What 8mm films did I watch last night?

[Steve Klare]

It was an interesting night as an evening of film goes. Very often I operate in what I call "refrigerator snack mode": I stand in front of the shelves of films and say things like "Oh! I haven't seen this one in a while!". -so I can have a historic documentary followed by a Bugs Bunny cartoon followed by Laurel and Hardy, -but it didn't work out that way tonight. (My plans to be spontaneous fell through at the last moment!)

First up was Confessions of a Train Spotter (16mm) with Michael Palin. Here Mr. Palin journeys by rail from London up to Scotland with assorted side trips through various railway museums and other haunts of the like minded. This launched an instant theme for the evening: British Railways!. (-and now for something completely different!)

Back in Derann days, I was a keen collector of British Railway films. I had a lot of American railroad films before this started, but many of these newcomers were brand new prints, and almost all of them had sound!

Here's how things moved on down the line after Confessions of a Train Spotter.

All Super-8:

2) The Engine Driver (London to Manchester aboard a steam drawn express train)
3) Coming Home (Flying Scotsman returns to England after near permanent exile to San Francisco)
4) Piccadilly Line to Shanklin (Old London tube trains transplanted to the Isle of Wight)
5) Terrier to Wooton (Restored Steam trains, same Isle, same filmmaker)
6) The Great Little Trains of Wales (Narrow gauge trains in the place they were basically invented)
7) Railway of the Rheidol Valley (A notable example of one from #6)

Terrier was my very last new Derann print Ca. 2009. It was also about 300 feet shipped on a 200 foot reel, so that first showing was a little tense!

What made it interesting was being that the Olympics are on, I was also rigged for projected video of the broadcast. In order to be nice to my wife, I had a film intermission so she could enjoy figure skating on the big screen via the VP.

-this had a very strange side effect: during one of the films I reached down and turned up channel #3 on my mixer and heard someone skiing in present day China superimposed on the sound of a steam locomotive in England 75 years ago!

[Melvin England]

[QUOTE=Larry Arpin; I previously watched my feature print of Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind.[/QUOTE]


...... ON SUPER 8 ????!!!! My goodness! I believe there were less than 25 prints ever struck of this sci fi classic on super 8. You have my respect, Larry!


It seems that this Saturday evening, whenever it occurred in your time zone, was quite a busy one in the super 8 world! Well done everybody !

[Brian Fretwell]

A few Warner cartoons Tired and Feathered and Well Worn Daffy (Silent Techno not bad colour but no end cards) Mother Was a Rooster (Unknown on Fuji, good colour, striped but no sound) and Bushy Hare (Sound Unknown distributor and no edge markings very good colour).

[Richard Bock]

The Burglar's Dilemma-DW Griffith, 1912/ Beautifully crafted morality tale from DW Griffith and the Biograph Studios. Barrymore and Walthall star. Blackhawk Print, Standard 8mm. Projected with a Bell and Howell Regent 122 Projector.

[Richard Bock]

The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American silent Western film made by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company

Super 8mm Blackhawk Print of the classic. Still packs something of a punch.. I imagined watching this in one of those carney viewers that were around at that time. Projected with an Elmo St 800- a beautiful print. Note the use of multiple image in the second photo. The window has a moving image of a train arriving and leaving the station to heighten the tension and create a dramatic realism.

[Osi Osgood]

Black Sunday, 3X400. Nice that it all fits on one 800ft!

[Dominique De Bast]

Pathe News review 1950 (super 8 sound). I received the film from Lee (thanks a lot !). There is a mention in this review of the "Question Royale", a post 1940-1945 episode in Belgium that led almost to a civilian war between those who supported the behaviour of King Leopold III during the war. In 1951, Leopold III abdicated in favour of his young son, Prince Baudouin. The monarchy was saved.

[Stuart Budd]

There's a rather tempting full feature of The AristoCats on eBay as we speak. There was also a short, Meet Scat Cat. A 7 minute clip of The AristoCats featuring the song "Everybody wants to be a Cat".

The 200ft reel is No. 042

A very nice copy with good colors and sound.

The full version would be nice!
Quite happy with the short though 😊

[Melvin England]

Tonight's delights in the Man Cave went like this.....


1x 50' Yankee Doodle Dandy Trailer - James Cagney

1x 100' Showboat Trailer - Ava Gardner, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel

1x 200' Clown of The Jungle - Donald Duck

1x 200' Mickey's Trailer - Mickey, Donald and Goofy

4x 600' The Sea Wolves - Gregory Peck, David Niven, Trevor Howard - Optical Sound.


.

[Graham Ritchie]

Last week I did run some Scope films and this was one of them, this particular video is taken from a previous screening, but its the same films on a single reel .

[Stuart Budd]

My first lamp burn!

Golddiggers of 1933 as a little treat after work. And for some reason the lamp didn't go out when I stopped the film! Running on my Elmo SC-18. So the picture was right in front of me. Whist I was thinking "odd the lamp being on" I then witnessed a burn forming . Quickly started back up. I'll have to look into the delayed "lamp off" on forward only and stop.

Taxi Driver. Columbia Pictutes The Condensed Features Collection. Good colours and booming sound. Very good edit too. Not keen on the over dub story telling. Bit like Tora Tora Tora. Not when DeNiro muses, but some narrator brings us up to speed on where the edit is.

So, other than the burn and narrator, not a bad late night show.

[Larry Arpin]

Graham I noticed you have Egg and Jerry with good color. Is that the Cineavision print? Also, I'm curious about your scope attachment. Home made? Could you possibly explain how you constructed it?

BTW-I was in my high schools play of South Pacific. I was the professor. Still remember my brief lines. I guess I impressed the teacher he wanted me in the next play Arsenic and Old lace even though I wasn't in the class. Turned it down.

[Graham Ritchie]

Hi Larry

Yes its a Cineavision print. The few T/J Cineavision prints I have the color seems fine.

The Scope mount is a mix of an old Ernemann Scope lens attachment, that swings in and out the way, as once attached to a 35mm projector. I have bolted it to a bracket found around the garage. The 35mm lens itself came from the cinema when it closed. The distance to the screen is about 7.5 metre and seems to work fine even at that short distance. For Scope I use a Elmo 1.4 lens and for normal stuff a Elmo 1.1 lens.

That was interesting about "South Pacific" at the time of its release to the cinema, it would have been one of the most popular musicals around. I think it was filmed in Todd AO. Its one of the most common second hand LPs to come across. The blu-ray I should add looks stunning.

Anyway enough rambling here are some photos.

[Dominique De Bast]

My copy of the Jaws digest arrived this morning, so it was a big day. I've just screened this new print and I'm more than happy with it. It's well edited, sharp and the colours are good. I'm also happy I didn't plane going to the beach or boarding a boat for the next weeks. in French, for those who might be interested, the title is "Les dents de la mer" (The Sea Theeth). I'm so thankfull to Dave Baker and all those who make possible to still have new super 8 prints in 2022 !

[Larry Arpin]

Thank you Graham. I appreciate the reply. You are lucky to have a good color copy of a Cineavision print.