Quality service at Italys MOVIE MAGNETIC

[Alan Rik]

My situation was the exact opposite in a way. I mainly wanted to have my print striped and then do the ORS treatment if he believed it could be done successfully. He said he believed so and the ORS treatment was applied. I asked him about the striping but he said it couldn’t be done because the certain film stock that was used-the stripe would not adhere to it. One thing to keep in mind is that this is still experimental technology and not all results are equal as there are so many factors to consider. In my case the print was well ‘worn’ which resulted in many tiny red flecks in the image on certain scenes.

[Osi Osgood]

He knows that it's an optical sound print. I do have a question for those that have had they're optical sound film treated ... Has the treatment actually improved the optical sound output? I would assume so, as, the optical track would have the potentially lightened track, darkened a little, thereby cutting down on hiss.

[Brian Fretwell]

I wonder if some ex-airline optical print would have a problem with the lubricating coating given to them. If that can't be uniformly removed it could give a mottled effect.

[Alan Rik]

On my print the optical sounds the same. No improvement and no degradation either. I think he said the film I sent in was on a different film stock than the standard ones that Airline prints used. I have heard that the best results come from Eastman stock which mine was not.

[Lee Mannering]

My films have returned from Stereo Striping. The one included for over paste striping is good and Alberto kindly did this test for me and it worked. The Derann stripe on it was awful bubbly and rumbling when recorded but the new stripe on top is really nice and now back in Stereo quality.
I erased the old sound track before sending and gave the film a good clean with Isopropanol twice.
I'll up a video clip this week of it running.

Going back in time again to the UK chap I used to send my paste striping to. He tried to stripe optical airline films notably Goldfinger of which a few are in circulation even now and the paste stripe soon rubbed away unable to make it stick literally. I had the optical Paste striped print and it was pretty hopeless with little left to record to. Worth mentioning. His Paste striping on Kodak and Agfa was always excellent.

[Osi Osgood]

Please understand where I am coming from with all of this.


If the magnetic striping is an absolutely necessary process for this overall color treatment to work, then that’s fine. That is, without the striping, somehow, the color treatment wouldn’t work quite right, I’d certainly understand. However, Alberto has stated, (in his own e-mails to me) that it doesn’t affect the optical track, (which is, of course, good news for a optical super 8 lover like me).

Now, if Alberto’s answer would be, “ It is not actually necessary for the color treatment to be done successfully, I just like putting mag stripe on films and I won’t do the color treatment without mag striping your films. “ then that would be fine. After all, we are sending our prints to him and if he’d require it, whether it is necessary or not, it is his requirement, and that would be the end of the discussion. I’d just like to know one way or the other. Maybe it’s a matter of semantics on his or my part, but something just isn’t clear.

... and the funny thing is, even if it isn't necessary (the striping) for the color treatment, but Alberto insists on it, then that is his right to do so and if i or anyone else doesn't like it, then that's OK too as, it is his process and he has every right to demand the striping with the color treatment.

The funny thing is that, if it isn’t absolutely necessary for the color treatment to be successful, the “turnover time” for collectors that do not want the striping, would be less, and he would be able to treat more prints and would therefore, have more profit.

I do wish he would be flexible, however as, since I have seen the color treatment on the Jaws print, i KNOW that my Grizzly Adams print would look stellar, but i would only want to have striping if it was a audio that would actually sound better but every copy of the original 1974 Grizzly is sub par at best. Now, if there was a stereo copy of the track or a very good mono audio, I'd actually go ahead and get the striping sone.

… and, as I’ve said before, this is no reflection on Alberto or his character.

I personally like the fellow a lot and appreciate that he loves film so much to supply this service.

[Rodney Bourke]

here is a really good short film of Italy's Movie Magnetic, see Youtube for 16mm Sound Striping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_NQJ34lyZY

[Fabrizio Mosca]

Hi Rodney, the video you posted is not related to Movie Magnetic, but to another person based in Milan (New Play Video Film) that put magnetic striping to acetate films. As far as I know, he has closed his business recently and some of his material has been put on ebay. To be honest, his approach in manipulating films, splicing and cutting frames when joining films hurts me a little, as it seems that no particular care is taken. This is also enhanced by what he says during the explanation of his job. If you speaked Italian, you would get also this little things that demonstrate the difference between a collector and a person that works with films, but may not have the same sensibility in taking care of them

[Can Sanalan]

Alan Rik
The O.R.S. treatment works best on Kodak, Eastman and Agfa but not on Fuji or 3M stock.

