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I imagine any of the UK collectors that have made it on to this forum will remember Pindene Films in Southampton, apparently there has been a serious fire and virtually all the films have been lost, very sad indeed, no one was injured as all the films were all in a large outbuilding, Pinedene was a good source of used films going back a few years, I have visited there many times in the past, There was literally thousands of films, so many that Wally Smith (the owner) was never certain of exactly what he had.
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How terrible.
I remember Wally Smith quite well. I was selling at Tadley one year and he bought a lot of films. He never seemed to send out any lists, if you wanted a particular film you asked if he had a copy. Wally would then hunt for it, as you said, he never really knew what he had. -
The twilight zone of film. Apparently it was an initiation right at a certain company when a new staff member started that they gathered up all the dross they had round them and sold them to the innocent Wally. Red prints White box specials etc.
That said the odd gem could be discovered and if you made a personal visit to Pinedene there were mountains of titles that never reached the lists.Comment
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That is such a shame. I visited a few times, but quite a few years ago and Wally was not in the best of health then. Not just the loss of the films - he also had projectors, equipment and spares by the truckload. This will not help to improve matters for him and yet another setback for film collectors.Comment
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Bill, you've answered my 'why have I never head of this place' question. Didn't know Pinedene had an outhouse collection. On the odd occasion I dealt with Wally' over the 'phone it always came across as disorganised. Sad it's ended like this. We'll never know what rareties have been lost.Comment
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Yes Dave the building had a ground floor and an upstairs, with about 6 square feet to stand in surrounded by films, It was as you say a bit disorganized, but I did find some good stuff there, one buy was not so good, a GI Blues feature that had the wooden heart section removed.
As a footnote apparently there were some films in the house that did survive.Comment
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When I visited wally had a beautiful 35mm projector setup in the outhouse, which he recovered from a Cruise ship. I would guess that that has been destroyed as well. I remember that the main house was littered with projectors - up the stairs and in every room were Cine related items. It was a typical Cine enthusiast bachelor pad. He was once married but his wife left. I wonder why
. As collectors ourselves, we should be grateful to our long suffering, but understanding wives I suppose.
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Here is a link to the local papers story on the fire.
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/180...vintage-films/Comment
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I saw this news a few days back. Quite a loss. Was the chap still trading or had he ceased? Was this a private collection?Comment
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Michael, Pinedene ceased trading about 2012, Wally was a collector and dealer, he advertised in several magazines, he would also buy any surplus films people wanted to off load.Comment
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I saw this article too, it was sent to me by another collector, very sad, thousands, (literally) of reels of film, it stated how difficult it was to fight the fire as many of the films were on fire inside the cans. Would there have been old nitrite films in there as well?Comment
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It's possible that there could have been nitrate in view of the terrible damage caused. Remember the logo on 9.5mm films from Pathescope, SAFETY FILM in large letters. Of course, that's not to say that they wouldn't burn under extreme heat. If some were nitrate that's a warning to all to keep them a long way away from any other film material, old nitrate is an explosive fire just waiting.
MauriceComment
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Very sad. We can only imagine how it feels when you see burning a big part of your life. I would be destroyed if my fall my films had disappeared. Regarding nitrate fims, I was able to visit a cinematheque in Spain (at a Calella 9.5 festival occasion) and we saw the separated rooms where thos films were stocked. It was cold and of course locked in "fire proof" doors.Comment
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This is very sad news indeed . I bought many films and equipment from Wally when he was still trading as Pinedene Films. I was glad to read that Wally was safe and is okay .
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Wally came to us a coupe of times buying some stuff and he sold me a barrow load of Collectors Club silents, must have been approaching 30 year ago I'm guessing. Lots of chatting and very similar guy to dear John from Buckingham who also called. Good times and sorry to hear of the fire, not the first by any means.
We tackled the loft recently removing anything flammable in it such as equipment boxes and have to say feel a little more at ease knowing its a job well done. Can actually see my new roof!
Good to hear Wally is OK although feel for his films :-(Comment
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