list is "Hook and Ladder" (Our Gang). It is a great movie and a wonderful print, too!
Maybe ten years ago my son's Cub Scout Pack was doing Hollywood Night and my wife voluntold me to show a film. (Never miss a planning meeting!). The Cubmaster gave me this intro: "8mm is this really old way of watching movies: there are usually a lot of scratches in the picture and no sound..." (How could I fail to impress with expectations like this?) Hook and Ladder got it done that night. It got an entire roomful of pre-adolescent boys to be quiet and pay attention, which is saying something just by itself!
It was also on screen at the last CineSea. It got paid the classic compliment for a Super-8 print: "Was that 16mm?". -
Oh...BTW, on your initial scroll of 'Collecting L&H', I answered about the boxes...on this subject, there are so many good subjects, one would have to decipher it down to the various categories and choose one or two from there...even an old Blackhawker like me can never decideComment
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Totally agree with Steve about the excellence of Hook and Ladder. Wayback in the 70's I rented a Kodascope M100 Super 8 sound projector from an A/V company, and borrowed a print of Hook and Ladder from the local public library, all for my daughter's 10th birthday party. Well when I showed the film the content ( a HUGE hit) and quality of the Blackhawk print just blew me away! I had no idea that Super 8 could look and sound and entertain that good. So much so that it was the very start of my decades long journey of Super 8 film collecting. I was soon out buying a Eumig sound projector and films from Blackhawk's magazine.Comment
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Of course, those that know and love Blackhawks (guilty as charged), already know this, but Blackhawk loved they're subject matter so much, that they would often have lengthy "prologues", on screen, giving excellent information about the stars, the time's and even at times, the process in order to make the prints, the restoration process, ect ect! They weren't as interested in saving footage and dollars as they were in restoring priceless deteriorating films from the abyss of time!Comment
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How true Osi, Blackhawk were a truly exceptional company that took great pride in their product and were not driven by bean counters. They respected their customers and knew exactly what they wanted, and delivered it. Very sad that the video revolution took them out, but they would all be happy to know that all those great prints are still being projected in 2021.Comment
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Not only that, but you still see, to this day, DVDs and otherwise, who's source material comes from the "Blackhawk Films Archives"!Comment
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And for that, we can thank the late David Shepard, a former Blackhawk employee (among many other distinguished titles and occupations) who was able to take charge of the Blackhawk collection via Film Preservation Associates.Originally posted by Osi Osgood View PostComment
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I picked up a copy of "Hook and Ladder" based on the positive comments in this thread, thank you "Paul". What a transfer, amazing, looks like 35mm. Do most BH films looks this good, thank you.Comment
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Hi Alan,
I would describe “Hook and Ladder” as at the very least "above average" as Blackhawk prints go.
What’s also amazing is its consistency of quality: so far every print I’ve ever heard of is as good as your description of it.Comment
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I quite like the little 200ft demonstration reel full of nostalgia.Comment
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