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" ☑= Negative
SHORT FILMS (3x 200')
Castle Films
Catalogue # Unknown
400 Feet clear KELVIN (Made In Australia) reel which is fully loaded meaning there is too much film on the reel and sadly no film clip was fitted which means handling of the reel needs to be undertaken VERY carefully or you will have a lot of film spilt from the reel.
Colour
SILENT - No audio but there are on-screen text boxes on the screen for CHALLENGE OF THE ALPS & the DO YOU LIKE SNOW film, and to a much lesser extent, THE FABULOUS HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS film.
Run time: approximately 16 minutes total (around 5 minutes per film)
The three titles are:
The Fabulous Harlem Globetrotters
Yes, this film is all about their game play, tricks and moves on the court. Some text boxes telling the viewer what the moves are called. The game doesn't appear to be a "well known" match, just general playing.
Challenge Of The Alps
Begins by showing some mountaineering and then moves to an Alpine Balloon Meet which is (or was) apparently held each year.
Do You Like Snow?
Fun in the snow ... a lot of skiing scenes, accidents and funny moves on the snow and then some scenes of "party time" back at the accommodation
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
The reel is not cracked or damaged
This is yet another reel which I found stored in a paper bag within an outer plastic bag, I found a whole box of these. It appears these reels were in the process of finding cases or cans to live in, 30+ years ago but the task was never completed due to the owner's ill health.
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 ran the film through the projector for practically the complete length as I needed to view all of the reel contents.
The Fabulous Harlem Globetrotters - No Blues left, that's for sure. Yes there are Greens and this gives an overall Brownish-Orange-Greenish tinge to the film. Watchable but it would have been nice to see some Blue's here.
Challenge Of The Alps - Not even much by way of any Greens here, very Pinkish and White. Watchable although it's a bit like watching snow sport being performed on Pink Salt!
Do You Like Snow? - Pretty similar colouring to the 2nd film. Quite a few "fun scenes" such as some clowning around while skiing and "party time" where all the folk get funky with some groovy '70s music (although you cannot hear the music, you just need to image the music but watching the dance moves is quite funny)
Overall, not a lot of full colour left on any of these short films - at best I would say some Greens showing (and thus Browns, Oranges etc) on the Globetrotters film but no real signs of Blues at all.
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, it actually looks "reasonable" but it has become apparent to me that my antiquated digital camera (very old, one of the very first 'point n shoot' models!) just isn't up to the task in regard to colour representation (it is good at the Red end of the spectrum but poor in the Blues) nor does it have the ability to portray contrast properly. The screen shots I take have been made with the film on pause (so the projector lamp is much dimmer) but I felt this method gave better representative photographs. The photographs are only a very rough guide for what to expect but in reality the film is not as bad as in the photographs. I work with what equipment I have, room lighting etc ... if anything, at least you can see that the films have actually been run through the projector.
The sound is not existent on all three films, these are silent films but with some on-screen text boxes that pop up from time to time - requires attention to be paid to what is happening on-screen.
This film is now stored in a cool, low humidity environment while it awaits a new projector to bring it back to life again!
