Lamenting past sold films...

[Mark McLaughlin]

Well now that the super 8 bug has been not only visiting but biting me pretty consistently I now lament some of the prints I had and sold. I used to buy super 8 sound prints at K Mart in the 70s when I was a kid and you could only get a few so cherished those for many years. Then kind of rediscovered the hobby after college and Derann were ruling the roost thank goodness. Man I had prints of Alien, Halloween, Die Hard, Carousel, Speed, 101 Dalmatians, Bambi, Angels with Dirty Faces, Munster Go Home, Notorious, North By Northwest, Dr. Strangelove, Aladdin, Cinderella, on and on and on not to mention the numerous 16mm prints I had (but preferred super 8!) I had two daughters so I could justify some of it haha.
All sold in the late 2000s unfortunately. I used to look at my hobby as a very big and more expensive rental plan. I would watch and screen for friends at parties many times until I felt like selling a print and getting another. Wow did I take Derann and the many used lists back then for granted. Now they are so rare and hammering for incredible amounts I kind of lament the selling but it did afford me a lot of prints back then.
Love Dave Baker's recent efforts and hope to afford some more prints from him now that the bug is back. I'm kind of concentrating on good or LPP color prints of WB, Disney and Tex Avery cartoons for now. Love the hobby again!
The forever "Newbie" Mark

[Douglas Meltzer]

Mark,

That list of prints is astounding. My first "Super 8 bug" lasted from age 12 up till college. It came back stronger than ever almost 20 years later and has stuck around since then!

Your "Newbie" title will be gone with just another post or two. You are about to become an honest-to-goodness Film Handler!

[Osi Osgood]

In the early 90's I sold my original film collection to move into laserdiscs. Major mistake and there are definitely some optical sound prints I had then, that I have never seen again!

[Steve Klare]

Ahhhh!

-but there's always the one that got away!

I was bidding on a film on E-bay about 15 years ago. I bid my sensible maximum, but somebody else crept past me with something more than 24 hours left and just kept on going. I was unemployed at the time so I was forced to let it go. For all I know it was a vinegary scratched mess with a splice every foot and a half, but to this day I fight thinking this print was the greatest thing in the history of motion pictures!

-even though I know if I DID win that auction, today it would be just another one on the shelf.

(I'm a little concerned what I might do if another one ever came up: "Second Mortgage, Fire ONE!")

[Osi Osgood]

Yeah, but it would be MY shelf!

[Larry Arpin]

Some years ago I had a print of the feature ALIEN. For some unforeseen reason I decided to sell it. Doug was actually the recipient of my stupidity. But fortunately, I got another print that cost more than I sold it but less than the last few times I've seen up for auction. Another regret was when I bought the Derann feature of Ben Hur and before I received it I sold my 16mm Technicolor print of Ben Hur. I was very disappointed in the quality and even though the 16mm print was splicy and missing a short scene in the chariot race I wish I hadn't sold it. I did get a better print, I believe it was a print from the previous owner of the negative. But still, after seeing the 16mm print I still wasn't satisfied. Another regret was selling reels 2 & 3 of Hitchcock's THE BIRDS in Technicolor. After waiting several years to find a reel 1 I decided to sell them like an idiot. Oh well, I still have plenty of satisfying films to keep me happy.

[Osi Osgood]

I'd still like to find either my super 8 prints of "The Earthling" or "High Road to China"!

[Joe Caruso]

Oh, I've typed this time and again...when I started with comics, records, books and 16mm...who knew to keep...well, happily I did (for the most)...got rid of model kits, toys, gun cards, comics and novelties, yet I kept most of my films, books and records...this dates back to the 60's...through wisdom of age, word of mouth and just plain common integrity of changing times, I continued with film, ever pushing towards the in original box idea (finally having "OB" as part of the vocabulary)...sold my Roach collection of L&H back when....and a fantastic chore to re-find them all again and in the condition I wanted... finally did...anyway, when the advent of VHS came, 8-tracks, DVDs and the ensuing tech, many were STILL dumping their film caches...huge mistake...film has made a renaissance despite all the pretty adorations of other images...as nutty as I am, I have held steadfastly loyal to the small gauge film and to an extent, 16mm and 9.5 (oh yes)...you'd be surprised by what can be found, even some "lost" fragments..discoveries are endless...yet, I do regret of the 54 films I have let roll away, I'm in search of them again for keeps... Shorty

[Burton Sundquist]

Wow, that's commitment Shorty, and admirable.
I was an 80s collector of Super 8 and a Newbie.
Nothing was available in Canada so I found the greatest U.S.Distributor I could find at the time and it was L.A. Films. Larry sent hand written and typed lists of new offers every month and I couldn't wait to save up for my favorites. I still have every film I bought from him. I left the hobby almost 40 years ago and came back.
Never sold something that I regret. Only looking forward to what comes next. Only from film stock.

[Brian Fretwell]

I've only sold one film that I didn't dispose of due to getting either a better copy or longer version. That was the flat digest of Force ten from Navarone - I have not missed it.

[Paul Adsett]

I now regret selling my ABC feature of Hitchcock’s Spellbound and my Derran print feature of the Vincent Price classic Masque of the Red Death. I learned that the money received from selling prints is soon spent and forgotten and the prints can usually never be replaced

[Lee Mannering]

It happens Mark.Our situations change particularly when with young families come along perhaps.
The first film I got to see in London was Scrooge 1970 forevermore a family favorite. Much joy when Derann gave us the end songs and had a couple of prints I let go to help other fans. More recently replaced adding Stereo and the original cinema exit music to the tail so all is well again.
In a way returning to some parted titles has given me a greater appreciation probably due to age and both my parents passing on.