The owner of these films appears to have had two copies of this one, not a lot of difference between them but I detail those differences in the description and TESTING sections of this advertisement - if you have a preference, use the "checkbox" to select the copy you would prefer or take them both at an automatically discounted asking price
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 these reels ...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 60 years later ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
Now, on with the description ...
THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES
20th Century Fox
Distributed by Ken Films
Title: Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines
Selected Scenes
Catalogue # F-17
COPY 1: 400 Feet on a clear DASCO plastic reel without a film clip
COPY 2: 400 Feet on a Black Unbranded (but marked as Made in USA) plastic reel without a film clip
Colour
Sound (Mono)
Run time: approximately 16 minutes
Newspaper mogul, Lord Rawnsley (played by Robert Morley) offers a large cash prize to the first pilot to successfully fly over the English Channel. Other actors featured are Terry-Thomas, Stuart Whitman and James Fox as competitors for the big prize. A distraction for the pilots is the Lord's daughter, played by Sarah Miles.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
This first section is common to both copies
USED
CLEAN
NO personal writing on either the outer case or the film reel - in fact the reel has no markings at all.
Film stock is undamaged with a leader film fitted but no film clip.
NO unusual smells detected coming off the film i.e NO VINEGAR smells
There is very little difference between the two original boxes but COPY 1 does have a small area of graphic damage on the front (top) section of the box, where a previous Retail sticker appears to have been removed. Overall, I think COPY 2 box is in slightly better condition.
To assist with the decision making "which copy should I take?" I have created a decent auto discount if they are BOTH purchased, effectively meaning the 2nd copy is only $6
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
White leader film is fitted on either copy, no film clips though.
I ran both films through the projector for approximately the first five minutes each, to observe the picture and check that the sound quality.
Both exhibit the Pink/Red overall colouring, COPY 1 appears to have slightly more Green colouring (on the wall map for example) compared to COPY 2. I felt that overall, COPY 2 was noticeably "more Red" than COPY 1.
The sound was (in my opinion) a bit touchy on both films ... by this I mean that the levels seemed quite low compared to other films I have been viewing today and just slightly muffled (indicating the loss of some high end frequencies) Acceptable listening but you need to pay more attention to what they are saying and wind up the volume a bit to hear what is going on.
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, both films look reasonable although of course, very Pinkish/Red! Just the occasional Green shades could be seen on COPY 1 and not even that with COPY 2. 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. I work with what equipment I have, room lighting etc ... if anything, at least you can see that the films have actually been run through the projector. In my humble opinion, the colour rendition remains watchable, but certainly not brilliant.
In summary, in my opinion, Copy 1 is a slightly better film but the case is better on Copy 2. Now I can hear you thinking, just swap the cases then Russ ... seems sensible but I do not wish to mess around doing mix n matches of my associates films - I advertise them as I find them. Sorry but that's how it is ...
Now that I have viewed both reels, I am satisfied that the reel contents does match the outer boxes.
I am very fastidious and careful with these films, they are after all the property of another person, so I have now packed the films back into their cardboard cases, added a couple of Silica Gel packets to each and then sealed the reels in clear plastic, then another sealed clear plastic packaging has been added around the outer cases so that in effect they are double sealed.
The film package is now stored in a cool, low humidity environment while it awaits a new projector to live with.
