Socially-distanced Movie Night 2021

[Carter Bradley]

Last night I hosted my quarterly Movie Club with a backyard, socially-distanced marathon. The program for the evening was (1) Woody Woodpecker compilation reel ("Convict Concerto," "Secret Agent F.O.B.," "Three
Little Woodpeckers") - 400' U8/Castle Films, (2) "Comedy Capers" compilation reels ("What Indians?" - Castle, "The Reluctant Astronaut" - Castle, the Marx Brothers' "The Stowaways" - Castle, "Bangville Police" - Blackhawk, The Little Rascals' "Hide and Shriek" - Blackhawk), and (3) "Pocahontas" - Derann 4X400). The homemade screen measured 7.5' tall, 9.5' wide plus black boarder and decorations.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Carter,

Great fun! I've found that a number of the U-8 Woody Woodpecker prints have held their color well. Hide and Shriek has been my favorite Rascals' short since my first viewing as a kid. That buzzsaw always gets me!

[Carter Bradley]

Hi Doug,

I totally agree with both of your points. It is exciting to find WW prints with good color. And "Hide and Shriek" is my favorite, I first owned the Ken Films edited reel, then Blackhawk.

[Paul Adsett]

Cool looking screen there Carter! And your film program choice was, i am sure, very well received. What projector did you use?

[Graham Ritchie]

Excellent I bought Woody Woodpecker "Barber Of Seville" back in the 1970s when it was still Castle Films. The interesting thing was that it was on Polyester film stock and to this day still looks and sounds great with only a hint of fading, I screened it just a few weeks ago.

Barber Of Seville is a brilliant fast action short.

[Carter Bradley]

Hi Paul, I am cheap, and project my films with a Chinon SP-330MV. I find the bulbs (which seem to last forever) at little to no cost, and this serves my purpose, which is to give the audience the thrill of actual film. Of course I have added an external speaker to enhance the experience.

Hi Graham, You are 100% on point with the amazing "Barber of Seville." If my memory serves me, Castle Films released edited versions of several musical cartoon shorts, such as this one in 1976, then U8 released full length versions in 1978.

[Graham Ritchie]

One other Castle films I bought at the same time was Oswald the Rabbit in "Egg Cracker Suite" this film also appears to be on Polyester stock, the color still looks about the same, as with the sound, when I bought them both back in the 1970s, they have lasted well.

[Carter Bradley]

Hi Graham,

Those Universal musical cartoons are so clever!