Flammable film

[penfold]

name='orpheum']Remember that 16mm was the amateur film makers gauge before the war,so such a flammable substance as nitrate film would not have been allowed to be sold over the counter.

35mm Nitrate was available to amateurs, as amateur films from before the invention of 16mm (and safety film for that matter) were made and indeed survive. They tend to be from the upper echelons of society, naturally given the expensive nature of the equipment; and of course, the distinction between amateur and professional filmmakers at the beginning of the last century was rather a grey line.

If amateur filmmakers were prohibited from accessing nitrate stock, I'm not sure when this happened....of course 16mm safety was cheaper and more safe....

[penfold]

name='alan gowdy']Interesting. My source was an old COI catalogue - even the government can get it wrong I suppose

That may have been talking about a change between the variations of Cellulose Acetate......from Diacetate, or to Triacetate, but the 16mm format has always been a Cellulose-based Safety film .

[alan gowdy]

I wonder why they didn't go acetate with 35mm earlier then, if the chemistry was in place. They could have saved a few cinemas from being burnt out and projectionists from injury or worse...

[darrenburnfan]

I recall that in May, 1969 at the Plaza, I was running a reissue of a 1943 film called Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, which was originally an "H" film, but had now been reclassified as an "X" film. When I was examining a reel of it on the rewind bench, I was concerned by the following words printed continually on the outside of the sprocket holes: "Kodak Panchromatic Nitrate Film." I called the boss up the the rewind room (he had been an operator in the nitrate days) and he, too, examined the film. "It's alright", he said, "the words were on the original nitrate negative. This is a safety film print of the original, that's all."

[penfold]

name='alan gowdy']I wonder why they didn't go acetate with 35mm earlier then, if the chemistry was in place. They could have saved a few cinemas from being burnt out and projectionists from injury or worse...

I'm guessing picture quality issues?? Having had the rare privilege of seeing a vintage nitrate print (Black Narcissus at the NFT a few years back) it's a very different look....as if projected on velvet. Perhaps the equation of visual splendour being more important than safety changed as Cinematography, Health and safety legislation and perhaps the refinement of safety film all changed post-war.

[Mr Pastry Time]

Interesting thread this one.



In the 70's I got into collecting 35mm Nitrate prints and used to project them in my home. WHAT!!! It was great to see those old stars and the print quality was superb from 35mm and nitrate film stock. What I did not know at that time was that the films were in fact not on safety film stock until much later when I was informed of the fire issue. It was at this point I decided to part with my collection of classic British sound films and I offered them to the well known film archive which they turned down explaining to me that they already had quite a few prints of George Formby in Boots Boots etc. A little down and only being a young lad at this time word got out I had the collection at a private collector picked up the whole lot explaining he only collected nitrate films and nothing else. Looking back now I was pleased someone had a real interest in the Nitrate films and wanted to view them instead of letting them sit in cans. I kept the letter from the film archive as a good example of that time when they were not interested in British classics, but boy how things have changed.. You will find even now quite a few Nitrate film collectors about, but most view films on Steinbecks (think thats how you spell it) to overcome the safety issue.



Happy days they were indeed....

[orpheum]

How does viewing a film on a Steinbeck get round the fact that Nitrate films are self combustable and there is no way of putting out the fire?

[Mr Pastry Time]

The viewer has a low intensity lamp which does not create the intense heat of a projection lamp such as the Xenon type used in Cinema today. So the viewer I mentioned, often used for editing film within the industry is a much safer way to check or view Nitrate film bases.



I once put a match to a short length of Nitrate film and it basically exploded into flames. The older the film base the more unstable it does become by the way.



Hope this helps..



PS Here is a link piccy of the sort of thing used



http://www.kitmondo.com/images%5Clis...IMG_5681sm.jpg