[Can Sanalan]

Thought I'd chime in with a couple of examples of the O.R.S. treatment I've had done by Alberto.
I've very happy with the results and will continue to use Alberto's services. He's literally saving my collection.

[Lee Mannering]

Al is right. This is not a miracle cure but some of the totally red ones I had done THAT STILL SHOWED SOME SIGNS OF COLOUR IN HIGHLIGHTS came back a whole lot better than they went giving me a great deal of enjoyment to see some of my old films looking projectable again.
If you are in the UK with shipping it works out around 0.075p a foot. Use UPS to send very reasonable tracked and not had a problem. Royal Fail were quite expensive and very slow.

Most of the UK chums know I offer a Stereo recording service and have to say the best results I have seen of the great Alberto's colour treatment a Metro Derann feature with the colour returned to nothing short of Technicolor. Put to Stereo as well it made a wonderful watch.

Well done 'The Great Alberto'

[Brad Miller]

I have seen 2 examples of ORS treatment on 16mm optical films now. The above Star Trek as well as a 16mm Jaws print.

...but he claims he won't do the ORS without magnetic striping.

What am I missing here? Does he offer the ORS without mag striping or not? And WHY? That's the absolute reason that scares most people off is that he refuses to explain to anyone the reasoning. Earlier someone posted that he confirmed it does not damage the optical tracks, so again WHY?

The next time someone has a really dirty and scratchy print to send to him, I would love to see a youtube video of the before and after projection. That might answer some of the "red dots" questions.

[Rik Jackman]

Thought I'd chime in with a couple of examples of the O.R.S. treatment I've had done by Alberto.

I have seen 2 examples of ORS treatment on 16mm optical films now. The above Star Trek as well as a 16mm Jaws print.

...but he claims he won't do the ORS without magnetic striping.

Can Sanalan - is your Star Trek example not an optical print that had ORS without magnetic striping?


I intend to contact Alberto directly to see if he can resurrect my mint but red copy of The Railway Children. I suspect one reason why there is a link between ORS and the need for magnetic striping might possibly be if ORS also removes the magnetic strip hence why Alberto might need to replace it if you want sound back on a magnetic strip film? Pure speculation on my part of course but that might leave the door open to opting not to have a magnetic strip added on an optical print.

It may be a lot of understanding is being lost in translation unless we have a Italian speaker on the forum that can converse with Alberto and get to the bottom of this?

[Can Sanalan]

Rik Jackman
That is correct.


If you have an optical 16mm print that is red and would like it to be treated to remove the red then just having the O.R.S. is all that is needed.

As it is optical the treatment in no way, that I have noticed, has had a negative affect on the quality of the soundtrack.
So far, every 16mm print I've sent over has only had the O.R.S treatment, no magnetic stripping, and I have been happy with the results every time.

I personally only go for the O.R.S treatment, such as in my case with Star Trek and Magnum Force as that is all I want.

MM also offers to do the O.R.S and Magnetic striping on the same film if need be, this is for cases where the film is red and the soundtrack has degraded to the point where it needs to be replaced.
Also Super8 ex airline prints with optical can have a new magnetic stereo soundtrack added to them, so that a previously red film with a poor quality optical track will no longer be red and will have a magnetic stereo soundtrack.

If you are only after a new soundtrack, they can record it for you on a new magnetic strip and apply it to your film.

If you do send a film out for the O.R.S. treatment make sure the taped splices are strong (taped on both sides of course), no cement splices as the could break under the stress of going through the machine, and if any sprocket damages are present that they are repaired.
Do not clean the film before sending it, a wash of the film is done at MM before the treatment is applied.
The washing of the film is done to remove any impurities that, over time and with use, take root on the emulsion of the film, if they remain on the emulsion then at those specific points the treatment won't get through, obviously.
That is why sections of film under a tape splice stays red as the chemical is prevented from getting to it.

Also, like previously mentioned the O.R.S. treatment only works on Kodak, Agfa and Eastman film stocks, not on Fuji or 3M.

All I can say at the end of the day after receiving my films is the treatment works.
I thought I'd rather try my luck at saving a film in my collection than to just have it sit there not being projected because it's too red to enjoy. That's just my opinion of course.

[Dominique De Bast]

When I sent a silent film (a tinted version of an original black and white film, so it was on colour stock) to Alberto, he asked me if I wished to have a soundtrack added. I said yes but I could have only the ORS treatment. I don't know why it's not possible (following some comments) to have only the ORS treatment for super 8 prints. I will just add that, like other forum members, I'm fully satisfyied with Alberto's work.