What 8mm films did I watch last night?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Eyes of Laura Mars Piccolo Film 2x400'

[Osi Osgood]

We watched a fairly rare cartoon on super 8 that I just acquired, "Mickey (mouse) plays Santa". A short, slightly edited black and white gem. Rarely ever seen this one on Super 8.

[Graham Ritchie]

After the blu-ray last night I found time to again screen this one straight after, I never get tired watching it

[Chip Gelmini]

Over the past weekend I settled down and watched two great movie musicals. A Star is Born from the early 40's; then on the next night I watched the early version of Till the Clouds Roll By.

They just don't make movies like this anymore.......excellent screenings despite the brown copper fade. Everything super 8 sound.

[Brian Fretwell]

The first part of Carry on up the Kyber (4x600ft version), I started laste and needed some sleep, I'll be watching more today.

[Oliver Feld]

The full feature of HIGH SOCIETY, the wonderful Musical starring Bing, Grace and Frank. I once re-recorded it to Stereo, which makes the feel good film even more amazing.

[Graham Ritchie]

Steve you are right "A Grand Day Out" kept appearing in the second hand list which surprised me at the time, I thought it would have been snapped up, as we know, by the time we got those overseas lists, most of the films I was after were well and truly gone by the time I phoned up. I cant remember what it cost, but price wise at the time it was very reasonable. Its certainly a nice print with very good sound.

Last night it was the Derann release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" I put this film onto two Elmo reels, one 1200ft the other 800 footer, both picture and sound are very good. Collectors were over the moon when Disney allowed it full length onto Super8. Up to that point only two extracts were ever put out there I can think of, so getting the OK for the full feature was really a landmark in the world of Super8.

One thing I did notice for the first time at the end credits, it states that it had been "digitally restored" that made me.

PS I still think that old witch is one nasty piece of work, always surprised the film was given a "G" rating, should have been a R18


A couple of previous screen shots

[Steve Klare]

What was kind of amazing at the time was even after the negative was (umm) destroyed, A Grand Day Out kept showing up on the Derann used list over and over again, and these days many more collectors seem to have prints than that limited printing should have been able to supply.

(-just saying...)

I was feeling a little impoverished back around that time (-had a kid in day-care!), but I would have considered selling a kidney to get a print of The Wrong Trousers!

(Just wasn't meant to be! -and having a spare kidney these days is probably a good thing!)

[Graham Sinden]

That story about the damaged negative is a cover up given at the time. The real reason is the BBC found out about it and gave a Derann a big telling off so there was no more 😉.

[Juergen Kellermann]

Thanks. I heard about the damaged negative, but was under the impression that it was damaged before any prints were made. Great that there are a few out there.

In Germany, there are German-dubbed 16mm prints of the first three shorts, which were available for loan to schools and educational institutions. This seems to be the only other way to get hold of W&G for your home cinema. I have one of these prints, THE WRONG TROUSERS, but they are now also rare as hen's teeth.

The first three shorts were also shown as a compilation-film in cinemas (I remember seeing it on the big screen) and there are a few 35mm prints in collectors' hands. I wish, I could get one of these...

[Brian Fretwell]

Derann released "A Grand Day Out", but IIRC the negative got damaged in the lab so not many copies were produced. I've not heard of any of the others being on Super 8.

[Juergen Kellermann]

Who released A GRAND DAY OUT on Super-8? Were any of the other W&G shorts also available?

[Oliver Feld]

Exactly 30 years ago „Speed“ starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and amazing Dennis Hopper came to the german Cinemas; so it was a special pleasure to screen this Blockbuster.

[Graham Ritchie]

After watching the blu-ray of "I'm Not Scared" I needed to relax a bit, so what better way than to finish the night with a Super 8 reel of films.

1...Gone Nutty
2...For The Birds
3....Madagascar Penguins
4... A Grand Day Out Wallace and Gromit.

Excellent prints and sound just the thing to chill out over

PS A couple of screen shots from an earlier screening, since then the lamp is getting the full 24 Volts not the 22 as before, making things even brighter

[Lee Mannering]

Cinema in miniature
My own documentary about our hobby
11 minutes master.

I look on this now and wonder where....

30+ odd years ago film at home was a different place. We endured imperfections but still had a wonderful time no matter what.
I had a new print of Gone with el wind from Derann with a green lab line. I projected that over 30 times in one year to womens groups etc they loved it.