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 my human nose.
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.
BLACK SUNDAY - Super 8 Film
Film Marketing
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
1977
Political thriller, revolving around the Black September movement, their intention to cause a mass casualty event and Mossad trying to prevent it from occurring.
Sometimes a film stuns me (and I am not a big film watcher) but this film hit me! Watching this film from 50 years in the past and it dawned on me that this Palestine-Israeli issue and the unwavering support from USA for Israel is nothing new at all. This film "opens" with the brutal, graphic slaughtering by Mossad of occupants inside a Palestinian "safe house" - all except one, this becomes very important later in the film.
This is one action packed, suspenseful film
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 (like a window box) 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 another print of this action drama
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" although these opening screens have no audio, the audio comes "live" once the film begins proper.
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 light Pink not brilliant Red! As I progressed through the reels, the Greens appeared to have more presence although Blue was only barely visible on those reels. I certainly get the impression that the films I have been watching lately that are stored in these metal canisters suffer less dye failure than the other reels in plain cardboard packaging. While the colouring is certainly "not right" I found the film to be a reasonable viewing, all things considered.
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, it doesn't look too bad, sure the Blues and Greens are significantly reduced but it has become apparent to me that my antiquated digital camera (very old, one of the first!) 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 look pretty woeful, 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 and any special points (such as the film aspect ratio) can be seen. Yes, the colour in particular is not great but in real life they are not quite as bad as depicted in the photographs!
Fortunately the sound is great! Clean, clear and wide range (no high end drop off) with plenty of level - no issues on this score.
In my opinion, after this quite a brief "test viewing", I am happy that the film is as stated on the canister label and reels and the film stock appears to be in reasonable technical condition albiet with the dye failure, Blue in particular but Green has also suffered failure but to a lesser extent.
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!
