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 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.
This reel of film has been placed into the packaging box for the motion picture "Star Trek" Number 1070.
This box COULD be reused for the Star Trek movie as the labelling from the Little Beau Pepe cartoon has been attached to this box using a clear tape which should be removable without damaging the graphics underneath (use something like Labelclene, magic for this situation but quite expensive!)
Now, on with the description ...
LITTLE BEAU PEPE (1952) - Super 8 Short Animated Film
Warner Bros.
Merrie Melodies
Distributed by TechALM (Italy)
Catalogue: PEPE 020
NOTE: The title which was removed from the original packaging and stuck onto this Star Trek Box says it is called LITTLE BEAU PETE - I believe this is a misprint.
This is an animated film starring Pepe La Pew (a skunk) and the French Foreign Legion. Pepe is trying to get over a broken heart and joins the Foreign Legion but then of course falls in love with another "skunk" (which is actually a cat that accidentally had a White stripe painted on it!)
I "believe" this is a French language cartoon although ... you see, I did hear a lot of the dialogue in French (a long with a heavy French accent) but at times I can hear English language thrown in for good measure, also some of the signs on buildings etc have both French and English writing. Sort of like a "Fren-lish" language film.
NO original box ... this reel was stored within a hinged cardboard box intended for the selected scenes version of Star Trek, Marketing-Film International catalogue number 1070 .
Leader film is fitted
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel (Blue PLiO MAGiC (USA) are undamaged
The reel has no labelling of any kind on it.
Obviously the box used by the owner was whatever he had at hand, it is actually a really nice (meaning in very good condition) cardboard hinged box intended for Star Trek (the original) released by Marketing-Film International, catalogue number 1070.
Onto the side of this outer box has been attached a White paper label "LITTLE BEAU PETE" and if you intended to reeuse the box for your copy of Star Trek, just use a quality label remover (gum remover) such as Labelclene, this will work a treat! Do not try to just lift off the paper label or the Topside cellotape without some assistance from a good quality glue remover otherwise you may damage the graphics underneath.
Vinegar odour was NOT detected
NO personal names or other writing on the outer box packaging or the film reel
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
Leader film is fitted and it fed into the projector no problems (sprocket holes look good and undamaged)
The film begins ...
When it first opened I thought "here we go again, Reds and Pinks galore" however once the actual cartoon began, the colours 'calmed down' somewhat and the Reds no longer dominated, in fact the dominant colour changed to a Yellow although I can see Greens but not a lot of the Blues - still I found this copy to remain very watchable, much more than if the whole picture was Red!
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, it actually looks "reasonable" (Yellowish overall, but with some Greens, Reds showing up at times) 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 nor the ability to portray contrast properly. The screen shots I take are while the film is running too, that doesn't help provide a good image. 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.
In my humble opinion, the colour rendition remains watchable, but certainly not brilliant.
Sound is clean and clear but seems to be dominated by French language dialogue
After viewing, I packed the reel into sealed clear plastic, along with a couple of Silica Gel satchels and a clear label about the contents.
NOTE: The purpose of offering this film is for the components i.e a very nice cardboard box for your copy of Star Trek (400' Selected scenes)
