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 60 years later ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
THE GREAT WAR (WORLD WAR I) - Super 8 Black & White Film With NO Sound
Chapter I
Australian retail product which was sourced from Nostalgia Films in Victoria (stamped into the inside of the cardboard box)
BLACKHAWK FILMS
Historical film with what appears to be original 100+ year old film footage (funny seeing the "jerky" marching of the soldiers, I think this was something to do with the differing film speeds back in those days, but then again ... I really don't know about these things.
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Chapter I: The War Clouds Break
Catalogue number: 860 75 0104 (53 0576)
Original Blackhawk outer cardboard box
Housed in a Grey plastic unbranded (marked as Made In USA) 7" 400' capacity reel
Leader film fitted but no film clip
Black & White
Silent - there is no audio of any kind (read the frequent text screens)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Original Blackhawk Films generic cardboard box is in very good condition.
The case has a typed label which identifies the film and the catalogue number attached to one side of the box.
The Grey unbranded 400' reel (only marked as Made In USA) has no labelling at all.
Film stock appears to be undamaged nor is the reel.
NO personal writing anywhere on the cardboard box or the reel
NO unusual smells detected coming off the film i.e NO VINEGAR smells
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
A White leader film is fitted but without a film clip.
I ran the film through the projector for my standard 5 minutes or so for this test.
Nice Black & White picture, good contrast although with a slight leaning towards a "Sephia like" tone I guess it may be called - very much that "Olde World" look and it suits the film material. All I mean by this is that it is not a purely Black/Grey/White mono film but has this slight tinge, still very watchable.
NO audio of any kind (background music or dialogue) - this is a silent movie
In my opinion, after this brief test, I am satisfied that the contents of the box are as marked and that the film stock seems to be in pretty good shape.
As these are only being offered on behalf of another person, I treat his property with respect and am very fastidious and careful with these films. This film was actually already wrapped up in the original clear plastic so I added a couple of packets of Silica Gel (moisture absorbing) and sealed the original plastic packaging. I then have inserted this cardboard box into another clear plastic packet and sealed that as well - snug as a bug in a rug! Ready to enthral a lover of interesting historical film. I wonder where Blackhawk Films sourced the original material? It would have been interesting to find out.
