Perry's Movies Cut Downs

[John Armer]

I've been collecting all things Perry's Movies over the last few years (as a few other collectors well know), and one sub-set of their releases I have been looking out for are the 400ft and 2 x 400ft cut downs. I think these date from the 1970s and early 80s - the mid 1980s catalogue of theirs I have doesn't list them.

These were produced and released by Perry's: I think Keith Wilton edited at least some of them and he mentions a couple in one of his 'Armchair Odeons' videos.

Here's a list of their releases as far as I'm aware, all b/w sound:

400ft:
Foreign Correspondent
Stand In*
Blockade
Trocadero*
Young and Willing*

2 x 400ft
Assigned to Danger
Railroaded
The French Key
Bury Me Dead
The Glass Alibi
Dark Waters*

*ones I have collected so far.

The films seem to all be full 400ft reels and each runs 20 minutes. The 2 x 400ft films are listed as being supplied in 'Special plastic library cases'. The 400ft releases I have are in card boxes with a paper label. Picture and sound quality is OK - not the best but quite watchable. Dark Waters is the only 2 x 400ft cut down I have and otherwise was only available as a std 8mm 4 x 400ft Walton feature. Unless I'm mistaken, Perry's seem to have been the first to offer 2 x 400ft cut downs.

Have I missed any and does anyone else have any?

[Adrian Winchester]

John - I've owned two 400' versions that I believe could be Perry's releases, but I'm not certain. One is 'The Lost World' (1925) and the other 'Lady Frankenstein' (1971). The latter is b/w despite the feature being colour. I think my 'The Lost World' is on colour stock. The copies I've seen of both are in white card boxes. If anyone is sure that either is NOT a Perry's release, I'd be curious to know who was responsible as I don't think the leaders offer much of a clue.

I wondered what the special library case was like, if your 'Dark Waters' is in this?

[John Armer]

Aah, yes I forgot about The Lost World, Adrian. I believe that was available with a piano soundtrack too. Does yours have this?

There is also Terror of Dracula which was a 400ft+ cut down of Nosferatu. I have it on 8mm but it was also released on S8. I don't think that was actually edited by Perry's though - suspect it was done in the US. Your Lady Frankenstein doesn't strike me as being particularly Perry's-like.

My copy of Dark Waters is in the Hanimex cases as pictured. Not sure if these are original, but they may be. Interestingly, Ged Jones posted a scan of Super 8 Film review #18 in the Derann Facebook group tonight, and in it, Keith Wilton writes

"Keith Perry was the first distributor that I edited package movies for - way back in the early seventies, in fact Keith and I devised and released the first 2x400ft releases anywhere (and not Iver Films as some wrongly believe) with a generous running time of 40 minutes!"

So that seems to confirm what I'd heard.