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 ...
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 "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 3x reel motion picture is NOT in an original distributors packaging, but instead the reels are in a metal (unbranded) canister. The information that follows is from my observations and towards the end of this lengthy description I describe my observations of the motion picture as I have partially played all three reels.
MARATHON MAN - Super 8 Film
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
1976
Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is a Columbia graduate student and long-distance runner who is oblivious to the fact that his older brother, Doc (Roy Scheider), is a government agent chasing down a Nazi war criminal (Laurence Olivier) -- that is, until Doc is murdered and Babe finds himself knee-deep in a tangle of stolen gems and sadistic madmen. Even his girlfriend, Elsa (Marthe Keller), becomes a suspect as everything Babe believed to be true is suddenly turned upside down
Labelling on the outer canister is a simple typed label on White paper. Each reel also has simple handwritten labelling indicating the title and reel number.
Friction fit reel clips are fitted to each reel so that the film doesn't easily spill from the reels.
3x 400' (7") Dark Grey PLiO MAGiC (USA) plastic reels
Colour
Sound
I suspect this is a Widescreen version, at least it looks much wider than higher compared to most of the other films I have been playing recently.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Very good overall
Film stock and 3x reels are undamaged, all three reels have the leaders fitted and "proper" film clips
NO damage to the canister/case nor to any of the reels. This means NO cracks, NO missing sections and NO parts are mis-shapen due to heat.
NO Vinegar smell coming off any of the reels
NO personal names or on the canister/case and the film reels
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Each reel has been examined and test played individually ...
All reels examined and they look to be clean, sprocket holes (at least those that I could see) are undamaged .... so away we go, let's take a look at some dated Dustin Hoffman!
I only ran each reel through the projector for the first five minutes or so of each reel to observe the picture and sound, the first thing I noticed is the film aspect - this is a much wider than higher displayed picture - I think this is something like a Widescreen version
I also noted that each reel began ALMOST the same ... warnings about only for home use, title and some credits and then straight into the next part of the film ... no "part 2 or part 3" with the only opening differences I noticed was that the title MARATHON MAN slides across from opposite sides with each reel.
Unfortunately the issue with dye failures is present, although not as obvious as on other films I have viewed recently. Instead of an overall Pink Red, the colouring leans towards a Sephia (Brown/Red) colouring although I can also see other colours such as the Greens and even just a little Blue at times but overall it looks as though the Blues and to a lesser extent, the Greens have taken a holiday and are mostly not present.
Fortunately the sound is great! Clean, clear and wide range (no highs dropoff) with plenty of level.
In my opinion, after this quite brief test viewing, I am happy that the film is as stated on the can label and reels and the film stock appears to be in 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 returned the reels to the canister along with a couple of Silica Gel (moisture absorbent) packs and then sealed the outer metal canister within a clear plastic packet. This extra packing may or may not help to reduce further degradation of the film but at least I have tried!
