The Eiger Sanction - Full Length ??

[Melvin England]

I have just come across somebody selling The Eiger Sanction (Clint Eastwood) on 2x 600' and 2x 400' which would make it full length.

I always thought the only way it was available on super 8 was on the rather good 1x 400' cut down.

Can anybody confirm, please ?

[Mike Newell]

Melvin

It did appear as a full feature but think it wasn’t Universal 8. It could be Hellfighters and Rooster Cogburn appeared in from them. It’s likely to be a bootleg from either Italy or US as they brought out spaghetti Eastwood and couple of Dirty Harrys as full features. They were not bad when issued but can’t say how they have fared with fade. Get him to do a screenshot of the film to see if it is pink. It happy make him an offer that I think he would take.

Mike

[Mark Williams]

This is actually a South African bootleg print which was doing the rounds in the mid-seventies.

I used to work for a home movie shop in Croydon called Movie Den and the owner actually rented a few copies out!!

He had connections in South Africa so brought back copies whenever he visited the country.

Universal would have bankrupted him if they found out!!

The print was letterboxed 2.35.1 but very soft, the sound was magnetic.

it’s most probably bright red now?

Optical airline prints were also out there, heavily censored unlike this uncut version.

Universal had to cut the throat slitting we the start to avoid an R rating in the USA.

[Mike Newell]

In other words it’s worth about £25. Print is acceptable according to seller says it all. Nice Blu ray is available. Definite upgrade from DVD.

[Barry Attwood]

I've had this 2 or 3 times, and what I remember is that they varied a bit from one print to another, I've had a couple with soft focus, and one which was very good, but that was a few years back, but they also have the novelty of an Afrikaans track on the balance stripe, seeing Clint Eastwood dubbed is a sight to behold!

[Mike Newell]

From memory, what I saw of Eiger Sanction from a collector who was into all things Eastwood it wasn’t a bad print with colour comparable to Universal 8 digest. Mind you that was a “long time ago in a galaxy far away”

[Phillip Campey]

I had an excellent print of this which I sold 6 years ago, it was a tv print as a lot of the violence was removed as well as the topless women Clint ran after in training. It was a flat print with no colour fade.

[Mike Newell]

I had an excellent print of this which I sold 6 years ago, it was a tv print as a lot of the violence was removed as well as the topless women Clint ran after in training. It was a flat print with no colour fade.

Typical great print but no violence or nudity 🙁 Never saw the point of collecting tv or air prints for that reason. Lethal Weapon is like a different film.

[Osi Osgood]

South Africa actually had a thriving super 8 optical sound library, which were features on cassettes, and you'd rent the projectors as well! I own 4 or 5 of these features which, if MGM, quite often had a short subject spliced onto the beginning of the feature. I don't know if any of these features were ever letterboxed though. It's probably a sure thing that they were not scope.

[Mike Newell]

South Africa in 1970s and 1980s would have been outside copyright rules so explains big bootleg market in films 8mm and 16mm plus video.

[Brian Fretwell]

And I believe TV in South Africa was not available until later than in other countries allowing film rental to thrive.

[Mike Newell]

The apartheid ban created a black market for bootleg prints as well.

[Melvin England]

For your information, this item sold for £125

Needless to say, I wasn't prepared to gamble to that level on this occasion. Thanks to all.

Good luck to the person that did win it. If it was a forum member, I would be grateful if you could let us know its condition.