What 8mm films did I watch last night?

[Melvin England]

Third week in a row the man cave has been occupied on a Saturday night with the sound of film moving through the projector. This evening, I used my Elmo ST600 which I have not used for probably a couple of years ( "Tut tut" I hear you say) but it ran like a dream as one would expect with an Elmo.

The menu looked like this......


Report From The Front 1x 100' - A Humphrey Bogart short promoting The Red Cross

Reflections USA 1x 150' - Very good compilation reel.

Mexican Hat Dance 1x 400' - Excellent colour on this one for a change for an older film.

True Grit 1x 400' - Uncle John winning his only Oscar.

Rooster Cogburn and The Lady 1x 400 - Basically a second helping of True Grit.

Raiders of The Lost Ark 1x 400' - Beautiful copy with excellent colour and no scratches.

The Fabulous Dorsey's 4x 400' - Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey starring in their own biographical film.

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[Douglas Meltzer]

Three Disneyland attraction 50 footers with surprisingly good color.

[Lincoln Thorn]

Watched this digest print of PURPLE NOON starring the late great Alain Delon.

[Steve Klare]

I put my new mixer in place on Friday, and I did some testing yesterday. I have a hum rejection circuit between the mixer output and the amp, but if I crank the projector volumes up to levels that just might make the Cops show up if there was a real soundtrack in the speakers, I can hear some hum anyway. This is a useful test to make sure each channel is alive. That went fine.

I have this other test that tests the balance of the impedances in the output signal and return lines. I do this when I change some major part of the system, and at the projector end, the mixer is the BIG one. This is critical because I have a circuit that removes the ground-loop hum from the audio (-easily the nastiest audio hum on this, or maybe any planet!), and if those two lines aren't balanced, the rejection circuit doesn't work as well as it should. To do this test, I crank the amplifier volume up to absolutely Armageddon-level and listen for hum as I go. If I start to hear hum, there are two potentiometers (for right and left) in a box inserted in the line between the mixer and the ground loop circuit. I can "tune it out" by adjusting these. This went fine too. (I looked out the window before I started: A lightning strike with the volume turned all the way up to Warp Factor 9 could easily blow speakers!)

Since the new mixer could have a slightly different output impedance, the change could have left me with a little low level hum. Since I fixed this problem about ten years ago, this would massively stick in my craw! (-whatever a "craw" is!)

-but the rubber has to hit the road sooner or later. I had to show some films: use multiple mixer channels and check this thing out while I still have time to get a refund!

I needed an audio-expert! Who do I know that knows sound better than anybody? -of course! -Ludwig! Herr Beethoven has made some of the best sounds ever known to mankind (-with help, of course!). Reel #1 on channel #1 was Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony from Derann. I almost want to think the new mixer made the picture better! (Who knows? -maybe some placebo effect!)

-but this is a great reel: beautiful animation and music. I enjoyed it thoroughly but this was not all fun and games: I dialed in the equalizer levels while I was at it.

I often project this reel when there is something to celebrate. I guess a new mixer isn't a birthday, wedding or becoming un-unemployed (been there...), but then again it's good to find things to celebrate sometimes!

Next channel was 16mm: NFB of Canada's Paddle to the Sea. The channel worked just fine, and frankly I just felt like watching it! It's been a while.

Next was projected DVD: The Railrodder: also NFB of Canada. Audio was fine, and what a great, light-hearted little movie!

I still have mixer channel two to try, but the Elmo on there right now busted a belt last week. Maybe I'll go Eumig 800 series on that channel for a while!

[Melvin England]

Graham and John - Quite Frankly, and no disrespect to our friends on the other side of the pond, I think it knocks the spots off "Reflections USA" (which I might run next week). I find the clips in that one run far, far, far too fast to digest. Still worth having but not as good. "Cinema, Cinema" is pretty good too !

