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 these two reels
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 ... this is one of 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 "film sniffer dog" 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 50+ years after being released ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
This motion picture is NOT in an original distributors packaging and instead was found wrapped in paper bags within a biscuit tin! The odour of Vinegar was in the air ...
CLASH BY NIGHT (1952) - Super 8 Film
RKO Radio Pictures
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
This motion picture "Clash By Night" is a 'film noir drama' about Mae Doyle (played by Barbara Stanwyck), a cynical woman who returns to her hometown in Monterey and marries a kind fisherman, Jerry D'Amato (played by Paul Douglas) for stability. She becomes bored with her marriage and has a passionate affair (aren't they all?) with her husband's best friend, the bitter and cynical Earl Pfeiffer (played by Robert Ryan), all of this ultimately threatens to destroy her new life. While the storyline wasn't really my cuppa tea, I did take great interest in seeing Marilyn Monroe performing as an actress ... so young!
Each reel is labelled, by the owner using a typewriter!
Motion picture released 1952
Leader film is fitted
2x 600 feet 8" Greenish/Grey plastic generic (I could not find any makers name on them) reels ***
*** Note: that these are 8 inch reels, make sure your projector can accept this size
Black & White
Sound
Supplied in the original biscuit tin BUT repacked into individual sealed clear plastic packages along with some Silica Gel satchets in an attempt to keep any humidity at bay. I have then wrapped the two reels (each is sealed separately) in bubblewrap so that the reels do not get damaged when being moved around.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Very good visually
Film stock and both reels are undamaged HOWEVER ...
Big problem here is that the owner (I assume) has severely overloaded each reel!. I had a devil of a job feeding the film into the projector while making sure the film didn't unspool all over the loungeroom floor! I don't know why he did this, the film is right out to the very edge of the reel AND THERE ARE FILM CLIPS IN PLACE, they even struggle to keep the film in place. If I was going to own this film, I think this would be much better transferred to a single 1200 foot reel ... just my opinion
Secondary problem is with Reel #1 - it begins with film (just the usual countdown 10-9-8 etc for a very short time, then there is a Green leader, which is also very short and then the film proper after that. The issue is the splice between the Green leader and the film proper - it is not right and when being fed through the projector, I had to help it move through the film path otherwise I would end up with a big loop at the front of the projector - not good! This leader splice needs to be remade.
Reel #2 has a long long Green leader and no issues feeding this reel.
VINEGAR SYNDROME ALERT: These two reels both reek of vinegar - beware!
NO personal names or other writing on the biscuit tin or the film reels
TESTING:
Please read my notes above regarding Reel #1 and that dodgy splice! Also be aware these reels DO smell of Vinegar ... quite strongly.
After the hiccups feeding Reel 1, away we go ...
Good picture, contrast was fine and there didn't appear to be excessive film scratches.
Audio was also fine although perhaps a bit down on the low frequency side but still perfectly understandable!
I did not test play the two reels completely, just sections of the film as I was focused on watching Marilyn in action.
