Optical Sound Film List

[Maurice Leakey]

"Steamboat Down The Nile" 200ft.
Derann release of a Pathe Pictorial.

[Clive Casey]

I had forgotten I have Raise The Titanic on 2x1200 ft reels. How could I forget that with such a beautiful score, must be my age!

[Mike Newell]

Was Guns for San Sebastián ever issued as a optical feature?

I seem to remember it being on a dealer list. It did feature in The Sicilian as the airline movie from Paris to New York when they are hijacking the plane. Same Director Henri Verneuil

[Osi Osgood]

It is possible, Mike. The optical sound feature made its debut in 1967, so any films after that are a possibility. But some studios rereleased some films in the late sixties, due to Frank Sinatra's late 60's success. Therefore, Von Ryan's Express made it onto super 8 optical, but also the Sinatra war film Never So Few was also released, and that film was 59, so it is possible.

[Mark Williams]

Here’s a few more films released on optical sound.

Batman 1989 burnt in Japanese subs
Back to the Future Japanese Subs
The Hunt for Red October Japanese subs
Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home Jap subs
Lethal Weapon 2 Japanese subs
Family Plot Hitchcock
Masquerade Rob Lowe
Burglar Whoopi Goldberg
Charge of the Model T’s
Gung Ho Micheal Keaton
Stand & Deliver 1988
Saving Grace John Conti
A Fish called Wanda John Cleese

[Eberhard Nuffer]

Another:
Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen): bw print on colour stock (so now looks a bit like „sepia“) - but outstanding sharpness. Looks like a 16mm print.

[Mike Newell]

It is possible, Mike. The optical sound feature made its debut in 1967, so any films after that are a possibility. But some studios rereleased some films in the late sixties, due to Frank Sinatra's late 60's success. Therefore, Von Ryan's Express made it onto super 8 optical, but also the Sinatra war film Never So Few was also released, and that film was 59, so it is possible.

Osi

Could be a possibility then as a release. I’m sure your print of Vera Cruz is a rare one.

Apart from High Noon and For Whom the Bell Tows there are not too many Gary Cooper releases I can recall.

Mike

[Michael O’Regan]

Impressive lists. I had no idea so many optical sound titles had made their way into the wild. I don’t own any but I have a question. From what I hear, the sound on these is sometimes quite poor. Is this the case, or is it only poor in comparison to mag sound?

[Brian Fretwell]

I believe from an article by Osi (or maybe a post from Ged in Facebook) sound quality depended on the lab used.

[Osi Osgood]

Eberhard is right, Broadway Daany Rose is EXTREMELY sharp!!!! It really is an amazing print. I forgot to list my Danny Rose, so that elevates my feature list to 70. Vera Cruz was another re-release, as the film was released in 1954. But then, one whole series of films was released, literally from Beginning to end, the James Bond Series. In truth, I don't think that it is possible to relate how many features were released as super 8 optical sound features. I don't think that even a complete list of optical sound features that made it into collectors hands can ever be known. Micheal, yes, earlier optical sound prints were not as good on the audio department, sometimes due to a fading optical sound print. Hey, if it is a printed optical track, it can fade, but the audio really improved in the 80's and, as some others have said, if only super 8 optical sound prints could have survived just a few years longer, as, they would have made it into the digital audio age, and the sound quality would have improved out the roof!!

[Russ Green]

Some more to add to the list

CHC currently have these on their we site

HOW TO BEAT THE HIGH COST OF LIVING

THE WOMAN IN RED GENE WILDER ROMANTIC COMEDY

LASSISTER TOM SELLICK 1930'S HEIST

THE FAR PAVILIONS ALL STAR UK CAST IN INDIAN SCANDAL DRAMA

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO WOODY ALLEN COMEDY

3 COINS IN A FOUNTAIN VERY RARE FOX DRAMA FROM 50'S

[Osi Osgood]

It sounds like you have been to Classic Home Cinema, Russ!😀

[Kenneth Horan]

The two main laboratories that printed Super 8 optical sound features were Rank in the U.K. and Technicolor in the U.S.A. and U.K. I am referring only to films printed on color stock. Technicolor coated their tracks with silver so they could be read as a standard b&w (silver) track. For some reason, probably cost, Rank did not. Silver tracks sound good. Dye tracks, not applicated, do not. This is why some super 8 optical tracks reproduce well while others do not.

[Barry Attwood]

I know of 2 rare ones, but they came with big red Japanese sub-titles, they were "Batman" (Michael Keaton + Jack Nicholson) & "Back to the Future", these were sold when I used to work for Gary Watson at CEC.

[Osi Osgood]

My print of " Hooper" from the late 70's has Japanese subtitles, but I don't find them too intrusive and there are long periods where it's just action anyhow. It's a lovely unfaded Fuji print, and, being that standards are not the same in Japan, (I assume), all the cussing appears to be in there.