Another little part of Super 8 history preserved

[Joachim Schmidt]

Dialog: The piccolo film interview (part 1/3) with C. Czaika - foundation & production start (provides English subtitles)

Do you know piccolo film? Maybe you do have one or two of their Super 8 reels in your collection? This could be, since - even if it was a German Super 8 distributor - they had a lot of film titles in their program never available from UK or US distributors… And the package design is distinctive. Now here comes the story of this company, a real Super 8 story!
Claus Czaika, founder and director of the major Super 8 distributor piccolo film (and later EuroVideo) talks in the first part of this interview about the founding phase of piccolo film, the acquisition of licenses and the start-up of the production of film prints on Super 8.
Part 2 & 3 will be published the following Saturdays at the off2 YouTube-Channel.

[Brian Fretwell]

The only Piccolo FIlms print I have is the 400ft of Mel Brook's Silent Movie. No sound track language problems there!!! Subtitles were a little more difficult though

[Osi Osgood]

Great job there, Joachim!

[Larry Arpin]

Joachim-That was just excellent. Looking forward to parts 2 & 3. I have the scope 400 foot of Damnation Alley which is just excellent that I re-recorded into English.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Why are they (=marketing, piccolo, …) all stating that they have „invented something new“?
What about Pathé's 9.5mm format that started 1922 as a „projection only“-format (with films that one could buy or rent)? (The first camera was available a year later.)
What about Ozaphan (early 1930s)?
What about Castle Films (producing and distributing 8mm and 16mm prints since 1937)?
Etc.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Joachim,

Thank you for part one of your Claus Czaika interview. I have a number of Piccolo cutdowns and I'm so glad you've done this. I found the licensing information very interesting, and nice job on getting the specifics of the deals. I look forward to the 2nd & 3rd parts.

As to Joerg's point, was Piccolo the first major distributor of Super 8 color/sound cutdowns in Germany? When did Marketing and UFA start?

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Douglas, the answer is:
In Germany, Intern-Film (a brand name used by Inter-Pathé) already distributed regular8 and super8 digests in colour and with sound in 1967 (last page of this catalog):
http://www.super8rezensionen.de/k-ip67.htm
They might have started even earlier.

piccolo started in 1970. marketing was founded in 1972. UFA/ATB also wasn’t around in 1960s, but started in the early 1970s.

[Joachim Schmidt]

Why are they (=marketing, piccolo, …) all stating that they have „invented something new“?
What about Pathé's 9.5mm format that started 1922 as a „projection only“-format (with films that one could buy or rent)? (The first camera was available a year later.)
What about Ozaphan (early 1930s)?
What about Castle Films (producing and distributing 8mm and 16mm prints since 1937)?
Etc.

Jörg, from my point of view, Super 8 was the first "film mass media" in Germany. There has been 9,5 and Ozaphan, by far earlier. But this was something very special. They advertised in magazines, with little adverts, and it was (besides a view exceptions) a mail order thing. When Kodak invented a way of making private home movies so extremely easy as with Super 8 (film cardridges) - that was the moment the "non expert" person dares to film by themselves. That's when Super 8 became a mass media. And with the spreading of projectors to watch the self-made clips, the infrastructure for commercial prints began to arise. And that took a few years. Super 8 was available everywhere: in department stores (Kaufhof, Hertie, Horten, Karstadt), in photo shops (even the private, small ones), in specialized shops and, again, by mail order - but as part of the catalogue of big mail order companies and their city stores (Neckermann, Quelle). No other film medium did that before even almost nearly. That's why Super 8 is the first media, that made the home cinema to an affordable (e.g. 50ft b/w silent) option to the masses. And people know it, and they saw it. Regular 8 was not that big in Germany. Maybe it was too expensive for the - in the 50th and early 60th - still struggling West-German economy, for the average worker. And maybe the usage of the cameras seemed too complicated. And entertainment products from US where nowhere to get - and if , extremely expensive (I just recall a book I ordered in the late 1980 from the US via a book store, and it was the most expensive book I've ever bought with 150 DM!!! Just because it was an import).

[Joachim Schmidt]

The only Piccolo FIlms print I have is the 400ft of Mel Brook's Silent Movie. No sound track language problems there!!! Subtitles were a little more difficult though

I've that, too. Nice cut, but nowadays it turned totally red...

[Joachim Schmidt]

Joachim-That was just excellent. Looking forward to parts 2 & 3. I have the scope 400 foot of Damnation Alley which is just excellent that I re-recorded into English.

That's a nice edit, too. Same as the US version? I think so. But only Piccolo made a cinemascope digest. A rare one!!!

[Ken Finch]

Joachim. The Pathe 9.5mm cameras were cassette loading way back in 1923. They were widely available from most photography and photographic chemists as were the printed films and projectors at much more affordable prices compared to 16mm. I had always thought that this was the case throughout Europe. Perhaps Germany was an exception due to politics and historical events. “When will they ever learn”. 😔 Ken Finch.

[Douglas Meltzer]

The remaining parts of Joachim's interview with Piccolo's Claus Czaika:

Many interesting topics are covered including print costs, distribution and Piccolo's dealings with Disney & Universal 8.

[Joachim Schmidt]

The remaining parts of Joachim's interview with Piccolo's Claus Czaika:

Many interesting topics are covered including print costs, distribution and Piccolo's dealings with Disney & Universal 8.

Thank you, Douglas!

[Rob Young]

Joachim, these were absolutely great! Claus's enthusiasm for super 8 still shines through. I love his comparison with super 8 to a vintage car...modern alternatives are so much better, but it's still fun to take the vintage version for a drive. Brilliant.

Thank you so much for making these happen. I loved that you took various super 8 boxes for him to look at, and the smile on his face as you showed them to him was priceless.

Just absolutely brilliant!

Thank you again.

[Joachim Schmidt]

☺️🤗☺️🙏🙏🙏🙏😊🤗☺️