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 400+ left now
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 ...
Regardless of this, please 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 ...
This is a "three reeler", 600 feet per reel (with an add-on film on the 3rd reel) so I am thinking that it is the full length feature. Each reel has it's own DASCO (Made In France) library case with the drop down front door.
THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ZORRO Plus ABBOTT & COSTELLO Oh! My Achin Tooth
Super 8 Film
Title: The Erotic Adventures Of Zorro (1972)
Entertainment Ventures
Produced by David Freidman
Sex comedy, soft porn, retells the story of Zorro with an emphasis on mild sex scenes (full nudity but little in the way of sex acts)
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Labelling is on the side of each library case.
NOTE: This labelling on the library cases has been typed, not printed - this indicates to me that these labels were made and attached a LONG time ago, probably in the 1970's
3x 600 feet 8" mixed reel types: Black unidentified, AUTOREEL & a translucent Grey-Black unidentified reel.
Leader film is fitted to all three reels
Colour
Sound
I have not placed a trailer for the Abbott & Costello because the 9 minute version I found online has different scenes! Confused!
Title: ABBOTT & COSTELLO Oh! My Achin Tooth (1948)
Apparently lifted from of "The Noose Hangs High" (1948)
Walton Home Movies
Black & White
Supplied in three DASCO (French) hard plastic library cases with a drop down front door. These are similar in appearance to the POSSO library cases but in my opinion, not made to the same standard - the plastic seems thinner and the drop down door is more "flimsy"
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and each reel is undamaged
NO physical damage to library cases although they all have some sort of Whiteish residue left on them (now blank) and I think there must have been labels stuck on these cases at one time. No writing on the cases, they just look "well used"
NO strange smells from any of the film reels e.g vinegar odour
NO personal names on the library cases or the film reels
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Each film reel looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged. White leaders all fed through the ELMO projector fine.
I test viewed each of the three reels for around five minutes each, actually a bit longer with the first two reels as I wanted to see how "rude" the nude scenes were ... not really (in my opinion) Yes, full frontal females and male (and behind shots) with masses of pubic hair! But not a lot by way of "action".
Make no mistake, the film has lost the Blues and only the very slightest signs of Greens at times. The Green seems to vary across the reels ... most often it is not there at all and then suddenly (during a sex scene) the colours change a little and I can see Greens.
Reel 3 with Abbott & Costello at the end is fine, nice Black & White with good contrast.
The sound from Zorro is not great (in my opinion), quite muffled and difficult to follow ... yes you can follow the dialogue but you need to pay attention!
SPECIAL NOTE:
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots of each reel as it is played ... now my digital camera is antiquated (colour balance? what's that - like I said, this is one OLD camera) and it's limitations are definitely showing up in these sample photographs. Probably more so than any other film I have watched recently ... in real life the picture isn't quite so Red/Orange but it's a pretty rough watch still.
I take the screen shots in very low light levels, the camera flash is turned off (otherwise the picture is flooded with White as the camera cannot deal with sudden bright lights very well) and the camera shutter speed is very slow.
This means I have trouble getting sharp photographs, especially when there is movement on the screen and I have noticed that after viewing quite a few films now, that my poor OLD digital camera is tending to emphasise the Red's in the photographs more than it should.
In my opinion, after this reasonably brief test viewing, I am happy that the film is as stated on the library cases and that the film stock appears to be in fair technical condition, except the A & C short film which is much better.
I am very fastidious and careful with these films (I am after-all doing this on behalf of another person) and I have decided to repack the film with a little extra care ... a couple of packets of Silica Gel have been added within the now clear plastic SEALED film reels inside each library case, this should keep any humidity effects to a minimum. I have then sealed each library case together as a pack of three, once again in a large sealed clear plastic package, in an attempt to reduce further deterioration of the film dyes (suggestion from a Super 8 film buff made to me)
