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  • Walton Films on Network

    Quick note
    Networkonair have done feature on Walton Films. Worth doing a post on the message thread I think we me be seeing a Blu Ray tribute if interest is high enough.

    Networkonair.com

  • #2
    They did put the 200ft Walton version of Futtocks End on the Blu Ray so they seem to have an interest in the company. Good to see it is more than the odd extra on a disc.

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    • #3
      Do you have a link for this Lee? I've scoured their website and couldn't find it.

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      • #4
        I would think it is this https://networkonair.com/features/20...een-adventure/

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        • #5
          Thanks Brian. Don't know how I missed it!

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          • #6
            https://networkonair.com/features/20...een-adventure/

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            • #7
              I've had a read of this, im not too sure i like it to be honest, in the opening paragraph, past cine equipment users are described as "a format that would probably be viewed by contemporary audiences as charming, possibly eccentric, certainly clumsy and barely conceivable".

              Further on, "Next? Well, a reasonably-sized tripod screen wouldn’t go amiss, nor an external speaker if you were planning to show sound films. For the truly professional touch, your soundtrack should be played back through a speaker sitting below the screen, rather than from the projector’s innards, complete with the added sound effects of clattering machinery; albeit the sound of sprocket holes churning through machinery did lend a certain charm if you didn’t have the luxury of a separate projection room (some do, to this day)".

              Further on it states, "Half an hour of unpacking all the pieces, setting up, lining up, titling up, titling down again (not so much this time) and with cables trailing unsafely across the carpet, a screen slightly askew and the dining room chairs carefully re-arranged so that no one’s head gets in the way of that magical 100W beam of light, and you’re almost ready to roll. Your willing assistant, sorry, stooge, kills the lights and there on the screen, in all its flickering glory appears the legend: ‘A Walton Film’. The thrill of the cinema is instantly conjured. It’s like being at the Odeon without leaving the house."

              When i read stuff like this i think the cine collector is being patronised by some modern day tosser that forgets that cine film is where the film formats of today actually started, when i read "in all its flickering glory", i have to ask what projectors these people have seen. I cant recall ever owning a projector that gave a flickering image unless it was a toy.

              My own opinion on this read up is that it is designed to make the modern day digital collector laugh at the past. It could have been written much better and more favourable by a mile. Nostalgic? no, just patronising. Near the end he/she writes, regarding Derann, "His business, the last bastion of 8mm". Clearly the clown hasn't done there homework, films are still being released, all be it in smaller numbers, and there are still dealers selling today, in case they forgot, CHC, Reel image, Indi 8, Paul Foster, David Baker among a few others.
              A tribute is one thing, patronising nonsense is another.
              Cheers for the link though.
              Last edited by Tom Photiou; October 23, 2021, 11:53 AM.

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              • #8
                thanks tom for your truthful write up, sadly i won't be looking at this now, you saved me wasting my time reading this crap on the net.............

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                • #9
                  Everyone enjoys a bit of nostalgia, in our hobby who wouldn't? But when its written up in such a patronising way and the author clearly not realising that cine film is still very much alive, then it aint worth reading. There is already some good stuff out there about Walton films.

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                  • #10
                    a format that would probably be viewed by contemporary audiences

                    That, I think is the important key to the piece. Most folk today, used to doing nothing more than sticking a disc in a slot, would look with amazement at something so cumbersome as a projector, that does nothing more than produce what their disc will. I suspect the majority of collectors lived through the days of regular visits to the local cinema and we live again the experience as the reels turn. An experience fast becoming history! Isn't there something quaint (to the uninitiated) about folk willing to pay upwards of £500 for a used print of a film available from the local CEX for 50p? Modern eyes often view history very differently to those who lived through it. I understand that and take no offence. Perhaps I need to do more to explain my preferences to an unresponsive audience.

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                    • #11
                      I agree with your points Dave and having "wasted" some time reading it I did not take offense to it. The film hobby is quite different to what modern/younger people are used to doing when watching things. I thought it was a good write up. I also have the Fireball film they were speaking of!

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                      • #12
                        To be honest I didn't think much of the write up, I think it could have been a lot better. Walton films did release films, that even today, folk still find interesting. This one I sent to there Facebook page from mine, got a very good response from the folk at the railway. I also up-loaded it to you-tube. I have not come across this footage elsewhere. It might be out there somewhere in digital land, but as yet still to come across it. The reason to share it in the first place, was to give people the chance to see this particular footage, that they may not have seen anywhere before.
                         

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                        • #13
                          Network produce some good releases (e.g. their sets of 'Look At Life' films) but I think the article could have been a bit more respectful to Walton - even if looking back from a contemporary perspective - considering they were one of the key early pioneers who helped to create the concept of home cinema. And the inaccuracies include Derann buying what was left of the company, as all they seemed to have was a very small number of negatives.
                          Last edited by Adrian Winchester; October 27, 2021, 10:10 PM.

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                          • #14
                            Some newsletters did say that some Walton releases they were selling after the closure were "The last of the Walton stock". As it did not indicate whether they had bought it before or after the closure announcement from Walton it would be difficult to know.

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                            • #15
                              Please point out the disrespect to Walton in this article...I'm not seeing it.

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