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 ...
'TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY - Super 8 Film
MGM
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
1946
Housed in a metal (Tin) 2-Part Single Film canister
Motion picture released 1946
Leader film fitted
7" 400' Black TA JIMA (Made In Italy) plastic reel
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Metal (Ferrous) canister is in great shape but definitely of some vintage, it is unbranded. A very tight 2-section fit.
The canister has a Yellow dynatape strip on the side which indentifies the contents, motion picture company and the year.
The Black reel has no ID markings at all
Film stock is undamaged
NO personal writing anywhere on the canister or reel
NO unusual smells detected coming off the film i.e NO VINEGAR smells
NO personal names or other writing on the case or the film reel
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 approximately the first five minutes, to observe the picture and check that the sound quality and trying to find confirming of the title! It's like this ... the beginning of the film has the normal 10-9-8-7-6 (showing upside down) and then 5-4-3-2-1 (rightside up) then it goes to White (the film is absolutely clear with nothing printed on it) for a few seconds, followed by a title screen that just reads THE HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS
No film title, no credits to performers - straight into the musical performances ... is this 'Til The Clouds Roll By? I wondered while I kept the projector running for around five minutes or so ... but no titles or credits ever came up on screen. All of the other films I have been playing are as stated on the packaging so I will take a chance this one is as titled also. Definitely a musical with LOTS of on stage performing by beautiful ladies and fine gentlemen (with top hats too!) I was looking for faces I could recognise in the performers but this was made before I was born and no-one "jumped out" at me, perhaps others will instantly recognise some of these performers. I believe Judy Garland should be in this motion picture but I didn't recognise her although I am not sure I would anyway.
I then compared the scenes from this reel with those available on Youtube and yes, I can see the same performers in the sections that I watched, I only spent around five minutes running this through the projector.
Most gratifying of all - the colours are pretty good, Yes the Blues, Greens and of course Reds are all present and accounted for and not severely reduced at all - it shows on the screen as a pretty decent picture.
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, it actually looks pretty good but it has become apparent to me that my antiquated digital camera (very old, one of the very first 'point n shoot' models!) just isn't up to the task in regard to colour representation nor the ability to portray contrast properly. The screen shots I take are while the film is running too, that doesn't help provide a good image. The photographs are only a very rough guide for what to expect but in reality the film is not as bad as in the photographs. I work with what equipment I have, room lighting etc ... if anything, at least you can see that the films have actually been run through the projector and any special points (such as the film aspect ratio) can be seen. In my humble opinion, the colour rendition is pretty good and absolutely far better than many others I have been viewing!
The audio is great too, such great singing from the ladies! Clear, not distorted or suffering high end frequency loss - very good audio quality (albeit mono) for a musical.
In my opinion, after this brief test, while I am very happy about the technical condition of the film, I do wonder if this is the motion picture (selected scenes) as stated on the canister ... I just cannot be sure.
I am very fastidious and careful with these films and I have now packed the film back into the tightly fitting two part canister (looks pretty old but unbranded) and added some Silica Gel in an attempt to maintain the current condition. This canister has then been sealed within clear plastic and store in a cool, low humidity environment while it awaits a new projector to live with.
