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 350+ are left for me to sort through now
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, 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 75 years later ... everything eventually fails
Please be realistic and keep all of this in mind.
This reel of film has been placed into the packaging box for the motion picture "Star Trek" Number 1070 but the reel contents are completely different!
Perhaps the box COULD be reused for the condensed Star Trek movie (1070) as the labelling which has been stuck on the box should be relatively easy to remove neatly. The reel contents are a real mish-mash of movies or should I say advertising ... one trailer and a lot of quick grabs from other movies and finally ending up with a short condensed version of Hell Fighters (John Wayne) - I have no idea if this sort of thing interests anyone, my task is to find new homes for this film, not judge it's usefulness.
Specific details of the reel contents can be found under the "TESTING" section below
Now, on with the description ...
MIXED CONTENT REEL - Super 8 Colour & Sound
Marketing Film International (Paramount Pictures) & Castle Films
NO original box ... this reel was stored within a hinged cardboard box intended for the selected scenes version of Star Trek, Marketing-Film International catalogue number 1070 .
NO leader film is fitted
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel (Dark Grey POSSO (Made In France) are undamaged
The reel has a handwritten stick on label attached to it, giving the barest of information (film titles only)
Obviously the box used by the owner was whatever he had at hand, it is actually a really nice (meaning in very good condition) cardboard hinged box intended for Star Trek (the original) released by Marketing-Film International, catalogue number 1070.
NO personal names or other writing on the outer box packaging or the film reel
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
Leader film is fitted and it fed into the projector with some initial difficulty, it would not feed into the film path correctly so I ended up manually loading the film initially and then all was fine. I really don't know what the problem was but everything "looked" ok but this film would have to have been one of the worst I have come across to get it "going" through the film path.
The film begins ... I wait with baited breath, what on earth is on this reel? Me thinks ...
First up ... no leader and in fact the film begins practically straight away. I had the initial feeding of the film problem mentioned above but then all was fine once I had manually fed the projector.
The reel opens with STAR TREK - The Motion Picture but not a condensed version but what appears to be a trailer, with dramatic sounding voice over promoting the motion picture. Selected scenes such as the antagonism between the "New" captain of the Starship and the "Old School" William Shatner, the arrival of Spock on the scene and of course, the alien menace. Definitely a trailer not a condensed version of the movie that you would expect on a 400' reel.
Initially colouring was quite Pink-Red but then Greens and even Blues were showing up, some of the Blues are quite vivid so overall, this trailer has not bad colouring.
After seven minutes or so the film changes to what I can only describe as short "grabs" promoting other motion pictures, I then realised these movies are all promoted on the inside of the Star Trek box ... that is:
The Godfather
Saturday Night Fever
Once Upon A Time In The West
Grease
Marathon Man
Chinatown
Barracuda
Barbarella
Black Sunday
The Longest Yard
Each runs for just 30 seconds or so, accompanied by a "dramatic sounding" voice over artist.
The colour in this segment of the film is roughly the same as for Star Trek - The Motion Picture although less by way of Blues in my opinion.
The final section of the film, which runs for barely 5 minutes I would estimate, is a very condensed version of HELL FIGHTERS starring John Wayne and released through Castle Films. This one is RED quite substantially, not really any sign of Greens and certainly no Blues. Watchable but treat it as a non-colour short film because it is not great!
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, it actually looks "reasonable" (Yellowish overall, but with some Greens, Reds showing up at times) but 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.
In my humble opinion, the colour rendition remains watchable, but certainly not brilliant.
Sound across the entire film reel is clean and clear
After viewing, I packed the reel into sealed clear plastic, along with a couple of Silica Gel satchels and a clear label about the contents.
NOTE: The purpose of offering this film is for the components i.e a nice cardboard box for your "1070" copy of Star Trek (400' Selected scenes) or perhaps cut n slice sections of the film for your own prints of movies to add spice to your home theatre experience!
