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 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 be underway but as yet undetectable by the human nose (Hmmm ... is there such a thing as a "dog film sniffer" such as Border Patrol uses at the airport?
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 ...
Film stock is on a Grey plastic 800 foot reel, stored in a POSSO library case (drop down front door) with very basic labelling on the library case and none on the reel.
1941 - Super 8 Motion Picture
Universal - Columbia Pictures release for the Home Movie entertainment market, I would guess that this is a "selected scenes" version due to the relatively short length of runtime.
Catalogue # Not Stated on packaging
1941 (1979)
At first I had no idea what to make of this film ... quirky comedy it turns out. Opening scene is a nubile young lady walking down to the beach (in her bathrobe) to take a dip. Suddenly very weird (to me) sound effects taken straight from the movie Jaws ... was a sea monster going to attack her or perhaps a shark? Suddenly a submarine periscope appears underneath her, she grabs it and hangs on for dear life as she is lifted into the air! Way, way up into the air, hanging on for grim life to the periscope. The Japanese had arrived! Why? It turns out that after the Pearl Harbour attack, the Japanese are now intent on attacking the "heart" of America - Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood. Funny scene when one of the Japanese seamen looks up and sees the young lady still hanging from the periscope, completely nude! Nice 'upskirt' shots here ... but without the skirt! And so on goes the movie, you get the idea I hope ... silly, crazy, ridiculous fun but enjoyable in a juvenile sort of way
White leader film has been fitted, but unfortunately there is no film clip fitted.
800' Light Grey reel
I believe this reel will provide around 35 minutes runtime, I only "test viewed" the first 10 minutes or so which means I have not run the entire reel through the projector. I have masses of film to still work through and if I watched every single film entirely, sorting through all this film would take me forever!
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel is undamaged, straight and true
Vinegar odour was NOT detected
Labelling has been applied to one side of the POSSO library case only (Red dynatape) - no identification on the reel itself.
NO unusual smells detected coming off the film.
NO personal names or other writing on the library 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.
I ran the film through the projector for the first 10 minutes or so, to observe the picture and sound.
The colour is pretty typical for these films I am sorting through, Red is dominant but some Greens and Yellows still shine through at times - it looks as though Blue has taken a holiday though. While watching the movie I didn't really mind this, it is full of visual "gags" and one liners so the lack of proper colour wasn't a big deal, for me at least.
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots, taken while the film is running so often they are blurry as well! The purpose of the photos is to show 1) that I actually did view the film and 2) to give a rough idea of the colouring or lack of ... now my digital camera is antiquated (I like to use old stuff, even if it doesn't do a great job!) and it's limitations are definitely showing up in these sample photographs. The photographs do not do the film justice and the tendency is for Reds to be emphasised, I have no colour balance options on the camera. I also take the pictures in very low light levels. In all cases, the actual picture on the screen is often far better than my rather crude screen shots.
The sound is clean, not noisy or muffled - easy to follow the dialogue/bad jokes.
In my opinion, after this relatively brief test viewing, I am happy that the film is as stated on the outer POSSO library case (1941) and it looks to be in fairly good "technical" condition - at least it doesn't reek of Vinegar!
As with all of the larger diameter "open reel" film I am finding when I sort through the boxes, I am adding a couple of satchels of Silica Gel (for moisture absorption) and sealing the reel within clear plastic. I then also seal the outer library case. This is done in an effort to preserve the current condition as much as possible by protecting the film from the effects of any humidity (these steps were suggested to me by a film enthusiast)
