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 ...
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 be underway but as yet undetectable by the human nose (Hmmm ... is there such a thing as a "dog film sniffer" 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 to 75 years later ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (1965) - Super 8 Film
ABC Pictures International
This is NOT the full length 1938 release but instead a "selected scenes" version released for the home market in 1965 by ABC Pictures International (USA)
Single 600 foot reel
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Original styrofoam outer packaging.
In brief, this motion picture is set in the 1800's and Tom Sawyer (Tommy Kelly), a troublemaking orphan, lives with his controlling Aunt Polly (May Robson) in the small town of St. Petersburg. Tom spends his days skipping school, charming adults and wandering along the Mississippi River with his best friends, Huckleberry Finn (Jackie Moran) and Becky Thatcher (Ann Gillis). But when Tom and Huck take an oath of silence after witnessing a murder, their innocent adventures become matters of life and death.
Leader film is fitted
400' Light Grey TAYLOREEL (USA) plastic reel
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel is undamaged
Outer packaging is in very good condition
Vinegar odour was NOT detected, at first I thought there was the dreaded Vinegar smell but then I realised it was coming from a film "next door" to it.
NO personal names or other writing on the 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 normal countdown 10-9-8 etc and then the film begins ...
Picture opens with a nice Blue background (ABC Pictures International) but then when the film "proper" is running, the colour is noticeably "sepia like" although it's funny because in different scenes I can see Blues & Greens (trees, backgrounds and even Auntie's dress at times!) To me this doesn't look like the dreaded dye failures which result in total loss of most colours except Red ... it is almost as though the effect is intentional.
Sound is fine, actually perhaps a bit higher in level than most other movies I have been watching lately (I had to turn the volume down a bit). Audio quality is good, no difficulty following the script!
After around only five minutes play time, I had enough and am happy the film is in reasonable condition and as stated on the outside box (the reel itself is not identified).
I have now packed away the outer styrofoam packaging, with the film inside, in a sealed clear plastic packet. I have added a couple of Silica Gel packs next to the film reel, but not sealed the reel separately otherwise it may prove difficult to get it sitting in the packaging properly.
