BACKGROUND INFO:
I am not a 'film enthusiast' and my past working life has revolved around electronics (many fields including communications, industrial and audio) and "The Arts", more specifically, creative arts such as handcrafted fine china, ceramics and landscape artworks.
An associate has asked me to help find new owners for HIS large collection of photographic and film items ... this is yet another one of those items. I am frequently asked "THE QUESTION"
So how many films do you have, Russ?
My response is ... boxes and boxes of them, perhaps 350+ films are now left for me to look through ... plus a few projectors
Another question I am often asked "Can I come and have a browse through the films?" Sorry, but the answer has to be a flat NO!
ALL film stock is safely away in my storage units, nice n cool and out of harms way, each day (or so) I will retrieve a few films, take a look (and smell!) at each film ... absolutely NO ONE can just casually "browse" the collection. My associate wouldn't like that and neither do I.
There is a lot of detail on this page plus even more HERE ... I strongly suggest anyone who is interested in this film to read everything carefully, including looking at the link. To not do so is at your own peril!
Vinegar Syndrome "smell test" ☑= Negative
THE EXORCIST
Warner Brothers Home Movies
THE EXORCIST (1973) PLUS PROMO'S FOR OTHER FILMS
These short promo's (around 30 seconds each) cover 12 different movies, ranging from Saturday Night Fever, The Godfather, Baraccuda, Barbarella and many others. These don't appear to be "spliced on" extra's but part of the original home movie release by Warner.
3x 400 Feet mixed reels (Blue & Grey PLiO MAGiC (USA) and a clear TUSCAN (Australia)
3x individual 400' library cases (with drop down front door), these have no identification either but look very similar to POSSO's
Leader film is fitted to all three reels, the first reel has no film clip but the remaining two reels do have film clips.
Colour
Sound (Mono)
The film begins in Iraq, with the discovery of strange artifacts during an archaeological excavation ... eventually leading to the well known scenes of 12 year old Regan spewing forth all over the priest and rotating her head 360 degrees (nice trick!) Her eyes are pretty freaky too ...
Even the early scenes during the excavations (reel one) there a lot of questions being posed to the viewer, why are the dogs going a bit crazy and fighting, who is that mysterious figure looking over the workers down below ...
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
The unbranded library cases with drop down doors are in good condition. The library cases look to have been used quite a bit in the past and have some sort of White staining but the cases themselves are sound without any damage, they just don't look all that pretty!
Each reel has a small White label (typewriter) in Red and the reel number
NO reels are cracked or damaged
NO personal writing on any of the film reels or the library cases
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
The projector film path has been completely cleaned prior to running this film through the machine. I now have a "running sheet", my maintenance schedule if you like - I record when each maintenance is performed because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
Film stock on the reels, including the sprocket holes, appears to be physically undamaged - I have played each reel but only the first five to ten minutes of the first two reels in particular and around five for the last reel. I found the story line build up more interesting than the freaky horror scenes when they performing the exorcism. Actually I liked the beginning on the first reel ... lots of promotionals for other motion pictures and like the main feature, the colouring is not too bad at all. I hope I find some of those movies in full length, Barbarella looked interesting and what's with the Barracuda movie! It looked so bad (the effects looked really bad) that I really hope to watch the full movie in amongst all these films I have ...
Anyway, back to the beginning of Reel 1 ... it opens with a lot of promo's for other films, each promo runs for around 30 seconds and I counted 12 different movies shown. After this, the "main feature" begins ...
The Exorcist film colour is not bad all, yes there is the Redish toning with Browns, Yellows and Greens in the mix but I DID see Blues as well, in my humble opinion very watchable.
A "funny" thing on reel 3, right at the beginning is a "splash screen" with the text NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE BEST IN HOME MOVIES (Blue background) which I felt was totally unrelated to the following film content (continuation and climax of the movie) - see one of the photographs for this splash screen, that's all there is ... nothing further other than the film continuation.
On reels one and three, the audio is fine, clear and crisp at a good consistent level but at the beginning of reel two I felt the audio level dropped and became muffled for a short time and then came "right" again.
SPECIAL NOTE: I felt I needed to add this little note ... whilst viewing the film on the screen, it actually looks "less Redish" than the photographs would indicate ... 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 now taken with the film on pause which gives an improved image but the light is dimmer and sometimes a bit blurry as it is difficult to stop the film at "just the right spot" These photographs are only a very rough guide for what to expect in any case.
These three reels, in their library cases, are now stored in a cool, low humidity environment while the film awaits a new owner to consider bringing to their home ...
