What were the worst super 8 companies overseas? (Apart from the US)

[Osi Osgood]

OK, being in the US, I remember, with some slight fondness, the bad quality super 8 companies. The main ones that come to memory are, Thunderbird Films, Atlas Films and of course, Niles Films. There were assorted "Fly by night" companies that would release a few cartoons or silents that were not part of an official company. The funny thing, is these low budget companies could release the odd really good quality print, but 90 or more percent were total junk. Another one that could be hit or miss was the original "Reel Images" Super 8 company ( not related to Steve Osborne ). What notoriously bad super 8 companies do you remember?

[Paul Adsett]

Well Osi I have a handful of Reel Images shorts, and the print quality on all of them is just awful, I would give them 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. The only reason for keeping them is that they are all interesting subjects not to be found elsewhere , such as Al Jolson dubbing his songs and gestures at Columbia Studios , for Larry Parks to mime for 'The Jolson Story' and 'Jolson Sings Again' also the complete 'Quarter to Nine' number with Ruby Keeler from 'Go Into Your Dance'. I also have a 200ft reel of Gene Autry cowboy songs from Reel Images which has more acceptable quality. I had a Niles print of W.C.Fields in The Golf Specialist which was pretty awful, 2 on a scale of 10. None of these prints did Super 8 any favors.

[Osi Osgood]

Another problem with the Reel Image company super 8 prints, is the abominable source material. One little short reel, less than 50ft, is a classic, animated, late 60's Christmas Greetings film, with a violinist playing in tune with some Christmas birds, chirping away. Lovely subject, lovely color, the WORST, horribly scratched source material I have ever seen, such a shame, but you are right Paul, they had a lot of unique subject material, not found elsewhere. Another incredibly iffy company was Carnival films, but as a general rule, they only did silent subjects, up to 200ft.

[Barry Attwood]

Italian companies like i.e. international and Techno often produced quite acceptable prints, but a lot of the times the English soundtrack was out of sync, I remember buying one of the U.F.O. 3x400's and only 1 reel out of 3 was in sync, I had to send it to Perry's Movies to re-record it for me. I know that English was not there first language, but if you are selling internationally then you must be on the ball!

[Melvin England]

Italian companies like i.e. international and Techno often produced quite acceptable prints, but a lot of the times the English soundtrack was out of sync, I know that English was not there first language, but if you are selling internationally then you must be on the ball!

Barry - To support your comments, lip sync is lip sync in any language and must be done correctly whatever. The fact that one doesn't speak the language is irrelevant. One can take a formation of a word / sound and match it up to a lip movement that would produce that sound. I know, I have done it. I was lip syncing some home movie footage I had shot of the "Pied Piper of Hamlein" play that is performed by the locals in that town in Germany. Didn't understand a word of it, but the lip sync looked good on screen.