HISTORY:
My "world" is 'the arts' and more specifically, music, artwork and hand crafted/decorated chinaware's.
I am not a film enthusiast but an associate has asked me to find new owners for THEIR large collection of photographic and film items ... this is one of those items.
While the world of 8mm/Super 8mm is not my area of expertise, I am doing my best to establish the condition of each item that I am listing.
I tend to be quite detailed in my item descriptions, please READ all the details to decide if this film may interest you.
This is a quad reel film, 600 feet capacity per reel although only 400~450' fitted so I am thinking that this could be the full length feature, not selected scenes. This is NOT the remake starring Donald Sutherland some 20 years later.
Special connection for me with this film, one of the actors is Whit Bissel in this movie (the psychiatrist) and I remember him from the television Sci Fi series, Time Tunnel, which happens to be the name of our family website because I used to watch the latter show as a kid - the wheel turns!
Now, on with the description ...
THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS - Super 8 Film
MGM
Title: The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
Stars Kevin McCarthy & others
Sci-Fi horror, an alien species of human duplicates, which are grown from plant-like pods, is taking over a small town and the only way to tell the real human from the duplicate is the lack of emotion. "Can't you see? Listen to me ... they are here already!"
This trailer (which I grabbed online) looks to be a Superscope version - my copy is not Superscope)
Labelling is on the side of each library case, manually typed! This must have been labelled a LONG time ago, how long since you have had a typewriter in the house?
4x 600 feet 8" reels but I noticed that each reel has around 400~450 feet of film = approximately 1600' total.
Two of the reels are clear DASCO, one is a genuine EUMIG Cream and the last reel looks very much like another EUMIG Cream but it does not have EUMIG stamped into it (just Made In Japan)
This should provide around one hour runtime in total I guess.
Leader film is fitted to all reels, including film clips except reel one.
Black & White
Sound
Supplied in four DASCO (French) Grey/Cream hard plastic library cases with a drop down front door. These are similar in appearance to the POSSO library cases but in my opinion, not made to the same standard - the plastic seems thinner and the drop down door is more "flimsy"
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and each reel is undamaged
NO physical damage to library case numbers 1 ~ 3 but case four has one hinge lug broken, this means the hinge works but is sloppy feeling.
NO significant discolouration to any case, although they look to have been well used.
NO whiffs of the dreaded "vinegar Syndrome" e.g I could NOT detect any vinegar type smells coming off either reel
NO personal names on the library cases or the film reels
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Each film reel looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged. White leaders all fed through the ELMO projector fine.
I test viewed each of the four reels for around five minutes each.
Each reel is fine, the picture has slight Yellowish tinging but the contrast is good.
Reels 2, 3 & 4 have quite lengthy lead-ins of White "space" on the screen and then the traditional countdown from 10 before getting into the film itself.
The sound on each reel is clean, clear and of a "normal" level.
SPECIAL NOTE:
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots of each reel as it is played ... now my digital camera is antiquated (colour balance? what's that - like I said, this is one OLD camera) and it's limitations are definitely showing up in these sample photographs. Probably more so than any other film I have watched recently ... in "real life" the picture is actually better than portrayed.
I take the screen shot in very low light levels, the camera flash is turned off (otherwise the picture is flooded with White) and the camera shutter speed is very slow.
This means I have trouble getting sharp photographs, especially when there is movement on the screen (and this movie has a LOT of movement) and I have noticed that after viewing quite a few films now, that my poor OLD digital camera is tending to emphasise the Red's in the photographs.
In my opinion, after this fairly brief test viewing, I am happy that the film reels contain the motion picture as stated on the library cases and that the film stock appears to be in pretty reasonable technical condition.
I am very fastidious and careful with these films (I am after-all doing this on behalf of another person) and I have decided to repack the film with a little extra care ... a couple of packets of Silica Gel have been added within the now clear plastic SEALED film reels inside each library case, this should keep any effects of humidity to a minimum. I have then sealed all of the library cases together as a pack of four, once again in a large sealed clear plastic package, in an attempt to reduce further deterioration of the film stock (this was a suggestion I received from a film enthusiast to try and slow down the eventual film chemical breakdown)
