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 improve the film's protection both physically and from the environment.
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 these reels ...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 ...
PINKERTON AGENT - Box Set (3)
3x 400 foot (7 Inch) Grey unbranded plastic reels
Each reel is in a plastic hinged two part case with insert cover
American Western which is apparently based on a true story, looks as though a train robbery is the climax. A little difficult to get the full gist of the film as I only watched 5~10 minutes off each reel but reading up on the film, that title screen "Rage At Dawn" refers to the 1955 movie, starring Randolph Scott. He plays the undercover agent tasked with infiltrating the notorious Reno Brothers who were apparently America's first train robbers.
Leader film (short) is fitted to Part 1 but the remaining parts have no leader film
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock looks to be undamaged (sprocket holes etc)
Part One case has a damaged hinge on one side, it still works but only just - the remainder of the case is fine (not cracked)
Part Two & Three cases are in good condition
The outer stiff cardboard casing is in very good condition, no damage and with great looking graphics
Each reel has been hand identified by the owner, using pen directly printed onto the reel (no labels)
Vinegar odour was NOT detected on any reel
NO personal names or other writing on the packaging or the film reel
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 (usually after just 3~4 films each clean) because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
All reels fed into the projector no problems (sprocket holes look good and undamaged)
The film begins ...
First thing I noticed is the colour, it's actually not too bad. Yes the Reds do prevail but because the Greens are also quite dominant, there is a lot of Brown tones - it almost appears like a Sephia film but then in scenes where the sky is clearly visible, I can see Blues too. All three reels are a pretty good "watch", if anything, the colours seemed to even improve slightly going into Reels 2 & 3
The sound across all three reels is very good, clean and crisp
After test playing each reel for a period of around 5~10 minutes, I am satisfied that these reels do indeed contain the contents as indicated on the outer box. Overall, the three reels look to be in pretty good technical condition.
After viewing, I have packed each reel (with some Silica Gel satchels) back into the outer box and then sealed the complete box set in an effort to provide a stable environment while it awaits a new owner - these are stored in a cool, dry environment which is temperature and humidity stable.
