16mm in cinemas

[Ken Finch]

Hi Dave, have not been able to repond to posts for a while. There was a cinema "The Troc" at Tankerton near here which ran 16mm for a short period of time using Debrie Cinetechnic machines and carbon arcs. Also quite a few of the armed services camp and temporary cinemas used 16mm as did cinemas on cruise ships. The R.A.F. tended to use Debries, as did the navy. Hence so many of them around. The army tended to use the GBL516 or Bell and Howell 600 series. There is an arc lamp Debrie D16 installed at the Astra cinema at Duxford air museum. Ken Finch.

[Dave Groves]

I suspect 16mm was used or experimented with more than we realise. In the states a cinema ran, for many years 16mm religious films weekly, and here in the U.K. the Blanchard cinema gave three nightly shows a week in the local Town hall on a Bell/Howell 609 carbon arc projector for several years. If video had come much later who knows where 16mm might have gone, especially with modern film stock.

[Maurice Leakey]

I visited Pontins Holiday Camp at Pwllheli in North Wales with my family in summer 1965. Their theatre became an occasional cinema. I was surprised that the screen was square, on a visit to the projection room the answer was simple as at first inspection I saw they were using a pair of the G.B.-Bell & Howell 609 arc projectors. As most members know, these and their brothers (with 750/1000w lamps), had non-optical framing which shifted the picture up and down when the framing control was used. It actually moved the back plate of the gate. On these 609 there was no instant method of tilting the projector.

I have a 1954 catalogue of Wallace Heaton and they were then £650 each, although that included rectifier, stand, 25 watt amplifier and twin 12" speakers. They also featured a built-in monitor speaker and a change-over unit. As a comparison, the then (1954) model 621 (in a wooden blimp) was £264.

Maurice

[Mark Sumner]

I remember going to the cinemas at Butlin's holiday camps. I am sure they used 16mm copies of recent feature films because the screens were too large for the gauge. The result was in some cases a very blurred or soft focus image on the screen. Just about watchable but not as good as 35mm would have been. I might be wrong, but that was my experience. The blurred film in question was a remake of "The Four Feathers". This was shown when were at Butlin's Skegness in the early eighties.

[David M. Leugers]

I think Kodak made some variant of their Model 25 projector (maybe it was called a Model 40?) for use in cinemas back when it was being tried in the 1980's. One mall cinema up in Michigan where I was living at the time was a 16mm theater. It was a small one screen theater but I don't know what projector they were using.

[Maurice Leakey]

.....I remember going to the cinemas at Butlin's holiday camps. I am sure they used 16mm copies of recent feature films....

As I mentioned on February 27 2020 (above) Butlins did use 16mm.
In the earlier days 16mm was used because 35mm projection required much higher safety requirements, and 16mm was also much easier to use. Often, a feature was only on two 1600ft spools.

[Martha Colburn]

I have a great collection of Scopitones I am showing in Los Angeles occasionally. I have two Eiki 16mm mag. projectors....why? because you better have two - like old cars or tractors- one always works, one does not as well!

[Martha Colburn]

I just did this show!