HISTORY:
I am not a 'film buff' and my "world" is 'the arts' and more specifically, music, artwork and hand crafted/decorated chinaware's.
An extremely unwell associate has asked me to find new owners for THEIR large collection of photographic and film items ... this is one of those items. I am often asked "THE QUESTION"
So how many films do you have, Russ?
My response is ... boxes and boxes of them, perhaps 500+
I have been honoured with the trust and care of these films, to the owner they are an important part of his life and I respect that. Each film is VERY SLOWLY (I have a lot of other things to do as well!) being evaluated, run through the projector (currently an ELMO ST1200D) and if needed, addition packing added to protect the film more.
ALL film stock is safely away in my storage units, nice n cool and out of harms way while I look (and smell!) each film ... NO ONE can just casually "browse" the collection. My associate wouldn't like that and neither do I.
Due to my previous working life in technical fields, I tend to be quite detailed in my item descriptions, please READ all the details to decide if this item may interest you.
Vinegar Syndrome: my nose came up NEGATIVE on this reel ...however, keep the following in mind
From time to time I have noticed a "vinegar smell" coming off some films that I have been checking. I have been contacted by a learned ex film professional who has provided some pointers about this vinegar smell. Thank you kind Sir!
It seems that the presence of this odour indicates a chemical reaction is underway which will affect the base material of the film - over time. Most of these films are already around 50 years old, how much longer will they "survive" I wonder? No-one can provide a definitive answer to that one ... it's a bit like "the earth WILL be hit by a comet, one day, but no-one knows when"
This chemical reaction which is indicated by the Vinegar odour can (over time) affect both colour and black & white films equally, gradually becoming worse as time passes although I could not find a reliable guide as to how much time we are talking about - months? years? No-one seems confident enough to commit to a time frame.
If you "click" on the CAVEAT EMPTOR (Buyer Beware) in Red above, buried there is a link will take you to the esteemed National Film And Sound Archive Of Australia page which talks about this Vinegar Syndrome problem. These people at NFSA know their stuff ... the most disturbing aspect which jumped out at me is the possible effects of this chemical reaction on HUMAN health. Be careful when handling one of the "vinegar beasties", even just breathing the vapours is apparently not a good idea for sustained periods!
Having said all of this, I will ALWAYS indicate film stock that is producing this Vinegar odour in my description - although "aged", my nose still works (sort of!). I will still run the film through the projector for "testing" but have no way of knowing how advanced the chemical reaction may already be - unless the film stock crumbles in my hands! Hmmm ... not a good sign!
I still have a ton of films to investigate (the owner of these films was a BIG film buff in the 1960's ~ 1980's) and so far only a small percentage have proven to have the air of Vinegar about them ...
I have also been advised that even if NO smells are being produced, chemical reactions may still be underway but as yet undetectable by the human nose.
It really comes down to ... these films are OLD, probably they were never intended to be viewed up to 75 years later ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
CLEOPATRA & DESTINY OF CLEOPATRA (1930's)
Super 8 Selected Scenes Films (2)
The owner has placed these two films onto one 400' reel
400 foot (7 Inch) Unbranded Black reel
Commercial release for the Home Movie market, these look to have been in their original boxes which I am told "fell apart" so a long time ago the owner cut out the front of the original boxes and kept them with this reel. Deceptive marketing by Castle, I thought I was going to be watching colour due to the front cover but no, these are Black & White and silent = no sound, just on-screen dialogue boxes from time to time.
NO "real" canister or can - this film has been kept protected by a relatively stiff clear plastic 2-part shell and secured with a piece of White electrical tape on either side - probably best considered as a temporary housing (although the film has been living in this package for at least 30 years!
Cleopatra & Destiny Of Cleopatra 1934
A Cecil B. DeMille classic ... obviously about the Queen Cleopatra. I am just a little confused because my research indicates that "Cleopatra" and "Destiny Of Cleopatra" are one and same motion picture, Castle Films just took different selected scenes to create a different release it would seem.
Leader film is fitted
Black & White
NO Sound
On-screen dialogue boxes will show at times throughout the screening, these give the gist of what is being said or happening
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel is undamaged
The reel has no labelling, only the two original box front cards are used to identify the films.
Vinegar odour was NOT detected
NO personal names or other writing on the packaging or the film reel
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
The film path has been completely cleaned prior to running this film through the machine. I now have a "running sheet", my maintenance schedule if you like - I record when each maintenance is performed because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
Leader film is fitted and it fed into the projector no problems (sprocket holes look good and undamaged)
The film begins ...
Picture contrast and quality are fine, perhaps a little more Yellowish than it should be but no issues.
If I was to make any critical comment, I would say that the second film (Destiny Of Cleopatra) looks to have less contrast at times, a little washed out with Whites - at times.
The sound is non-existant being silent, but I could understand what was going on by reading the clear text boxes that came up on-screen from time to time.
After test playing this reel completely, the entire length due to the dual films on the reel. I am satisfied that this reel does indeed contain the contents as indicated on those cut-out cardboard fronts and the films look to be in reasonable technical condition.
After viewing, I packed the reel back into the clear plastic "canister" and then sealed the entire package in clear plastic.
