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 improve the film's protection both physically and from the environment.
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 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 75 years later ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
THE WHALE THAT BECAME A STAR & NEPTUNE'S PLAYLAND
Released through Castle Films
These are both real life films, not cartoons.
The first deals with fish performing for humans and the hunt for a whale (they chose a Pilot Whale) in the open sea to bring back to the "SeaWorld circus" to perform tricks.
The second film is all about snorkeling, discovering the undersea world without using an air tank
400 foot (7 Inch) clear KELVIN (Australia) plastic reel *** Please read the section below TESTING as I think something is wrong with this reel
Commercial release for the Home Movie market, these two films were originally in their separate boxes but I have been told the boxes "fell apart" so these two films have been transferred to one 400' reel.
Only the reel (with film of course) is supplied, there was no case or canister for this reel.
The Whale That Became A Star - looks at the world of providing sea animals for human entertainment and the tricks they perform, actually shows them going out to the open sea to capture a whale and it's subsequent stardom in the aquarium circus
Neptune's Playland - entering the undersea world for the snorkeller
Leader film is fitted, no film clip though
Colour
Sound (first film ONLY, the second film is silent but with on-screen text boxes)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock is undamaged but something doesn't seem quite right with the reel
Not so happy about this KELVIN reel ... as it rotates I can hear the film lightly rub against the inside in one spot - slightly deformed or perhaps an outer crack, I am not about to bend it to see. This issue isn't serious enough to cause any problems while running but just this light scrapping sound every second or so as the reel rotates is a bit annoying.
The reel has no identification labels at all, the owner has handwritten the contents onto a piece of paper - that's it.
Vinegar odour was NOT detected
NO personal names at all.
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 (usually after just 3~4 films each clean) because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
Feeds into the projector no problems (sprocket holes look good and undamaged)
The film begins ...
The Whale That Became A Star has reasonable colour, even some Blues although not "strong" - the scenes don't look too bad, considering there is a lot of water in this film that is a good thing (otherwise it would look like an algae bloom!) The indoor pool scenes and open ocean actually look Blue (or at worse, Greenish Blue)
Sound is acceptable, clear enough to understand and the levels good.
Neptune's Playland I would have to say the colours are more leaning towards the Red/Browns in this film but at times I am surprised by the appearance of Greens, almost Blues but just as quickly, they disappear and back the Red/Browns again - some of the underwater scenes are not bad at all but then some of the Topside Beach shots are very Red/Brown - another film with what seems like inconsistent colours.
Sound? What sound ... there is no sound track at all - at intervals there are small text boxes explaining what is going on (with Castle Film credits in each box) Shame that there is no commentary.
After test playing this reel completely (the entire length due to the dual films on the reel), I am satisfied that this reel is in reasonable technical condition ... both films being quite watchable.
After viewing, I have packed this reel (with the owners handwritten paper label) into a sealed clear plastic packet and then protected the reel by placing it onto a strong cardboard base, wrapping carefully in bubblewrap.
