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 BUT please read my notes below about Reel 6, this is the reason for the �
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
Blackhawk Films (USA)
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923)
6x 600 Feet light Grey PLi MAGiC (Made in USA) reels
6x 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)
This is the original silent film release (print of course) of this interesting love - tragedy set in France and adapted from Victor Hugo's novel. The closing scenes are really tragic (I found myself feeling sorry for Quasimodo) and on the good side, love found its true partner.
This film stars the legendary Lon Chaney (Quasimodo) and Patsy Ruth Miller (Esmeralda)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
The six 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 5 Reels just have RL2, RL3, RL4, RL5 & RL6 marked on the case using Red dynatape. None of the reels have any other 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 some with 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 six reels I am providing relate are all The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
NO reels are cracked or damaged and all reels are full, 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 five reels for just the first five to ten minutes of each reel with the exception of reel 6 which I played to the end because I wanted to make sure this reel was truly the end of the film and I wanted to see how it all ended.
The contrast in the picture is acceptable (to me), in fact it is quite good but I do notice some light Yellowish caste over the screen, particularly on the first couple of reels but then the "Grey-Black" appeared to improve as I played further into the film. I also noticed, just a couple of times, that there are these White lines or drops running vertically down the screen ... much like snow was falling! I am guessing this is perhaps film scratching? Fortunately only a couple of sections (and for a short time) did this type of thing happen.
� Another "funny thing" I think I smelt was vinegar odours but just on Reel 6 ... None of the other reels smell and this could just be my imagination and the odour may have been coming from a nearby reel (the table is covered in reels at the moment!) In any case, the smell is (in my opinion) of a very low level and the picture on this reel is actually one of the best across all six reels in any case!
A lot of information (from Blackhawk I guess) about the history behind this motion picture. Some reels had the reel number identified on screen (REEL TWO) but others did not. No reel, other than Reel 1, had any mention of the film title. I had to sit down and watch quite a bit of this motion picture and check on the characters in the scenes!
Of course being silent there is no music, no dialogue, no sound effects. You will see frequent text boxes come up on the screen, in English,
These six 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 ...