[John Burgess]

One of my favorite shorts Melvin,a beautifully crafted film. I know it’s Super 8 but I do have an old Elmo 1200 ,bought specially many moons ago to show a copy of The Card , now that’s another wonderful watch, much of the exterior shooting was done in the Potteries , that’s were I was born , lots of happy memories.
John

[Graham Ritchie]

Melvin

I to watched "Reflections UK" the other night its brilliant its the type of film that you can watch again and again. I was thinking of taking the Super8 projector along with that film to Ferrymead Heritage Park, set it up next to the Westar and show the good folks there this particular film.

[Melvin England]

Osi - Although I have not seen the 2x 400' version, I understand it is one of those edits that makes it better to watch than the full length feature. A bit like the 2x 400' 1941


Anyhow, tonight's offering chez moi was the following.....


1x 50' A Bugs Life - Trailer

1x 75' Rambo First Blood Part 2 - Two different trailers

1x 150' Reflections UK - Such a re-watchable compilation

1x 200' Look at Life - The Cinema Steps Out

1x 600' Genevieve

4x 400' The Railway Children

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[Osi Osgood]

I agree with at, John! Speaking of poor writing, we watched one of our guilty pleasures last night, "Xanadu", Universal 8 2X400ft. Terrible story, but great music!

[John Burgess]

Yes Melvin ,the nights are drawing in , so last night watched 1944 film noir ,Dark Waters, with Merle Oberon. Standard 8 4x 400 b/w,
great watch , very atmospheric film with good performances by all. My print has seen a lot of use but a few lines here and there only add to the mystic of older films. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore, modern films to me seem cobbled together with too much violence and little storyline and poor acting.
John

[Graham Ritchie]

This year its the 30th Anniversary of the cinema release of "The Lion King" ,so last night I screened the Derann Super 8 feature stereo print. I had placed it onto two reels, one being 1200ft the other 800ft a while back. This particular print I bought new from Derann after reading the FFTC review when it came out, how time passes. Took a couple of below screen shots of it last night.

[Brian Fretwell]

Last night I finished watching the 4x400ft of The Quatermass Experiment.

[Melvin England]

The nights are starting to draw in here in the UK, so I thought it was time to re-start my autumn/winter Saturday nights in front of the silver screen. It has been quite a while since I had a good viewing session that I was beginning to feel withdrawal symptoms!

Tonight, I was joined by Mrs. E. and we enjoyed the following......

1x 200' Dime To Retire - A Porky Pig cartoon released through Techno films complete with the "That's All Folks" logo. Great fun in a hotel.

1x 200' The Proud Horses of Austria - The Disney short on the The Spanish Riding School. (Yes!.... it's called Spanish" but IS in Austria!)

2x 400' Confessions of a Driving Instructor - Robin Askwith and familiar British faces in this bawdy 1970's comedy.

5x 400' The One That Got Away - Hardy Kruger as the German airman who escaped from capture in the UK and fled to the USA. Walton print.

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[Steve Klare]

Benny Hill was quite big over here. He wound up on a local TV station that then became part of a network in the 1980s. People could watch Benny Hill from one coast to the other as long as they had had cable or satellite TV.

My Dad loved the Benny Hill Show! He watched him out on the back porch every Saturday Night!

I'd best describe him as having humor for 14 year old boys, and that's no insult! I think it's healthy to keep your inner 14 year old, and 7 year old, and 20 year old as long as you can!

-just keep the inner 40 year old available to...intervene where needed!

(Adulthood is a good thing easily carried to excess!)

[Alan Paterson]

Last night I watched 3 x 200ft reels, 'The Best of Benny Hill' on Super 8 which I got from EBay recently. For anyone who doesn't know Benny Hill, he was on UK TV in the 1970s & 80s, famous for his saucy 'seaside postcard' humour. His show always featured 16mm filmed segments and these are what found their way to Super 8, courtesy of Walton Films. The colour on these films is very good as they were printed on Agfa stock. I gave them a clean with Filmguard to remove some dirt and fill in some light scratches - which totally disappeared. They raised a few laughs but by modern comedy standards are pretty tame. Nice to have in my collection.