BACKGROUND INFO:
I am not a 'film enthusiast' and my past working life has revolved around electronics (many fields including communications, industrial and audio) and "The Arts", more specifically, creative arts such as handcrafted fine china, ceramics and landscape artworks.
An associate has asked me to help find new owners for HIS large collection of photographic and film items ... this is yet another one of those items. I am frequently asked "THE QUESTION"
So how many films do you have, Russ?
My response is ... boxes and boxes of them, perhaps 350+ films are now left for me to look through ... plus a few projectors
Another question I am often asked "Can I come and have a browse through the films?" Sorry, but the answer has to be a flat NO!
ALL film stock is safely away in my storage units, nice n cool and out of harms way, each day (or so) I will retrieve a few films, take a look (and smell!) at each film ... absolutely NO ONE can just casually "browse" the collection. My associate wouldn't like that and neither do I.
There is a lot of detail on this page plus even more HERE ... I strongly suggest anyone who is interested in this film to read everything carefully, including looking at the link. To not do so is at your own peril!
Vinegar Syndrome "smell test" ☑= Negative
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Броненосец Потёмкин)
Blackhawk Films (USA)
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)
4x 600 Feet light Grey PLi MAGiC (Made in USA) reels
4x individual 400' Black unbranded hinged cases, clear (empty) front.
Leader film is fitted to all reels.
NO film clips fitted to any of the reels
Black & White
Silent (On-screen text in both Russian & English)
I had not heard of this film (yes, I know I am a ludite!) but after looking around online to get an idea of what this film is all about, it seems to plenty of other people know this film well, in fact very well as there is enormous volumes of discussions about both how the film was put together, it's signficance in the Russian movie industry and of course, the storyline. The latter is all about a mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their officers but this film seems to mean much more than that ...
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
The unbranded, hinged Black/Clear library cases are all in great shape. The same cannot be said for the labelling! What a pain these were ... Reel 1 case has the film title and RL1, the remaining 3 Reels just have RL2, RL3 & RL4 marked on the case using Red dynatape. None of the reels have any identification at all.
These were in a box with a number of other similar films, all marked the same e.g RL2, RL3, RL4 and even a couple of RL5 & RL6! To work out which reel went with which film I was forced to play every single reel. I can reassure the new owner that the four reels I am providing relate to Battleship Potemkin!
NO reels are cracked or damaged - I noticed that Reel 1 has less film than the other 3 reels, I would estimate around 300~350 feet (no scales on these PLiO MAGiC reels) with the remaining 3 reels being full to the edge (but not over full)
NO personal writing on any of the film reels or the library cases
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
The projector 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.
Film stock on the reels, including the sprocket holes, appears to be physically undamaged - I have played each of the first three reels for just the first five to ten minutes of each reel with the exception of reel 4 which I played to the end because I wanted to make sure this reel was truly the end of the film - it is.
The contrast in the picture is fine, in fact it is pretty good and plenty of Grey/Black and White, good to sit down and watch.
My photographs are not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination and initially I thought I had a Yellowish film but then realised that by switching the projector lamp to full brightness (White) the screen image looked much more Grey-Black! Newbie here ...
Lots of initial screens at the beginning of reel one explaining not only the mutiny and it's significance but also the film techniques used and how this film broke Russia onto the world stage of film.
Of course being silent there is no music, no dialogue, no sound effects. You will see frequent text boxes come up on the screen, Russian is first and then below this is English,
These four reels, in their cases, are now stored in a cool, low humidity environment while this interesting film awaits a new owner to consider bringing to their home ...
