Star Wars 200ft digest question ...

[Osi Osgood]

OK, I know that the original Ken Films 400ft digest was eventually printed on LPP film stock,(some of them being printed as late as April of 1983, according to the leader on some prints), but we're any of the first, original 200ft STARWARS digests ever printed on LPP or perhaps, AGFA? I think some were printed on Fuji, so that would technically qualify as low fade, as that late 70's Fuji has held up very well to this day. Now, some of the German Marketing Films digests were released on AGFA and still look gorgeous, but I'm specifically asking about the original Ken Films 200ft color sound digest.

[Osi Osgood]

I have also decided to include the Ken Films STARWARS part 2 400ft digest, as this one is also a digest of which I have never seen on low fade, but being that the original part 1 was eventually printed on low fade film stock ... perhaps this 400fy part 2 made it onto low fade as well?

[Dave Bickford]

I have a 400' single reel Star Wars digest and it faded to pink. It's real bad.

[Mike Newell]

The European prints were low fade and have held their colour to this day. There are pink prints out there but guess they originate from US.

[Rob Young]

From my own prints, the original USA Ken prints of Star Wars Pt.1 were very sharp and low grain, but of course, have sadly faded to pink.

The UK prints of the same were much less sharp, grainy and had a very odd slightly soft masking to the top and bottom of frame. And they had picture bounce built in. Perhaps some are low fade...?

Star Wars Pt.2 from Ken has held colour a little better, but as I'm sure Osi knows, it was always very grainy.

Then we get to the Pt. 2 Cinevision / Ken 'Scope versions...but for another thread.

I'm amazed that Pt. 1 was still printed circa 1983. I'd certainly love to see one of those.

I have a late 200ft of Star Wars Pt.1 and it is covered in negative wear, so even if a later low fade print was made I can't really see the value in it.

I know both Osi and I share a particular interest in this title on super 8.

[Osi Osgood]

We most certainly do! The print I referenced was actually one sold just days ago on eBay US, and the seller stated that the LPP print stated on the leader, " 4/4/83 "

[Rob Young]

If the seller got that right then...wow! How much did it sell for?

[Osi Osgood]

I think it was 107.00, so, not that much, actually, for the low fade rarity it is. Until that auction, the latest that I knew that Ken Films printed was December of 82, as my 2x400 Empire Strikes Back have December of 82 on the leader. Apart from the Star Wars franchise digests, it would be interesting as to how long Ken Films actually printed super 8. April of 83? That's awfully close to Return of the Jedi coming out. It would be quite interesting to learn from any Ken Films historians as to whether Ken Films ever prepared an actual digest for Return, but chose not to go to the film labs, as, they obviously knew that the Star Wars franchise was a good money maker, or, perhaps, they were having a hard time moving the last of the digests already printed, and that might be part of the reason. That, and VHS was already in full swing by then, and all super 8 providers could read the "writing on the wall".

[Rob Young]

Osi, I believe that Ken were given an option on Jedi but declined due to the state of the 8mm market and the take over of home video.

Also, and this may be super 8 rumourville, but I heard that Ken originally planned a 3 x 400ft version of Empire but following the release of Pt.1 and, again, the looming video market, that they edited the second two planned 400 footers into just the one 400ft Pt.2 release.

Who knows for certain?! Just think, we could have had Han Solo being frozen in carbonite on our 8mm screens back in the day...and a 50 minute Empire...

[Phillip Campey]

One of my big regrets in film collecting was selling my 2x400ft digests of empire, they came in really tatty boxes but the prints were amazing, no colour fade at all. I did not realise at the time they were low fade and sold them for peanuts. I’ve never seen prints that good since and I’m sure they would now be worth a lot of money.

[Osi Osgood]

They can still be gotten (LPP prints), but one must insist on screenshots. Usually, concerning Empire, you stand a fairly good chance of finding them put together as a full digest. Getting pricier all the time . I've run across some full 2x400ft digests where the. Part 2 is mighty fine, but the part 1 is a faded mess. By far, the. LPP part 1 is the harder one to track down. The online, sellers, especially eBay sellers prints of part 1, are almost always pinky or red, being mostly Eastman, next one down, Kodak SP, and then the very rare LPP.

[Phillip Campey]

Here are some screenshots from the prints

[Dave Bickford]

Screenshot of my sad pink 400’ Star Wars digest. 😢

[Osi Osgood]

Phillip, it looks like you lucked out on an LPP of part 1! One literally needs an LPP copy of part 1, as, the last two or so minutes of the digest are literally a bown mess, for some odd reason. I had what appeared to be a very good print of this digest from Marketing Films, in the "opti-color" process, but while the rest of the digest looked great, the last two minutes, asteroid chase, was a brown mess, but the LPP part 1 had great color for this section.

[Osi Osgood]

I should add, that the last battle section may be found, possibly, on low fade, as, that German film collectors video, just put up weeks ago, did state that, late in the super 8 game, released the last battle sequence, and being that they, Marketing Films, did occasionally use Agfa for they're digests, so, while it is known to be grainey, if low fade, would be worth seeking out, for a "low fade completist"!