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 these three reels, however keep 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 ... this is NOT one of them!
I have also been advised that even if NO smells are being produced, chemical reactions may 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 50+ years after being released ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
This home movie, edited motion picture release is in the original cardboard boxes.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) - Super 8 Film
Paramount Pictures
This edited, 3 reel version was released through Marketing-Film International
Catalogue #: 1071-1072-1073
Each reel has four labels attached to the reel, indicating the title, reel number, language and the Marketing Film International catalogue number - NO personal writing at all.
Original motion picture was released 1956
Leader film is fitted to reels 1 & 3, not 2 - please read the TESTING section below about this reel
3x 400 feet plastic reels, Medium Grey, manufacturer is unidentified
NO film clip fitted to any reel but I found film spillage not to be an issue with any of these reels
Colour
Sound
Supplied with each reel individually packed in a sealed cardboard box, along with a couple of Silica Gel satchels. Then the three reels are all packed together, again in a sealed plastic pack. Bit like a double sealed sandwich (of film)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Very good visually
These cardboard (hinged) boxes are in truly amazing condition for the age! Almost like they just left the supplier. On the top edge of each box is a typed label "REEL x" with x being the reel number, I think the owner added this but it is easy to identify the reels in any case, the catalogue number is clearly showing on the boxes and reels.
Film stock and all three reels are undamaged
VINEGAR SYNDROME: These three reels are NOT giving off any Vinegar smells that I could detect with my old nose!
NO personal names or other writing on any of the film reels, just a simple label on each identifying the film title and reel number.
TESTING:
Using the ELMO ST1200 projector, away we go ...
The films look to be in good condition, although I just had this feeling the film stock didn't "feel" quite right ... let me explain.
The leaders are not the normal White or Green type but look to be just Black film added to the beginning. No big deal but it "feels" sort of thick and I had the impression perhaps a little curved, as though the film width was slightly convex in shape. Why does this matter?
The ELMO projector I am using presently is FUSSY about the film you put into it's mouth! (who isn't?) and ANY little issue with what you present it with will often cause the film pathway to not feed the film through smoothly.
On ALL three reels I had this issue ... yes, the film gets "picked up" and feeding starts but once the film has passed the area of the lens and then starts to go further down and across over to the takeup reel, it jams. I think this slight curving of the film stock is causing this, so I had to move the lens out of the way and "help" the film move forward a little then close the lens and continue running the film through the path - ONLY by doing this could I get a reliable feed through the film path - messy huh!
In fact I think the owner had issues with this as well (or whoever played this film many years ago) because reel 2 has NO leader at all, it goes straight into the contents of that reel (beginning with the opening title almost immediately).
I have used the projector's in-built "cutter" to ensure the shape of the film end was correct but this really didn't help a lot. I didn't notice any "crumpled" film from this misfeeding and certainly no sprocket damage was observed - as I say, once through the film path, the film played fine.
Even with this film stock issue, the colour is an improvement over many of the other colour films I have been watching!
Sure, the Reds dominate and obviously the Blues have all gone on a picnic somewhere ... the Blues are just not there. HOWEVER, Green has stayed at home and is noticeable on Reel 1 and with each reel, the presence of the Greens seems to get stronger until these colours are really obvious in the epic scenes such as Moses parting the Red Sea (Oh my godness, special effects were so crude back then!)
All the while, across all three reels there are no issues with the audio. The sound is clean and perfectly clear and audible.
I did not test play the three reels completely although I did play into each reel a fair way (around 10 minutes each reel as opposed to my normal 5 minutes or so) as I found the film very interesting ... a real epic story for it's time and I do love anything with Yul Brunner and Charlton Heston in it!
I have now individually packed each reel into its own little sealed clear plastic packet, along with a couple of Silica Gel satchels with each reel. All of the sealed reels have then been securely packed into yet another overall sealed packet, keeping all of the film safe and secure.
Even if the film quality is not to your standard, these boxes are in superb condition and the reels should be of use also but the film itself is "OK" and certainly better than many others I have viewed lately (in the colour realm)
