BACKGROUND INFO:
I am not a 'film enthusiast' and my past working life has revolved around electronics (many fields including communications, industrial and audio) and "The Arts", more specifically, creative arts such as handcrafted fine china, ceramics and landscape artworks.
An associate has asked me to help find new owners for HIS large collection of photographic and film items ... this is yet another one of those items. I am frequently asked "THE QUESTION"
So how many films do you have, Russ?
My response is ... boxes and boxes of them, perhaps 350+ films are now left for me to look through ... plus a few projectors
Another question I am often asked "Can I come and have a browse through the films?" Sorry, but the answer has to be a flat NO!
ALL film stock is safely away in my storage units, nice n cool and out of harms way, each day (or so) I will retrieve a few films, take a look (and smell!) at each film ... absolutely NO ONE can just casually "browse" the collection. My associate wouldn't like that and neither do I.
There is a lot of detail on this page plus even more HERE ... I strongly suggest anyone who is interested in this film to read everything carefully, including looking at the link. To not do so is at your own peril!
Vinegar Syndrome "smell test" ☒= Positive
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS - Super 8 Film
Columbia Home Movies Selected Scenes
Colour
Sound
Title: Midnight Express
1978
Catalogue # Unknown
7" PLiO MAGIC (USA) Red plastic reel with Columbia Pictures Industries pad printed onto the reel in Yellow
BONUS! An original (old) postcard from Columbia which, if sent back to them, would provide you with a free home movie catalogue - obviously only included for nostalgia reasons!
Young American man gets into trouble with the Turkish Police, subsequently sent to prison for an initial 4 years before learning his sentence was being extended ... time to try and escape!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
The reel is not cracked or damaged
The original outer case (formed styrofoam with a one sided hinge) is undamaged.
NO personal writing on the film reel, in fact there is nothing to identify the reel contents except for a paper label which is loose (not attached to the reel).
Film stock, including the sprocket holes, appears to be physically undamaged
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 because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
I noticed the leader film was just straight cut at the end but it still fed into the projector without any problems, perhaps it could be re-shaped to the normal "half moon" if the new owner's projector was a bit fussy about these things
I ran the film through the projector for the first five minutes, to observe the colour and sound.
Yes, joy oh joy! Finally a film with a decent amount of full colour. Sure there is a little of the Red hue's showing but at least I have Greens, Blues and Yellows! Nice enjoyable to watch colour on this film...pity about the vinegar syndrome odours though!
Sound is good, crisp, clean and at a good level and not muffled
This film is now stored in a cool, low humidity environment while it awaits a new projector to bring it back to life again!
