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 POSITIVE on this reel ...
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 ...
WESTWORLD (The Hunt) (1973) - Super 8 Film
MGM Super 8
This is a "selected scenes" version released for the home market, released in 1973
Single 400 foot (7 Inch) PLiO MAGIC (USA) Blue reel
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Original styrofoam outer packaging.
Perhaps a futuristic look at where we are heading with AI? Mankind (Americans actually) have managed to create a fun holiday adventure town which is completely staffed by robots. The computer systems running the robots go amuck, chaos follows and more importantly, these robots are capable of self awareness without any control and in this final part (Part 3 was the last of a trilogy - I had the previous two but they have already found new owners) the robots seek to hunt and kill the humans ... a particularly nasty robot is the feature, played by the wonderful Yul Brunner - horror Sci-Fi from my childhood days, I remember this film so well ...
Leader film is fitted
400' Blue PLiO MAGIC (USA) plastic reel
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel is undamaged
The reel has only a label with the number 3 attached to it (Third Part)
Outer packaging is in very good condition
Vinegar odour was STRONGLY detected, the dreaded chemical reaction of the film stock has indeed begun!
NO personal names or other writing on the packaging or the film reel
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
Leader film is fitted and it fed into the projector no problems (sprocket holes look good and undamaged)
The film begins ...
Picture opens with a 'recap' of what has happened in the previous reels and lets the viewer know that the humans have lost all control over the robots. Yul Brunner is on the hunt ...
This is one film that has been etched in my mind from my younger days. Loads of "hi tech" equipment visuals, men in White coats (they must be clever, right?) saying very technical things such as "Ready on phase 443" What a hoot! Loved looking at the human facial expressions when they realise they cannot turn off these renegade robots ...
On the colours though ... Blues have taken a holiday! There is a very pronounced Reddish tinge to the images with barely any Blues or Greens.
On the up side, the sound is fine, clear and clean.
If it was me, I would probably still enjoy the film (if I played the whole reel) for nostalgia's sake but to others, perhaps just the outer packaging is worth considering plus the nice PLiO MAGIC reel!
After around only five minutes play time, I had enough and am happy the film is in fair condition and as stated on the outside box (the reel itself is not identified).
I have now packed away the outer styrofoam packaging, with the film inside, in a sealed clear plastic packet. I have added a couple of Silica Gel packs next to the film reel, but not sealed the reel separately otherwise it may prove difficult to get it sitting in the packaging properly.
